There are some members who might be tempted to dance for joy (despite the pain), at the thought that I have finally realized I have been wrong in writing that RSD is an ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Well, the title to this thread was meant to raise your hopes before dashing them to the ground.

I have been wrong for more than 4-1/2 years; wrong in the way I have been writing about it. That realization came to me this afternoon as I steeled myself for another attempt to write the article I plan to submit for publication. It happened this way:

I figure that I have about 2500 words before an editor at the journal looks at the length of the article and tosses it aside as simply too long to bother to read, much less publish. But 2500 words are not enough to explain IRI to physicians who aren't familiar with it; I wrote a 6 post series at the other forum trying to explain it, and none of those posts came in at less than 950 words.

Then came the insight. I am writing to physicians familiar with HBOT and I'm not responsible for teaching them about IRI. My article is intended to provide docs and chamber operators with information showing that IRI is a much more reasonable explanation for RSD than nerve injury and to show them that there is a scientific explanation for why HBOT works for some RSD patients, and that there is a scientific explanation for what happened to Lisa (see Sydney's thread Desperate...HBOT).

Anyone reading that article (if it is published), who isn't familiar with IRI and is unwilling to accept my claims on faith will have to learn about it on his/her own time.

Then I realized the same is true of forum members and others who will read my article on the website I plan to create. I have spent 4-1/2 years and thousands of words trying to educate people on an extremely complex, but well understood disease process, and no one want to make the effort to read all that stuff. More important, you don't need to.

All you need to know (and believe) is that there is a disease process that begins with a physical trauma and never ends; because the disease never ends, it just keeps taking more and more of your bodies.

What you really need to know is that there is a treatment available today that offers long term -- six months or more -- remission, that can safely be repeated multiple times as needed, and is cheaper than the price of a few sympathetic blocks.

I have wasted 4-1/2 years not talking about that treatment because I had it fixed in my mind that you needed to learn about IRI before you could understand how and why this therapy works.

I will tell you about that therapy (no secret, it's HBOT) in my reply on Sydney's thread. I'll talk a little about IRI, and then about why HBOT is the only therapy available at this time that can repair IRI damage. I hope all of you will read it.

On to a brief update on me: I am better. I am no longer overwhelmed by a past I can't alter or by unwanted emotions resulting from that past. I am sure that when I go to my doc on Jan 17, the scale will show that I have not only ended 18 months of weight loss, but that I have actually gained weight.

Gaining weight is important for another reason. I have reached the point when I am taking so much oxycodone and hydrocodone for the very real nerve injuries in my back and spine that any more will affect my ability to think clearly.

On my last visit I told my doc I wanted him to refer me for testing involving the intrathecal (morphine) pump. He says it will in all likelyhood work very well, but no one is going to put it in while I'm at 130 pounds and still losing weight.

I don't think any of this would have been possible had I not posted my PROBLEM thread and talked about what I was going through and why; and without knowing there are people here who genuinely care about me and even like me.

I know about discussions in psychiatric/psychologic literature about some people needing to be in crisis "hitting bottom" before they can make the effort necessary to change; I even know that this is certainly true of me. But I don't think I could have found a way to change me if it hadn't been for your patience in allowing me to talk about my pain -- get some of the poison out -- so I could start focusing on the solution, not just the problem.

Thank all of you for your replies on that thread and thank the rest of you for not telling me to "get over it" and stop talking about it here.

Finally, on the other thread I said I would have three months to finish my article and to gain enough weight to live independently. I mentioned here that I will see my doc on Jan 17. He is a former professor of neurosurgery and he has not only encouraged me to write, he has promised to read my article critically; to correct it as if it were a paper by one of his students. I plan to give him that opportunity on Jan 17.

I don't know that I can finish it by then, but I have nearly a month to put about 2500 words in the right order. That just a little more than 100 words per day, and anyone can write 100 words per day. Getting them in the right order is the problem, but I will either solve that problem or I might as well stop pretending I have something to offer to RSD people.

OK, so now I close this post and move on to my reply on Sydney's thread...Vic

That is amazing Vicc, I'm glad you had this new vision about your article.

I must admit with my ability to focus on long articles hampered my reading of the IRI detailed posts - sorry about that- but I tried to read them. My brain and my eyes just didn't get it - kinda glazed over.

I know you can do it, good luck.

Well bro your in good company I would think. It took the doctors almost 4 years to give me the RSD diagnosis

I think the scariest moment was when they decided I had back troubles requiring surgery, and sent me to have that surgery
It was a great relief to hear the NS say "there is nothing wrong with your back, you have RSD!" Only I didnt have a clue to what RSD was, but it had to be better than back surgery

I do believe your on the right track now, and you are right on the money with the tourniquet. That is exactly what the VS told me happened to those soldiers in the Civil War.

Let me know when your ready for that website

Allen

Hi Vic,

This is all going very well; I'm thrilled, and finding it all very illuminating. Perhaps you should view your posts here as long abstracts, a synopsis of the "real thing" - just because I'm impatient and want to know it all *now* Yes, I know that's working backwards, sometimes that helps, though.

So...a website, huh? I think that's a brilliant idea, and if you had an area for feedback, you could use it as a testing ground, and it would certainly act as an information-gathering vehicle. Brilliant idea. I think you'd get a very much wider exposure than you have here and for something as important as this, what a great idea. Go do it, you've got more than enough to start it already.

Vic, have a great Christmas - it'll do you good to see the family,
xxxx love, all the best.

Aloha Vic,

I have not been available to read on the forum for quite awhile due to holiday preparation and well of course, health reasons but I am glad that in my minds eye you seem to be turning a corner in preparation to finding some relief for you so that you can live more comfortably. This is a good thing.

I find it ironic that my biggest complaint to my doctor just a few days ago was my cognitive problems. I'm still barely under the age of 50, lol, and of course, some of the memory, speech. These things you do lose at this age, I sit at my computer trying to spell certain words, and just can't anymore! Carrying on a simple conversation has made me very self-conscious as words just don't come to me as quickly. I feel as though I'm speaking like a teenager. Although I do not take oxy or hydrocodone or any pain relievers, I've been on Topomax for several years.

Vic, I also have been having losing weight. To date close to 72lbs. And now plagued with Atrophic Gastris a serious inflammation of the stomach and asophagus. My cholestrol shot up...but now is under control. I'm also hypotension (low-b/p). In my book, somehow all of this must be related to having RSD for 7 years.

It seems like my body wants to go out and do what "others" can do. My only limitation is my arm just can't take it. If I push myself I end up very very sick and I spiral downwards...not only with pain in my arm, but now the stomach, the BP and everything goes downhill.

My motto is where my health is concerned...there is a light at the end of the rainbow. And it's not a gorilla with a flashlight! Yes, Life is Rough. We all have it rough. What works for one, might not work for another. I just recently watched TV and there was a girl who's parents put a HBOT machine in there garage. This gal had RSD. After one month of treatment this girl was up, walking and out of her wheelchair and back in school.

Vic... Mele Kalikimaka...which means...Merry Christmas!

With aloha, Dana