LeslieRN
07-20-2007, 11:09 PM
Hi y'all,
I have been on the forums for years and usually am on the RSD and spinal forums but now things have changed. Sorry this may become a book but so much has happened.
Spinal surgery 2000 -fibro diagnosed
Shoulder surgery 2001 - RSD diagnosed
2004 removal of metals from back- pain remained
2004-2005 - arthroscopic surgery both knees
2006 -July -right knee replaced
2006-October - left knee replaced
2007 - bladder surgery
2007 - left ankle fracture
2007- right ingrown toe nail removed
I have been busy. Busy fighting these problems and the pain. My Rheumy told me I had fibro; the neuro told me I had RSD and I have been getting stellate ganglion blocks and up to recently they have worked. The RSD caused my Raynauds to become active.
Ist part of May, I started falling - actually losing feeling in my arms, hands and legs and ending up on the floor. The
1st was in the bedroom and for some reason I dropped what I was holding and pain hit my right knee and I went down. I ended up with a very purple, red, blue sprained ankle.
About a week later I went out to the kitchen, turned to put it on counter - dropped it and again I lost control of hands and feet and just kind of watched myself fall, hitting the floor with my ankle(of course) and knee. Thank God that I did not fall on any of the pieces of glass. Unfortunately, that very day, my hubby was to have a nerve block so I couldn't worry about my ankle. So I wrapped it and put my shoe on and took him to the hospital- after that we took a quiet trip to Hot springs Ark. (hoping for a long soak in the hot springs but the placed we used was closed.)
I went in to see my spinal doc to talk about my back and whether that could be making me fall - he did a cervical x ray and just for fun(?) I asked them to do my ankle again- and that is when we found out that it had been broken for over a week. No cast, just a big black boot. It took a while to really heal.
In the mean time the burning pain of RSD started to spread- down to my fingers and up to my temples - then I would have numbness in my hand and on the side of my face. The pain was just like molten lava - it burned sooo bad. There were time I didn't want to move.
The day we went to see my ortho doc and that is the 3rd time I fell - in the garage- I really did NOT want to kiss the concrete - that gave me a real bruised knee, scraped elbow and face.
Since then , no more falls. (Knock on wood). Now I have 3 different doctors trying to diagnose and treat what is wrong with me- all labs have been normal. Cervical MRI shows nerve root irritation at C6 C7 but no herniations. So enter the pain management doc who had alreay done a stellate ganglion (done to treat RSD) block that did not work. He then decided to do nerve root block qat c6 c7 but did it on the wrong side.
My pain level was intolerable- I did not want to move. It seemed like both the RSD and fibro were trying to kill me. I get pain from shoulder to shoulder, down my back, lower back and then the burning pain of the RSD.
Neuro did more tests including a MRI of the brain to r/o MS- that was normal.
My pain management doc went out of town for 2 weeks and there was norhing else I can do. I could not get in to see his PA until Tuesday- this was to chanage the block from the cervical to another stellate.
So when we received a list of doctors at a neww hospital about 4 miles down the road - hubby suggested I see a new rheumy. (The original doc saw me and dx the fibro and that was it) A neuro dx the rsd and sent me to pain management and I got the injections that worked like a dream until this year.
I was floored when the doc told me his diagnosis- the RSD is in remission and ALL the pain I have is from the fibro!!!!!!!!!!!!. He also says that I have been in a chronic pain syndrome for a long time and it was getting worse.
He had me tested for osteoporosis and did some more labs. He decreased my elavil and started me on cymbalta. I go back to see him in a month.
Well I have poured out my problems and I hope I didn't bore y'all. This pain is so bad at times I try to lay down but I can't find a comfortable position.
Thanks for listing
Leslie
I have been on the forums for years and usually am on the RSD and spinal forums but now things have changed. Sorry this may become a book but so much has happened.
Spinal surgery 2000 -fibro diagnosed
Shoulder surgery 2001 - RSD diagnosed
2004 removal of metals from back- pain remained
2004-2005 - arthroscopic surgery both knees
2006 -July -right knee replaced
2006-October - left knee replaced
2007 - bladder surgery
2007 - left ankle fracture
2007- right ingrown toe nail removed
I have been busy. Busy fighting these problems and the pain. My Rheumy told me I had fibro; the neuro told me I had RSD and I have been getting stellate ganglion blocks and up to recently they have worked. The RSD caused my Raynauds to become active.
Ist part of May, I started falling - actually losing feeling in my arms, hands and legs and ending up on the floor. The
1st was in the bedroom and for some reason I dropped what I was holding and pain hit my right knee and I went down. I ended up with a very purple, red, blue sprained ankle.
About a week later I went out to the kitchen, turned to put it on counter - dropped it and again I lost control of hands and feet and just kind of watched myself fall, hitting the floor with my ankle(of course) and knee. Thank God that I did not fall on any of the pieces of glass. Unfortunately, that very day, my hubby was to have a nerve block so I couldn't worry about my ankle. So I wrapped it and put my shoe on and took him to the hospital- after that we took a quiet trip to Hot springs Ark. (hoping for a long soak in the hot springs but the placed we used was closed.)
I went in to see my spinal doc to talk about my back and whether that could be making me fall - he did a cervical x ray and just for fun(?) I asked them to do my ankle again- and that is when we found out that it had been broken for over a week. No cast, just a big black boot. It took a while to really heal.
In the mean time the burning pain of RSD started to spread- down to my fingers and up to my temples - then I would have numbness in my hand and on the side of my face. The pain was just like molten lava - it burned sooo bad. There were time I didn't want to move.
The day we went to see my ortho doc and that is the 3rd time I fell - in the garage- I really did NOT want to kiss the concrete - that gave me a real bruised knee, scraped elbow and face.
Since then , no more falls. (Knock on wood). Now I have 3 different doctors trying to diagnose and treat what is wrong with me- all labs have been normal. Cervical MRI shows nerve root irritation at C6 C7 but no herniations. So enter the pain management doc who had alreay done a stellate ganglion (done to treat RSD) block that did not work. He then decided to do nerve root block qat c6 c7 but did it on the wrong side.
My pain level was intolerable- I did not want to move. It seemed like both the RSD and fibro were trying to kill me. I get pain from shoulder to shoulder, down my back, lower back and then the burning pain of the RSD.
Neuro did more tests including a MRI of the brain to r/o MS- that was normal.
My pain management doc went out of town for 2 weeks and there was norhing else I can do. I could not get in to see his PA until Tuesday- this was to chanage the block from the cervical to another stellate.
So when we received a list of doctors at a neww hospital about 4 miles down the road - hubby suggested I see a new rheumy. (The original doc saw me and dx the fibro and that was it) A neuro dx the rsd and sent me to pain management and I got the injections that worked like a dream until this year.
I was floored when the doc told me his diagnosis- the RSD is in remission and ALL the pain I have is from the fibro!!!!!!!!!!!!. He also says that I have been in a chronic pain syndrome for a long time and it was getting worse.
He had me tested for osteoporosis and did some more labs. He decreased my elavil and started me on cymbalta. I go back to see him in a month.
Well I have poured out my problems and I hope I didn't bore y'all. This pain is so bad at times I try to lay down but I can't find a comfortable position.
Thanks for listing
Leslie