12-22-2008, 07:57 PM
First, remember that with RSD/CRPS, treatments may work for some people and not others. My suggestions to you are based on my own 12-year experience, as well as the experience of countless other people I've been in contact with over the years.Give the Lyrica time to work. It may take a few weeks to feel an effect, if any. As for stronger pain meds, they help some people...but really, they're not usually particularly effective for this kind of pain (nerve pain). They may help some, though. And in my opinion, you shouldn't be shy about asking for them. You've been diagnosed with a very painful condition (the most painful, according to some sources)There are other medications that have proven a bit more helpful. I personally responded well to blood pressure medications (Clonidine and nifedipine). There are many other types of medications out there that may be helpful, some of them kind of surprising. You and your doctor just have to look really hard.As for the"epidural,"it's actually fairly important. The general first step in treating RSD/CRPS is a series of sympathetic nerve blocks (lower limb: lumbar sympathetic blocks, upper limb: stellate ganglion blocks). They involve needles, and not little tiny ones either. I was 14 years old when I started getting blocks, and I had to get over my fear of needles really fast.The truth is, the blocks aren't so bad. If the pain and disability from the RSD is incapacitating you enough, you'll do whatever you need to do to try to help. Unfortunately, invasive procedures are the norm with this condition. I eventually got used to it. I even looked forward to blocks, because they helped!It's really hard to do the necessary physical without some serious pain relief, and I found therapy to be more effective, no matter how hard I tried, when the RSD was in check. I'm not talking about just pain, I'm talking about the side of RSD that few people acknowlege (doctors AND patients)---the vascular symptoms and movement disorder that are often a part of this disease.I have one last piece of advice, and that is to do plenty of research. It not only gives you some more ideas of treatments that may be effective for you, it also gives you some power in a pretty difficult situation.
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