Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Support Group

Post edited by: CAgirl, at: 08/18/2011 05:04 PM

HI...CAgirl..... I have not had a lumbar block..... I can only hope that it works for you. I know that we have had some other members that have had them and I am sure they will tell you of their experiences....

Best of luck, and my thoughts are with you...

Craig

hi cagirl....ive went threw all they woud give me...it actually got the swelling to stat down to were i can were my shoe and seems like my foot dont change color as bad...as for pain stays the same unbearable ive sat here for a year with tears almost everyday....out of everything that has worked best for me is a new painpill called opana..very strong its got oxymorphone in it ive tried about everything but oxycotton in witch i denied at first but i might try it next...but after this last injection he said we will have to go to electronic leads into my back,cant wait..but i got the rsd in my left foot with dropfoot and rabdomyalosis all in the same place it hurts to let my foot to just hand.then it hurts to were my brace on the foot and leg cause of rsd...and the rabdo just KILLS....got all this last april when i came out of a coma over phnemonia...i wish you the best of luck and i hope it does well they got a video on youtube under rabdomyalosis with horses in it check it out sometime....remindes me of me.......good luck.......injections didnt hurt at all going under......killed me when i didnt..

Hi- I've had 4 lumbar sympathetic blocks. For me, there was pain relief for about 10 or 12 hours but that was it. They said my foot "warmed" and that it was a positive response but when it didn't last, we discontinued them. It's not bad at all, so don't worry. I really hope you have a good response to yours!

gail

hi gail....i had a real bad burning sensation in my feet after an inj... did they seduce you with fentonal<not spelled right)...thats were i got the relief from...its what kept me gettn them.....

good luck!

Post edited by: CAgirl, at: 08/18/2011 05:04 PM

dont let my advice get yha down people have good coments on them injections i have dropfoot and rhabdomyalisis in the same place as i do rsd...just one step at a time i believe it has helped somewhat but i think rhabdo is what is getting at me il have to go to the forum and see what they say....let me know how it goes

ive had three of them. they didn't help though. i hope they work for you! i had mine done in my back for my feet. if you ever wanna talk just pm me!!!

Depending on how "doped Up" you are and if they had you on fentanyl or not you might not know how much it worked until after some of the versed and the fentanyl wears off. If they don't give you fentanyl you might notice if it worked or not right then, but if you are on it you might actually be confused about what helped you. The first injection for me they did not use fentanyl because they wanted to see right then and there if it helped, it did help some(20% maybe) and I could tolerate some touching to my foot(it wasn't painless). The second time for me I thought it worked a lot better, but I was wrong it was really about the same, but this time they had given me fentanyl for pain before they did the injection because they knew about what relief level I would get. The last time I had it gets a bit tricky for me. They added phenol to the injection which actually is a type of acid that in small doses eats away some of the barriers around your nerves. It didn't work that well and really irritated some of the few spots I have on my foot and leg where I didn't have a burning sensation. My redness and color change actually intensified after they added the phenol.

So to answer your questions. How do you know if it works? in my opinion, if there is a noticeable change (for the better) in your pain level. Will your knees stop turning purple when you stand? I would say its not guaranteed, my leg and foot never stopped turning deep colors of red after my injections, it only helped with some of the burning.

I'm not a doctor or in the medical field in anyways, but all of this is just based off of the experience I've had from the blocks. As said, the blocks themselves do hurt quite a bit in your back in my experience , but it was definitely worth the pain relief for the next 24-48 hours. I don't know if they let you do this where your going, but the doctor actually let me pick music to listen to while they did the injection(which takes about 10-15 mintues)to kind of keep my mind off of it. Versed + The Beatles = amazing (Versed is a anxiety/sedative type of medication that is amazing!!!)

Sorry if this was a bit lengthy but hope it helps, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions for me.