Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Support Group

I ask this quuestion,because as some of you may know, I was hospitalizd for having an abecess in my Breast. When I ask the doctor wheather the two were related he said "You may be on to something"! Now, my injury happened to my foot.

I guess my question should be if RSD is autoimmune how does that equate to me having an abecess in my breast, and what else should I expect from having an RSD/Autoimmune Disease?

I don't know. I don't think any of us do know what we can expect. Each of us end up with different symptoms and some much worse than others.

It's interesting that your doctor thought you might be on to something. So, I suppose they didn't have any other cause for the abscess? How are you feeling now? I know you came home... do things seem to be healing well and getting better? I sure hope so. Is the breathing OK?

I'm not sure when they decided to include RSD/CRPS in with autoimmune diseases, but I did see it on a list of them with RSD on it. I have a feeling that this could mean just about anything in the future unfortunately. But, we also might never have anything more than we have right now. We just don't know.

I have a friend who is coping with severe atrophy from her RSD and she is not very mobile at all, so I would just say that as much as we possibly can we need to keep moving. Rev says it all the time, too! Whatever we can do to keep using our bodies we need to do. Other than that I don't think we can know what to expect.

Wish I had better news!

gail

Hi Gail,

Thanks once again, Just trying to get some understanding or explanation as to why I suddenly developed an abecess in my breast, for no apparent reason...something that makes you go Ummm....? You,know?

My breathing is getting better..still a lil winded. It's going to take time for me to get back to where I once was. My doctor wants me to contact him by Thursday if I am not bettter though?

I know you want answers but your answer may be that the medical community donesn't know. I have come down with pneumonia a coupla of times: into the hospital with bacterial pneummonia in both lungs. No reason. I've had in my life infections that just showed up seemingly out of nowhere. It is possible that the RSD has diminished your ability to fight the infection so what might have been a minor something your body would have fought off without your being aware of it before, now becomes full blown infection. But folks without our disease get infections too so.,,

Is it possible that my lungs are weaker and more prone to infection because of my RSD? Possible but maybe because of my asthma and allergies too. So, sad to say, you may well not ever get the answers on why the infection. Just be careful to be sure you protects yourself by eating healthy, getting the sleep you need as you can and trying to get exercise as you are able. Those are the three things that seem to keep us healthiest. And don't focus on every pain and discomfort: instead focus on what you CAN do.

Rev.

Thanks Rev,

I am trying to focus on everything including re-using my foot or least getting it where it was before being in the hospital! I am trying eat healthier and more concsicous on getting as much rest I possiblly can.

Again, I'm just trying to make sense of all this. I never beeen sick or spent a day in the hospital before all of this and now it seems like my life's furture!

It's kinda like why do every so often do I get sores or blisters from the back of my neck down my spine and on my back. I know I have degenertive disc disease and I keep wonding sense it's not like a leg or arm I can't exercise it so maybe that is why I get the sores and blisters. The people who do not keep using their limbs with RSD get sores and blisters on them and that is what my back is like. When I get overly warm they get worse. Well I see the doctor tomorrow so hopefully I will find out. I know I got hypothyroidism from RSD. No wonder the doctors are confused. To me You get RSD and your body and mind turn on you!!

Have a goodnight everyone, Cindy

Cindy, i have had trouble with a sore purplish spot that lasted from approx 5 months on my breast...family doctor and dermatologist wanted me to do a skin biopsy but held out because i didn't want it to stir up my rsd and all the prescriptions given did not help...a friend told me to try coconut oil....it soothed it and healed it...exercise sure does help it... try to be as active as possible...i seem to be getting better gradually and praying for remission...wishing you the best with prayers ...wilma

Recurring skin wounds are a nasty part of RSD for many folks, including me. Throughout my RSD years, including my time in remission, I've been plagued by wounds on my right leg (my RSD leg). One of them was open, more or less, for nearly five years. Culturing revealed them to be staph infections, which is very scary, especially since I would up with MRSA about 5 years ago.

With me, they start with what looks like a small blister, like from a burn or poison ivy. When the blister finally opens, there's a strange-looking wound with very sharp edges, like I'd been attacked by a hostile paper punch. These have been cultured several times, and they're always staph.

I finally gave up on Western medicine after seeing many docs, including a chronic wound clinic about 60 mi. away, none of whom could heal the wounds. I ended up with a fantastic acupuncturist, who closed my 5-year wound in six weeks, and who finally closed a very resistant wound as of last week.

As someone who used to be suspicious about acupuncture, I'm now a major advocate for it. He has done, several times, what Western medicine was simply unable to do. I don't pretend to understand acupuncture, but it's very clear what an experienced practitioner can do.

Howard

Howard, That's amazing. I'm sorry you've had those wounds, but it's really great to hear of the healing finally coming. It sounds a bit crazy that acupuncture could do that, I admit some reluctance to believing it, but I do believe you. I wish Western medicine would be more open to some of these ideas. They don't want to embrance what they cannot understand by our Western minds, which I think is part of the reason the treatment of RSD seems so far behind.

I have a "stupid" question, even if they say that there aren't any stupid questions, this one is. Do these lesions occur only on the RSD affected limbs? If something like this happened on a limb not affected by RSD, could we assume that RSD had nothing to do with it? I had a very strange pair of blisters that appeared a year or so ago on my upper arm and I even took pictures of it because it was unlike anything I'd ever had. With no other explanation I could think of, I decided that it must be a spider bite (which almost made me ill to think of with my phobia of spiders).

This was slow to heal, and it took many weeks to go away. I didn't go to my doctor because it wasn't causing any problems other than at the site. It was over 1/2"square. Does that sound like a spider bite or do you think it would be related to RSD? I've not had another one. You wouldn't think someone would rather have a confirmation that an incurable illness caused a bad lesion and might do it again, would you, but I am so afraid of spiders that I stopped sleeping in my bedroom after this happened. It couldn't be RSD, though, could it? Logically I should hope that it wasn't RSD, but that's not what I really want to hear. I hate RSD, but I hate spiders, too! This was so natsy with red blood vessel looking tiny streaks in it. I didn't have RSD type pain at all, but did have some itching.

Howard, I hope you continue to heal and are feeling great soon!

gail

Hello Everyone,

So it does sound like the effects of having RSD/CRPS can lead from an abecess to a lesion to a blister. This is scary...because once again, what do you expect next? Not that I'm looking for anything...I'm just saying!