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FAQ
What are the symptoms of
RSD?
There is no perfect test for RSD, but diagnosis is
usually confirmed if three or more of the classic symptoms are
displayed. The most prominent and consistent is severe pain experienced
after the cause has gone (i.e. when the fracture, surgery or other
trauma is already healed). This pain is variously described, but
the most common word patients use is "burning" and it
covers a wider area than the original injury (the term 'glove-like
pain distribution' is often used to describe the effect). Swelling
frequently occurs, together with discolouration of the skin surface
(bluish red). The affected area will often produce coarse black
hairs - a feature almost unique to this condition. Partial paralysis
is often experienced and a major part of treatment is to combat
this loss of movement. The affected area will normally be hyper-sensitive
- sharp pain being felt in response to light touch. There will
also be irregular imbalance of temperature at the skin surface
- the affected area being much warmer (or much colder) than the
corresponding area of the unaffected limb. Some people have associated
RSD with loss of bone density, but this seems to be the physical
outcome of lack of use, rather than a direct result of the condition.
So, to summarise, common symptoms are:
severe pain (often described as "burning pain")
paralysis
swelling *
skin discoloration (often "bluish red") *
hyper-sensitivity to touch
increased sensitivity to heat or cold
coarse black hairs *
rapid surface temperature changes
* some of these symptoms may be quite short lived and may disappear
after the early weeks or months
The condition tends to result from minor trauma that neither
doctor nor patient expected to result in anything serious. Typically,
someone injures a hand/wrist or a foot/ankle and seems to be healing
well but then begins to develop pain out of all proportion to
the original injury.
Another, more subtle, symptom of RSD is a change in sensitivities.
Suddenly little things become irritating. There is an ill defined
feeling that something is "not right". This may be:
A feeling of annoyance
A new dimension to smells, taste, sights and sounds
Watering eyes that may also hurt from the light
Reduced taste sensitivity
Irregular heart rate, blood pressure and respiration
Weakness, tremors, muscle spasms, dystonia and increased reflexes.
RSD is characterised essentially by pain, vasomotor and autonomic
disturbances and atrophic changes but these subtle undertones
can become very important to the patient.
Derrick Phillips - Editor, RSD Alert
www.rsdalert.co.uk
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