RSD Alert

www.rsdalert.co.uk

Warning and encouraging

If you came to this page direct from a Search engine and don't know about Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, please take time to visit our Home page and learn about RSD.

RSD Alert Home Page
Index to non-Drug Treatments for RSD/CRPS

RSD Alert is a voluntary organisation publishing RSD/CRPS information, mostly provided by our readers. Remember that what works for some people may not work for others. Always consult your medical advisor about your own treatment.

To make personal contact with one of the RSD Alert Team - Click the "Contact" button.
Write to our Team
If you have relevant information or experience please Click the "Submit Info" button to share your knowledge.
Share your information

Treatments

Treatments on RSD Alert

(Information - plus comments from correspondents)

Sympathetic Blocks
Description
 A short term equivalent to sympathectomy performed by chemical means. Selected drugs are injected to interfere with the release of norepinephrine at the sympathetic neuroeffector junction. (i.e. to chemically deaden the relevant nerves). See also Guanethidine Blocks
Notes

 

 Routinely used by many pain clinics, this treatment has a mixed reception from chronic pain sufferers. However, it does provide a welcome relief from pain for many patients, and is far less radical than physical sympathectomy.

Comments
My Daughter,Natalie had a sympathetic block in June this year.She has RSD/CRPS in her left leg. At the time we did not think to ask about any risks as I myself had an epidural done during pregnancy,and this sounded pretty straightforward; also she would be put to sleep. My Daughter is 15years old and we thought this was the answer to help with the pain of the RSD. Only now I wish I had taken more time to find out what things can go wrong. Even if you are told the chance of something going wrong is 100/1, what if you happen to be that one? My daughter suffered a tear to the tissue in the dura membrane which leaked fluid and resulted in low pressure headaches and severe sickness. It has now been ten weeks and this problem still isn't sorted. It took us seven weeks to get the hospital to do an MRI scan of the brain which showed inflamation of the mengies which was due to a leak. The problem is the difficulty in finding where the leak is as the block is done in three parts of your back, so this week (August 2003) my daughter will have an Isotope x-ray to pinpoint the hole which we hope can then be repaired so that she will be able to sit and stand up again. For ten weeks now she has had to lie flat because putting her in an upright position causes the fluid to leak out. So please just make sure you know all the things that might and can go wrong, no matter how big the odds of it happening to you. At least then you can make the right choice and decide for yourself. Diane & Natalie - Edinburgh, Scotland
www.rsdalert.org
www.rsdalert.co.uk
for correspondence click CONTACT

 

Recommend this Web page to a friend! Script supplied by .net magazine
Enter a friend's e-mail address below, then click on the Send Email button to send them an e-mail.