I went to the pain clinic today to find some answers and relief for my extreme pain in my right foot. I saw Dr. NP with Froedtert Medical College - Pain Management Clinic, who was really knowledgeable and funny. He really made my visit less stressful. He did an exam and noticed that my right leg would turn blue when I stood. I thought it was, but whenever I asked anyone, they always told me it was just swollen. He actually had a Resident come in to look at my leg as a learning tool to this condition. After the exam he diagnosed me with "Complex Regional Pain Syndrome" - CRPS, which is a serious malfunction of the nervous system. The main effect of the disorder is that the nerve endings in the area that are affected are constantly experiencing severe pain even though there is nothing physically causing the pain. He wanted to start treatment immediately as he knew how painful this is. They were able to squeeze me in and gave me the 1st of 4 "Lumbar Sympathetic Nerve Block" injections. He was really happy that I came sooner than later as its better to treat this condition early on.
I had the Nerve-Block injection with no sedation as I figured the pain in my foot was probably worse than the pain of the injection. The injection did hurt mainly in my rear as he was injecting it. Immediately afterwards there was no pain in the injection sight. As the night is going on though, the injection sight and my rear have become very tender and painful. I did however have a pretty big headache afterwards, but it seemed to wear off within about 5 minutes. My foot also became very hot and has continued to last, but Dr. NP said that was a good sign that the blood vessels were opening up. I am very hopeful for some pain relief even though I haven't had any yet.
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