Have you thought of having your foot amputated?
Yes, in the first few years I consulted surgeons about doing this as a solution and they flatly refused. They explained that it was highly unlikely to stop my pain and would more than likely make my pain worse. I had trouble imagining what 'worse' could be like because I really doubted it could get much worse, the thought of it getting worse could make living close to impossible. My CRPS pain is not coming from the anything physically wrong in the foot apart from damaged and oversensitived nerves, although the original pain was caused by something that was wrong (a growth on a nerve), that growth was removed and the pain is now being maintained by a disease involving a malfunction of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Can't you take some pain killer medication in order to go out?
Ordinary pain killers, even strong opioids do absolutely for my neuropathic pain, although they may help many CRPS patients. Different treatment work for different people and what works for one may not help another. Antidepressants, anticonvulsants are also used to treat neuropathic pain, unfortunately they do not help my pain. If these drugs were a means of getting a more active life it would make sense to be using them wisely.
I thought your spinal cord stimulator had stopped your pain?
Spinal Cord Stimulators rarely stop all the pain and this is made very clear before you have one implanted. On average most people can expect a 50% reduction in pain, it can be much higher for some, but from what I know Spinal Cord Stimulators rarely stop all the pain. For me it does not stop the severe shooting pains but I get a lot less of them and I have a means of managing my pain flares better. It has improved my life considerably as before the implant I had zero means of managing my pain.
What is neuropathic pain and why is it different?
The main types of pain are nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain.
Nociceptive is pain following a cut or a broken bone for example. Tissue damage or injury initiates signals that are transferred through peripheral nerves to the brain via the spinal cord and we become aware that something is hurting.
Neuropathic pain is pain caused by damage or disease that affects the nervous system. Sometimes there is no obvious source of pain, and this pain can occur spontaneously. Classic examples of this pain are shingles and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Neuropathic pain is initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the peripheral or central nervous system. One example is the phantom limb pain patients feel after amputation. The pain may be spontaneous, stimulus-evoked, or a combination of both. Its characteristics are often different from those of nociceptive pain experienced after an injury:
Yes, in the first few years I consulted surgeons about doing this as a solution and they flatly refused. They explained that it was highly unlikely to stop my pain and would more than likely make my pain worse. I had trouble imagining what 'worse' could be like because I really doubted it could get much worse, the thought of it getting worse could make living close to impossible. My CRPS pain is not coming from the anything physically wrong in the foot apart from damaged and oversensitived nerves, although the original pain was caused by something that was wrong (a growth on a nerve), that growth was removed and the pain is now being maintained by a disease involving a malfunction of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Can't you take some pain killer medication in order to go out?
Ordinary pain killers, even strong opioids do absolutely for my neuropathic pain, although they may help many CRPS patients. Different treatment work for different people and what works for one may not help another. Antidepressants, anticonvulsants are also used to treat neuropathic pain, unfortunately they do not help my pain. If these drugs were a means of getting a more active life it would make sense to be using them wisely.
I thought your spinal cord stimulator had stopped your pain?
Spinal Cord Stimulators rarely stop all the pain and this is made very clear before you have one implanted. On average most people can expect a 50% reduction in pain, it can be much higher for some, but from what I know Spinal Cord Stimulators rarely stop all the pain. For me it does not stop the severe shooting pains but I get a lot less of them and I have a means of managing my pain flares better. It has improved my life considerably as before the implant I had zero means of managing my pain.
What is neuropathic pain and why is it different?
The main types of pain are nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain.
Nociceptive is pain following a cut or a broken bone for example. Tissue damage or injury initiates signals that are transferred through peripheral nerves to the brain via the spinal cord and we become aware that something is hurting.
Neuropathic pain is pain caused by damage or disease that affects the nervous system. Sometimes there is no obvious source of pain, and this pain can occur spontaneously. Classic examples of this pain are shingles and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Neuropathic pain is initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the peripheral or central nervous system. One example is the phantom limb pain patients feel after amputation. The pain may be spontaneous, stimulus-evoked, or a combination of both. Its characteristics are often different from those of nociceptive pain experienced after an injury:
- In neuropathic pain the central neurons are sensitised, so they fire spontaneously, or abnormally. If this sensitisation persists the pain becomes chronic and is often difficult to treat.
- Neuropathic pain is often continuous in nature (as opposed to movement-induced pain), and can have burning and shooting qualities. There are also associated symptoms such as numbness and dysaesthesia (an abnormal unpleasant sensation felt when touched, caused by damage to peripheral nerves)
- There are considerable overlaps in the pain descriptors between nociceptive and neuropathic pain. Some patients may have nociceptive and neuropathic pain.
