Quite a bit has happened since my last post. The pain in my ankle continued to escalate and I ended up in the emergency room in June. The pain meds were not getting it done and I woke up at around 4 in the morning and couldn't take it any more. The hospital did the usual tests and had to shoot me up with three rounds of dilauded and put me on oxy. Fortunately, I had an appointment with my surgeon scheduled for the next day. When I went in to see him, he said that he can't see any reason for the continued pain and recommended that I see a pain specialist. He wanted tor rule out RSD. I went to the pain clinic the next week and discussed my symptoms with the doctor. At this point, I could barely walk around the house without significant discomfort. Extended walks were completely out of the question. The ache in my heel and ankle were non-stop and worse after activity. The doc suggested an injection in my back to calm the sympathetic nerve. He also put me on the gabapentin, an anti-depressant (effexor), and 4 norco per day. The procedure for the injection was interesting. I went in and they put an iv in my arm. Then they gave me something for pain and to calm me down. The next thing I know, I'm in the recovery room. I guess they don't really knock you out put just make you really loopy and amnesiac. The pain in my ankle/foot got worse over the next 6 days and was to the point where I could barely get out of bed. I was taking 2 norco at at time every four hours and was miserable. Then, out of nowhere, I woke up on the 7th day and the pain was reduced about 80%. It was incredible!
I continued on the meds throughout June and July. For the most part, my foot would ache a little when not doing anything and get quite sore when I walked a lot. What is strange is that the ends of my toes became very sensitive to walking and would really hurt if I was on a tile floor. The same thing was happening with the bottom of my foot on the lateral side. I went back to the pain clinic around August 6th and the doc said he does believe that I have mild RSD (I can't imagine what major would be like!) and wants to continue with injections and treatment. I did explain that the 4 norco a day are not enough if I am active. He then switched me over to extended release ms contin. Apparently, this is morphine. Unfortunately, whenever I got morphine in the hospital in the past, it hasn't worked. It just makes me warm. So, I am now on the ms contin, gabapentin, and effexor. I really do not like the ms contin as it is not very effective for me and it makes me really out of it. I honestly don't know if I could maintain a difficult job while on this. I am constantly searching for the right words and my memory is affected. I am going to request that they take me off of it immediately. I really don't like it.
I'm scheduled to see the pain specialist again in September as well as my surgeon for an update.
