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Mortar blast injuries diagnosed as RSD but RSD type treatment failing

Posted by bumblebee1 @bumblebee1, Sep 26, 2018

Hello there My husband was in a mortar blast in Iraq in 2004 which left him with shrapnel wounds in his left leg and right arm. The largest of the leg wounds was next to his knee...and sorry for being graphic, but it tore a hole in the front out the back. So move through the years, he has pain, a lot of pain, the VA pumps him full of 800 MG Motrin till he develops GERD, followed by Barrets Esophagus (but that’s another story )and still there is pain, pain which he describes as a raidiating halo around his knee cap and up under his knee. So move forward, years go by, the VA does scopes, cortisone injections more pain meds, just as VA orders a knee replacement, we go for a second opinion and they advise,NO WAY, no knee replacement needed spacing on X-rays are as they should be and that he has Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Move forward another 4 years he has had acupuncture, sympathatic nerve blocks, Radio Frequency Ablation, Spinal Cord Stimulator, loads of different medications, and nothing has been able to combat his chronic pain.
Has anybody out there had any type of nerve injuries that used some kind of treatment that has worked brilliantly
Thanks!

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Mentor
John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Sep 27, 2018

Hello @bumblebee1 -- I am sorry that your husband has to deal with so much pain. It sounds like the VA has tried a lot of different treatments. My knee is bone on bone but my pain level is probably only a 3 to a 4 and more of an ache than a sharp biting pain. My ortho doc doesn't think I'm a candidate for knee replacement yet and pretty much told me I could end up worse off after a knee replacement. I'm doing physical therapy exercises for stretching and range of motion, basically just keep moving as much as possible. I also have small fiber peripheral neuropathy so I've research a little about nerve damage and nerve pain. Most of the pain med block the pain signal in the brain and have a lot of adverse side effects but if they work and make the pain go away that's a good thing. I just have numbness from my damaged nerves and not much out there that helps with numbness according to my neurologist.

Have you done any research to see if there are new developments or treatments for his pain from his knee injury? A lot of times I will use Google Scholar to find research type information (https://scholar.google.com/). I did find an interesting article but I'm not sure if it's helpful to you.

Prolonged knee pain relief by saphenous block (new technique)
-- http://www.indianjpain.org/article.asp?issn=0970-5333;year=2013;volume=27;issue=1;spage=36;epage=40;aulast=Harshe

Hoping you find some answers...

John

REPLY
2 replies
bumblebee1 | @bumblebee1 | Sep 27, 2018
In reply to @johnbishop "Hello @bumblebee1 -- I am sorry that your husband has to deal with so much pain...." + (show)
@johnbishop

Hello @bumblebee1 -- I am sorry that your husband has to deal with so much pain. It sounds like the VA has tried a lot of different treatments. My knee is bone on bone but my pain level is probably only a 3 to a 4 and more of an ache than a sharp biting pain. My ortho doc doesn't think I'm a candidate for knee replacement yet and pretty much told me I could end up worse off after a knee replacement. I'm doing physical therapy exercises for stretching and range of motion, basically just keep moving as much as possible. I also have small fiber peripheral neuropathy so I've research a little about nerve damage and nerve pain. Most of the pain med block the pain signal in the brain and have a lot of adverse side effects but if they work and make the pain go away that's a good thing. I just have numbness from my damaged nerves and not much out there that helps with numbness according to my neurologist.

Have you done any research to see if there are new developments or treatments for his pain from his knee injury? A lot of times I will use Google Scholar to find research type information (https://scholar.google.com/). I did find an interesting article but I'm not sure if it's helpful to you.

Prolonged knee pain relief by saphenous block (new technique)
-- http://www.indianjpain.org/article.asp?issn=0970-5333;year=2013;volume=27;issue=1;spage=36;epage=40;aulast=Harshe

Hoping you find some answers...

John

Jump to this post

Thank you John for your tips, I will definitely be checking out the google scholar site! Funny you mention the Saphenous Nerve block, he just had the diagnostic done a week ago! He takes nerve meds, they never seem to work very well on him, I think they may just not be as effective when used with his PTSD and other meds.
It’s been a long old road, but I will find something or someone who can help me fix him 🙂

REPLY
thankful | @thankful | Sep 28, 2018
In reply to @johnbishop "Hello @bumblebee1 -- I am sorry that your husband has to deal with so much pain...." + (show)
@johnbishop

Hello @bumblebee1 -- I am sorry that your husband has to deal with so much pain. It sounds like the VA has tried a lot of different treatments. My knee is bone on bone but my pain level is probably only a 3 to a 4 and more of an ache than a sharp biting pain. My ortho doc doesn't think I'm a candidate for knee replacement yet and pretty much told me I could end up worse off after a knee replacement. I'm doing physical therapy exercises for stretching and range of motion, basically just keep moving as much as possible. I also have small fiber peripheral neuropathy so I've research a little about nerve damage and nerve pain. Most of the pain med block the pain signal in the brain and have a lot of adverse side effects but if they work and make the pain go away that's a good thing. I just have numbness from my damaged nerves and not much out there that helps with numbness according to my neurologist.

Have you done any research to see if there are new developments or treatments for his pain from his knee injury? A lot of times I will use Google Scholar to find research type information (https://scholar.google.com/). I did find an interesting article but I'm not sure if it's helpful to you.

Prolonged knee pain relief by saphenous block (new technique)
-- http://www.indianjpain.org/article.asp?issn=0970-5333;year=2013;volume=27;issue=1;spage=36;epage=40;aulast=Harshe

Hoping you find some answers...

John

Jump to this post

@johnbishop- John, I have many friends including a 91 year old mother of a dear friend who has had knee replacement and in many cases both were done at different times and although they all had varying degrees of pain, all have told me that they were so glad they went ahead with the surgery. I would also recommend getting several opinions about different Orthopedic surgeons because I know there are some very good ones out there as well as not so good. One friend kept putting it off and that ended up causing a major hip problem as he began to walk in a way that he was compensating for the pain in his knee. In the end he had both knees done as well as a new hip over a 2 year period. The other key thing that all said was to make sure you kept up with the PT and in some cases loose some weight.
All my best to you! Jim@thankful

REPLY
1 reply
Mentor
John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Sep 28, 2018
In reply to @thankful "@johnbishop- John, I have many friends including a 91 year old mother of a dear friend..." + (show)
@thankful

@johnbishop- John, I have many friends including a 91 year old mother of a dear friend who has had knee replacement and in many cases both were done at different times and although they all had varying degrees of pain, all have told me that they were so glad they went ahead with the surgery. I would also recommend getting several opinions about different Orthopedic surgeons because I know there are some very good ones out there as well as not so good. One friend kept putting it off and that ended up causing a major hip problem as he began to walk in a way that he was compensating for the pain in his knee. In the end he had both knees done as well as a new hip over a 2 year period. The other key thing that all said was to make sure you kept up with the PT and in some cases loose some weight.
All my best to you! Jim@thankful

Jump to this post

Thanks Jim @thankful, I'm still doing the PT as much as possible and plan to continue. I still need to lose about 20 pounds, I'm a whopping 237 today but I can go up and down 5 or 6 pounds in a day. I eat fairly healthy and really try and control my portions but I'm like a lot of people and it has to be a lifestyle change for me. I was 330 lbs and got to around 300 then joined Weight Watchers and learned a lot. I got down to 250 with them but decided I could do it without paying them if I changed the way I live and watched my portions. The knee has put a crimp in my goals as I can no longer do a lot of the physical things I was doing before including more exercise which helped with the diet.

So, just have to keep taking it one day at time, one step at a time ☺ (until I can get consensus from my ortho team that hey, he needs a TKR!).

Happy Friday my cyber friend!
John

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