1/18/14. The post where I tell you about ice and the McGill Pain Index.

January 18, 2014: first, a little housekeeping.  I've gotten a day behind on my posting, so this morning, I am posting about yesterday.  Those of you who are following me via email are getting posts the next day, so right now they are actually two days behind.  I intend to catch up by posting again tonight about today's events.

So much for my theory that the Lyrica was working.  The pain was back up in the 7-8 range all day. By the time I went to bed, my foot was swollen again, the pain had climbed to a 9, and I was using my yoga deep breathing to keep from either screaming or crying. The one good thing about Lyrica is that once I am able to fall asleep, I sleep pretty well.  And by "sleep", I mean "pass out in a drugged stupor."  I've also noticed that my foot tends to be red now instead of purple and black.  I don't know if that is a result of the medication, and I don't even know if it means anything, but it seems like a good thing.  Black is a scary color to see on your foot.

I had been a pretty good girl Saturday.  I wore sensible shoes and my orthotics and tried not to aggravate it.  I haven't established enough of a pattern yet to know if I was paying for the sins of the previous day, but I promise the shoe experiments are over for awhile.  One of my brothers was in town with his family for a visit, so I got to spend some time with them, which brightened the day considerably.

I go back to the doctor in three days and so far, I don't think I can say the Lyrica has caused any remarkable improvement.  I'm also having some issues (like swelling of my foot and difficulty concentrating) that I don't know whether to attribute to the RSD or the medication.  I'm not good at this "take it one day at a time" business.

I continue to read about the disorder and am learning some interesting things.  For instance, people with RSD should not ice injuries.  I still don't completely understand it, but it has to do with ice constricting the blood vessels.  Ice can trigger RSD, and in people who already have it, it can aggravate it.  Except in rare cases, only heat should be used to treat injuries.  This is great news.  I have always hated using ice packs.  The lesson I took away from my reading was no ice, more hot baths.  Score!

I am also reading about the McGill Pain Index, another thing I don't yet completely understand.  The bottom line is that according to this index, which was developed to quantify different types of pain, RSD (or causalgia, as it used to be called), has the highest score on the index and is considered the most painful chronic disorder.   This gives me some comfort.  I am not a wimp.  This really, really, really hurts.

I have more to say, but I'll save it for tonight.  Think I'll go take a hot bath...