-A Long Day,Quiet Weekend-

It took over a month of torture tofinally get my pain management to confirm what I suspected to be RSD.

One month ago, I realized the pins in needles in my ankle were similar to the ones I had in my shoulder when I wasn't having a flare up- and I kid you not, the next day, my ankle hurt so bad, all the way up to my butt check (the politest way I can put it), I could not walk.  I called my pain management doctor's office hoping to get some kind of help- they respond by telling me the following:

1. "RSD does not spread"  (Yes, it does)
2. "The doctor is on vacation for a week.
3. "Our nurses are over booked and under paid."

I was so frustrated, and hurt so bad, I broke out into tears.  No one should be treated that way, especially a person being treated for chronic pain. I did get the reception's name.
That night I ended up in the Emergency Room for 4 hours, just to get a shot to relieve the pain over night so I could sleep.  I also ended up with a prescription of an opiate I had never taken before.
Later that week, I was back in the ER. The medication they prescribed was making it hard for me to breath.  I spent the entire day there.  My fiance asked his mom to babysit, so we didn't bring our son to the ER.  They sent me home and told me to see my GP and take my old medication- I was back to where I started, and very frustrated.

When I saw my GP, he couldn't understand why the pain management hadn't started me on Lyrica yet, and then took me off of Nortriptyline, because I had an extremely low blood pressure (hypo-tension).  I was taking Nortripliline not for it's anti-anxiety purposes, but to treat nerve pain. 
As a result, a day later, I ended up back in the ER.  Extremely frustrated, and at my wits end, I was hoping they would send me home after conducting at least a X-Ray of my back to rule out the possibility of a pinch nerve.  Instead they sent me home, and increase my opiate intake.

I had my stellate ganglion block 4 days later.  The surgeon was aware of the way I had been treated by her office, and had known I had not yet seen my pain management doctor.  When I came in, and she found out that I had been back to the ER twice, and still had not heard from the office, she called herself, and made me an appointment.

Friday, I saw my doctor.  Beyond frustrated, exhausted, and emotionally drained, I waited in the office with my son and fiance.  I hadn't been able to play with my son all month, hardly able too keep up with him.  My fiance had been my emotional rock and stood by me even when I took my frustrations out on him.

The doctor came in and apologized.  Talked about a SCS implant (I'm not interested, everyone who has had one that I've spoken with hates it), and wrote me a script for steroids. He will talk to my neurologist about Lyrica, and sent me home.

I'm going to a new pain center on Monday. No one should have to wait a month, and be treated any less than a human being.