CPRS – Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is usually attributed to an injury the body has experienced, be it an arm or a leg for examples. In some cases CRPS can appear after surgery or post-stroke or another different medical problem. The symptoms of CRPS is a nasty burning sensation for most people and is usually much worse than the actual injury would suggest the pain levels should be.

For a while the condition was known as RSD – Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy – or Causalgia, however the name was changed to CRPS after doctors felt that RSD was far too vague for the problems the condition presented.

About Diagnosis

CRPS is normally diagnosed after a physical exam from your doctor. Patients who are suffering from this syndrome usually still have the severe burning pain long after the time the injuries should have been well healed, if not totally healed. Aside from this the area is normally swollen, and the colour of the skin may change slightly, as well as the temperature and moistness of the area too. In most cases these symptoms are enough to diagnose the condition and therefore no real tests as such are required, however your doctor may request a set of X-Rays be performed, or a set of bloods, depending on the situation and whether the doctor feels another illness is at the root of your CRPS or not.

Treatments for CRPS

Medication can be a big help in the fight against CRPS pain, but like most pain syndromes or problems, no one drug is effective enough to give long lasting pain relief. Therefore you could reasonably expect to be prescribed with a number of drugs to fight your CRPS – such as nerve block drugs, or steroids, anti-seizure and anti-depressants are also often prescribed in cases of CRPS too, however opiates and other such narcotics may not control the pain sufficiently to warrant the risks such strong pain killers can present.

Asides from medication, your doctor might suggest some alternative therapies to compliment your drug regime. This could include a sympathetic block – an injection to numb nerves and block pain signals – which can be repeated numerous times if successful. On top of this physical therapy may be an option depending on the area affected by the CRPS, and also psychological counseling can help the patient come to terms with their pain and it’s underlying problems.

If treated early then the chances are that you can prevent your CRPS pains from getting any worse, and it may even improve or disappear totally if you manage to catch it very early indeed. However, on the flip side of this coin people who are experiencing chronically bad CRPS pains that have lasted for long periods may well find that they don’t respond to treatment anywhere near as well as the less severe CRPS patients would do. In these cases your local Pain Management doctor might be able to arrange a program of treatments and medications aimed directly at dealing with chronic pain rather than the CRPS itself.

Written by: Jason D.
Webmaster and Chronic Neuropathic Pain Sufferer
www.chronicpainsupport.info
www.ostomysupport.info

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Published on: 2005-11-04