Tremors and other lovely stuff...

Back when my husbands injury was still fairly new, maybe 6 months old, he began to have tremors in his leg. These tremors would last for several minutes and sometimes even hours off and on several minutes at a time. They tried him on Lyrica to stop them but that gave him such severe nightmares he had to stop. It's odd that they seem to have tapered down so much. I wonder if that's due to lack of muscle mass or if the brain is just coping with the situation.

I was thinking about the tremors because he had one this morning while sleeping. I woke up and the whole bed was shaking. Looked down and his leg was just going at it. I don't know if I have ever been aware of him having tremors in his sleep before. I always noticed them when he was awake because it would sometimes shake the floor and he would let it be known that he was upset over it. But they've tapered down tremendously although they still happen.

RSD has changed our lives in ways most people cant even imagine. I'm glad I seem to have found us a community of sorts here on blogspot to fit into, although it's bitter sweet because I wouldn't want anyone to have to go through any of this. But in a way it made me want to cry because here, there ARE people who understand. Even people in our family don't understand. They say things like, "just walk on it and you'll get used to it". They don't understand the true pain that he has when he just sets his foot on the floor.

This has changed our lives. He is on antidepressants, I'm on antidepressants too. People don't realize it effects everyone in the immediate family. Sleepless nights for me. Times I stand in the shower and cry. Everything has been affected by this. He cant do simple things he once did like take the trash out. He cant carry a load of laundry for me or bring the groceries in from the car. Even our sex life is affected because I always have to be conscious of where his foot is and not touching it, not bumping it. We don't go for the walks we once used to enjoy. He used to love to swim but any movement in the water causes him extreme pain.

Where does this end? It doesn't. There will always be something standing in line behind the last thing. Its a never ending cycle. The hair on his leg stopped growing and is almost non existent. His nails have only been clipped twice in 2 years on that foot. The skin is dry and flaky. Thick on the bottom like a callous but not calloused. He has lost 2 inches of muscle mass in the calf. It's red most of the time, sometimes a shade of purple or blue. Sometimes it almost looks black. At the last doctor appointment it was purple with a bright red spot the size of a dime in the middle. Most of the time its swollen. He has to have it propped up 99% of the time or it swells really bad. The 2 hour trip to the doctor is so hard on him. Hard enough on him we are looking to move again so we are closer to the doctors office.

He now has an infection in the big toe on that foot. He started antibiotics today. He also has to soak his foot several times a day right now to help clear the infection up. I'll try to get him to let me take some pictures of his foot to post.

Having Severe RSD has been such a rough hard road. Especially on him of course but also on both of us. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I couldn't imagine someone having this full body that would have to be unbearable.

I apologize for the pictures. I know they are not pretty and that toe is gross. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make all of this go away. We have hope that the SCS implant will help him. He is unable to wear a shoe and it's our hope that it will enable him to wear one. We also have hope that maybe he can at least walk with a cane instead of crutches. Hope is about all we have to cling to now. The last 2 years of RSD have taken everything else away.

Well I could sit here and type all day but the dishes wont do themselves yet! I pray that all your pains will be taken away so you can enjoy some relief!