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5th Metatarsal Surgically Pinned With Nerve Damage

I broke my 5th metatarsal on the 1st July, it didn't fuse so by October they said an option is surgery. They went in found a muscle stuck in the brake, moved it out the way and pinned it with a plate. 12 hours after I was in severe agony with the feeling of a wire dragging round my ankle bone (obviously the nerve) on the exterior of my foot leading to throbbing pain where the plate is, this is only ever interrupted by an acute shooting pain through my foot like electricity.
I am a very active healthy non smoking, non diabetic, non drinking 30 year old woman who has been given a diagnoses of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). I feel that the pain is more a result of the plate and pins but am being left in the dark by my surgeon. It has been 5 weeks since surgery and really am in desperate need of other prognosis.
Thank you for your time and Help.

  
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700223 tn?1318165694
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Pain that developed that quickly after surgery is probably not CRPS.  More likely the nerve is trapped beneath the plate, or within the fracture itself. If your current surgeon is not responsive to your problems, perhaps a second opinion would be helpful.
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Avatar universal
Not a medical professional but an athlete haunted by a health system obsessed with an "easy" diagnosis. If they can't readily explain the pain then it must be CRPS or RSD.  Do not buy this story, especially from a primary care physician or any specialist other than physical medicine, neurology or a pain clinic specialist.  My podiatrist and ortho have been pushing me towards RSD and CRPS for months even after my radiologist, pain and physical medicine specialists all said that there is no way it could be either of those syndromes.  Push for more competent specialists and avoid the epidural sympathetic nerve block without extensive personal research and consultation with a pain specialist.  CRPS seems to be the ADHD of the year.  It's diagnosed based on basic symptomology and rarely on physical evidence. Push for more and more specialists!!!  
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