Aww Vrae I'm so sorry. I'm not surprised you feel so crappy with all of that going on, you must be exhausted by it. Not to mention fed up to the back teeth.

I hear you on the monthly cycle thing as well. Always makes things worse, and I find I get more emotionally wired as well. I'm sure some of that is normal as you get older, but throw CRPS into the mix and it's all crazy

I can't advise you on the torso symptoms because I'm lucky that apart from my left side, my problems there have been limited to my intercostal muscles and the odd heart twinge freakiness. But no, as others have said, please don't have any operation or procedure anywhere near your bladder/reproductives - if the CRPS gets a hold in that area things will feel even more horrendous than they already do.

Do you do meditation at all? I was a skeptic but at times it has been invaluable to me, that time of calm and peace, nice smells, quietness or soothing sounds, just me and sometimes a voice in the darkness. I don't do it very often now (now that's interesting, maybe I should try it myself, might have been too long) but I was always shocked at how tensed up my body was, at how far from relaxation I really was. Fighting pain tenses every muscle and nerve fibre, and when you're doing that every single day it's no wonder our bodies short-circuit. The Mindfulness stuff is good, or there are free tracks on iTunes. It used to do more for me than the so-called painkillers ever did. The more I type this, the more convinced I am that it's high time I tried it again myself - it must have been a good three months since I did a session, and now all the symptoms are flooding back with the bad weather it's maybe time to start again. (Sigh)

I get contractures sometimes in my leg and foot, and massage really helps me. Have you been able to try it? Might be worth a go, as long as the therapist is clear about starting very gently and not causing extra pain, and using good amounts of natural oils to avoid causing more pain to sensitive skin... It calms me down as well, and relaxes me out a bit. Sorry if you've tried it and it's not been good.

Oh Vrae. I'd love to be able to take all that away and just let you feel better again. But we can't do that, and you know as well as any of us that you yourself are your best doctor with this. Try the things that have helped in the past, and try to think of something new. Equally, do see your doc and talk to them about all this scary stuff that's happening. Even if they can't do anything much to help, you might feel a bit better for having been checked over and getting it on record.

I'll be thinking of you and hoping for things to ease up for you very soon. Try to stay calm and not to panic, easy to say, very hard to do I know. If I wasn't on the other side of the pond I'd come over and give you a gentle hug and make you a cup of tea

Hang in there chick, you'll get past this time and to something happier.

Bram.