My name is Melissa & I have CRPS in my foot. I have been lurking on the site for a while but I wanted to share a little of my story & say hello.

A little background.....I woke one morning with pain in my left ankle. No specific injury to speak of. I saw a Podiatrist & we did an MRI. It showed a deep heel fracture & tendinitis with some tearing in the tendon. I was put in a cast, with weekly cast changes to monitor my progress. The pain was not getting better. My Dr was hesitant to do surgery, because I had already had a nerve issue with my gallbladder (I had my gallbladder removed, but I was still in pain like it was still there. They fixed one of the issues in there only to be sent to Mayo Clinic because I couldn't eat from being in so much pain. They determined that I was having phantom pains & was put on Cymbalta, Lyrica & Trazadone. The meds helped & was able to eat but still having some pain, but it was bearable.). So this is why he didn't want to do surgery, he was worried about CRPS. But he didn't have much of a choice. He had to go in & do a tendon repair. Before he did, I went to pain management to have a nerve block before & after surgery. Those didn't help & now I am faced with this. So as I was researching CRPS, I now realize that the pain in my "non gallbladder" was & is CRPS. I am so frustrated!! Why didn't the meds I am already on not work for my foot? So my PM has put added on Exalgo 12 mg & Norrco 7.5 mg. We both have decided to treat this aggressively & I am waiting for my trial of the SCS. We have been waiting for a couple of months for insurance to approve it & they are now dragging their feet even though we have done everything necessary to show them that it is medically necessary.

I can't stand anything touching my foot & people keep telling me that I need to put something on my foot. They don't understand that it would cause me more pain that I am in. I have feelings of guilt on what I can't do for myself right now because I am on crutches (have been for 6 months now). My son is a senior in high school & he isn't enjoying his senior year because he is taking care of me. My husband & I are separated, so everything is falling on my son. I am just tired of being in constant pain & feeling very scared & alone right now......

Sorry for the novel, but I wanted to explain a little bit of my situation. Thank you for reading my story.