Wow.

I've come back and read this three times, and I still can't quite believe the tone of it.

I'm hoping that you genuinely mean this and believe it, and that it's not a cruel joke. What you say makes some sense in terms of eliminating stress, junk food etc and trying to get healthy.

BUT. Oh it's such a big BUT. We do not choose our environment - it develops, we do not choose stress - it builds up. Stress comes to us in many ways, and I'm betting the majority of us aren't in a position to elimate it from our lives. We have lives, jobs, children, money worries, family who don't make things easy, housework to attempt, etc etc etc.

Also, by that reckoning and logic, people could cure themselves of most other health conditions.

As a starting post this is unbelievably tactless considering the condition we are living with. I have no doubt at all that healthy living is best for us all, it makes perfect sense, and of course we should be making every effort to live healthily. But life isn't that simple. Living without stress is a dream for most people in the world, those who are healthy and those who aren't. But for that to happen, we would need to live in a retreat somewhere and forget we have families, lives, jobs, etc.

Yes we can approach life in a calmer way, we can try not to let things get to us, we can buy organic vegetables and not smoke, drink or eat processed foods, too much red meat and sugars. I believe in those things. But on a difficult budget, when we can't stand and cook every night, with children who are growing up, husbands who work long hours, and all the other things that make up life, we would have to be so selfish to demand the kind of environment you describe.

I exercise, meditate, relax when I can. I am positive. I try to eat healthily, but I do have a few treats every now and then. I love my family, I listen to my kids, I love my husband who tries so hard to deal with this too. I work as much as i can despite not feeling like it most days.

We would ALL love to be free of this nightmare situation, but it's not as easy as you describe, and the people on these boards are living in unbearable pain with mobility issues and health problems piling up on each other, doctors with limited understanding and no bedside manner, money worries and stress around every corner. Just getting out of bed is a mammoth effort. Please don't tell them they could cure themselves if they only tried hard enough.

I hope you meant well and if you did then I'm sorry if I've upset or offended you. Advice and research findings are welcome and useful, telling us point blank that basically its our own fault and we could 'cure' ourselves if we chose just sounds like a telling-off. I'm glad you've left your health problem behind (although CRPS can go into remission for possibly years) and can enjoy life fully again, but plenty of other folk have tried doing what you describe in order to 'cure' themselves of health problems, and it doesn't seem to be a panacea.

(Breathes deeply for a few moments. Counts to ten.)

Sorry. Not my best day.

Bram.