It's not easy Lottie. I used to try to explain the the public face what I have and how much pain I'm in, but most of the didn't get it. My husband and son get it, but even they have moments when they don't. But when I remind them, they do again. The outside world just doesn't and I now hand out brochures explaining rsd to them, because I'm tired of trying to explain it myself. As long as my husband and son and drs get it, that's all I care about. I think it's sad that people think that if you look fairly normal then you must be okay. That's so not true. I cover my not so normal parts, because I don't want people to see my messed up wrist and hand and all of my bedsores and my swollen foot, because it's embarrassing to me, but it still bothers me that they don't get it. And they can't "see" the pain I'm constantly in. I just don't talk about it anymore with them. I hope you have better luck than me in getting people to understand this illness. It's sad to say, but I think people understand cancer more than rsd because rsd is so rare. It's very frustrating. Take care and I hope you can have better luck than me with this.