Boy, can I relate! My poor husband is a saint and since the onset of the CRPS I've snapped more than once on the best thing that's every happened to me - which doesn't help my self-worth one bit.

I'm trying to sort out what different responses from friends and family mean. For example one of my sons will ask questions and let me talk and then say supportive things, and the other doesn't ask and doesn't respond when I do talk about it. It's starting to dawn on me that the son who doesn't ask and doesn't talk is just worried about asking or saying the wrong thing and would rather be a listener. I know I respond differently to different people too. For example, I have some really funny friends who've made wisecracks when I'm talking about my pain or the unwelcome changes in my life and I have to admit - they're funny enough that it IS a "pattern interrupt" and I wind up laughing too and feel a little better. On the other hand, I've discovered that even though my husband is very funny he'd better not joke with me when I'm talking about my struggle with CRPS or I feel completely alone and abandoned.