Hi Phaedra - very sorry to hear the diagnosis has compounded like that.

I didn't have both - only RSD/CRPS. But I do think they are closely related. There are posts on here from over the years by people who have been diagnosed with both; many of them had RSD first and developed fibromyalgia after. Some went the other way and had fibromyalgia, then RSD. It is likely that lack of diagnosis (or mis-diagnosis) plays a role in how the sequence is reported as well. I'm not surprised you're confused, because so am I

The bottom line is that there are a whole host of issues that come with the RSD "territory" - migraines, digestive/food sensitivities, gross and fine motor skill deterioration, decrease in focus/mental/memory capacity, joint sensitivity, emotional instability... the list goes on and on

My (non-medically backed) opinion is that, rather than a mysterious "overreacting" nervous system that is responding to a trauma (or in some cases some non-existent event), RSD in its initial physical form is when the immune system continually responds to inflammation with more inflammation -- then hypoxia sets in over time as the body continues to "splint" itself, and symptoms change in relation to that. Many of these symptoms are very similar to fibromyalgia.

Why is the inflammation there to begin with, and why is it compounding on itself rather than resolving - to me, these are the more relevant questions.
:::steps off soapbox:::

I'm no physical scientist or anywhere near a medical professional - just a regular person who doesn't have RSD anymore. There are tons of people that know way more than I do about way more stuff. Just want to add an alternative viewpoint to the mix.