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Old 10-16-2014, 10:12 AM
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catra121 catra121 is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Illinois
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catra121 catra121 is offline
Senior Member
catra121's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,785
10 yr Member
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You may be one of the lucky ones that got diagnosis and treatment early enough to have success at remission and if that's the case then I am very happy for you. If that's the case then I would keep the following things in mind (based on my own experiences):

1. Avoid immobilization. Even if it hurts...keep moving. Never push yourself to the point where the pain is too severe...but even on "bad days" try to at least do gentle stretches so you don't completely immobilize anything. Immobilization and CRPS are not a good match. If you can get any exercises from a physical therapist that you can do at home this would be helpful.

2. Avoid ice. Not everyone agrees on this but I would say the majority have experienced additional pain and (more importantly) spread as the result of using ice. Though I have CRPS through most of my body...I will not allow anyone to use ice on ANY part of my body (even those unaffected by CRPS at this time).

3. Keep a very close eye on the things that trigger your pain or make stuff worse...and then avoid those things. Sometimes it's just about learning a different WAY of doing something that will avoid triggering the pain.

4. Avoid getting yourself into any kind of bad pain cycle. If the pain gets worse...address it. If you don't have anything at home to do this with, then call your doctor right away if the pain increases. Hopefully you have something to address flare up pain that you don't take every day but that you can use as needed.

5. Try to find ways to relax and wind down. Stress is a known trigger for CRPS...so do your best to avoid that like any other triggers. It's amazing how much this can help...but it's also one of the hardest things to do when you are dealing with chronic pain. At least now you can hopefully focus on moving forward now that the diagnosis has been confirmed and that should at least be one less thing to stress about.

Best of luck to you. I agree that most of us on this forum have had this for a while and/or have more severe cases of the condition...but that doesn't mean we can't help you. I've learned so much from this forum and because of what I've learned I have been able to take my life back despite the CRPS pain I deal with each and every day. I hope you experience a full remission...but even if you do keep many of the above in mind because remission is not a cure and you still need to be careful and on alert for any signs that it might be returning.

Take care and good luck!
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