I am 19 years old, and I was diagnosed with RSD on May 22, 2014. The day before Easter April 18, 2014. I was at work, I sat down at break time, and when it was time to get up and go back to work. I collapsed, so I got back up (pretty embarrassed) so I tried again, and fell again. It felt as if there was no heel bone in my foot. Thankfully it was closing time, so shortly after that I headed to my car and went home. When I got home I tried to get out of my car thinking, "it was probably just a one time thing, i'll be fine now." Boy was I wrong, I couldn't make it any further than the door of my car. So, I called my mom to come help me get inside, I told her I would sleep it off then we would go to the hospital after all the Easter festivities were over. By this time I had my walking boot (which I had used from 3 previous surgeries on the same foot) and my crutches, my foot was swollen like a sausage and looked bruised, and all sorts of weird colors. And the pain was so bad I couldn't sleep, for weeks, I couldn't sleep.

When we got to the ER Easter morning, they ran X-rays and took blood.. the normal work up. They told me I had a sprained ankle. LOL I've had plenty of sprained ankles, this wasn't a sprained ankle.

I then went to my foot doctor, whom I have had quite a few surgeries with... When I was younger I had grown too fast, so my muscles and bones didn't have time to catch up with each other. So I had to have reconstructive surgery on both feet. To fix my bunion, draw an arch, and fix my soulous muscle.) He ordered me to get a bone scan, MRI on my foot, leg, knee, and lumbar.

After all the tests came back negative, I was sent to a local neurologist in Lima, Dr. Kuhlman. Dr. Kuhlman was concerned by the amount of pain I was in.. You know how they ask you, " Rate your pain on a level from 1-10" in my mind I'm thinking uhhhh 15!!! He ran an EMG from my toes to below my knee, and I'm sure all of you other RSD patients know those are just AWFUL.. after a little talking he then looked at my mom and I and told us he thinks it's best if we go somewhere bigger, like OSU Medical or Cleveland Clinic. So when we walked out of the office we made an appointment for the 22 of May at the Cleveland Clinic. He also prescribed some pain medicine to help this God awful pain syndrome.

May 22, 2014 we arrived at the Cleveland Clinic to get this all straightened out. We got there around 7am. My appointment was at 7:!5. After our first initial consultation with the doctor, she wanted to run another EMG. They had their very own wing of rooms designated for these EMG's. I will never forget this day.. Because the man who did my EMG started at my foot, and went all the way up to my lower back. When I say it was the most awful hour or so of my life. The doctor struggled to keep my foot at the right temperature for the first part of the test, so we kept putting my leg into warm water to keep it at normal temperature.

After the EMG was done we went to another wing of the hospital for a Sweat
Test. Which was pretty cool actually, if any of you have had one you will know what i'm talking about. But for those of you who don't.. They put these sensors, the first part was to make my feet sweat. And the second was to draw the sweat off. It was actually really cool.

The tests results couldn't be given back that day because I guess the sweat test takes some time to read. By time we left the hospital, it was around 5 or so. She gave me a prescription of amitripilyne (or however you spell it) ... I took the medicine for about four weeks, and yet had no relief. She then told me to go to a pain management doctor. Either locally or there at the Cleveland Clinic. But since we live near Lima, we decided to try to go locally.

I started desensitation therapy for the INSANE sensitivity, and physical therapy because I had lost all movement of my foot during the month from hell. The therapies helped tremendously with my sensitivity and range of motion.

The next step was to find a pain management doctor. So, I am currently seeing Dr. Hogan in Lima. We had a consultation with him and he decided we would try to do some nerve blocks to try to make the RSD lay dormant. I was scared, but also all for it because I wanted nothing more than to be healthy again and get back to playing volleyball. Of which I had a spot on my college volleyball team.

The first block, a lumbar sympathetic nerve block, went well. I unfortunately had no relief but I wasn't expecting it to come that fast.

The second one, MAN WAS I FEELING GREAT!! I went and played volleyball TWICE and wasn't feeling too bad! So at my follow up appointment from the block, I told my doctor I was feeling a lot better but was still having quite a bit of pain sometimes, but not as often as usual. He decided we would try one more to see if we could shut it off completely..

.. This is where my problem comes back..

The day after the nerve block, October 10, 2014. I was feeling ROUGH and I mean ROUGH. my foot was killing me, (was hurting worse than before the block) my knee hurt so bad I could just cry. I was so confused, and frustrated. So I waited a few days for the pain to go away, like I figured it would.

A week had gone by and my pain was not how it was from the 10th. It was worse. WAY WORSE. I noticed each day it got worse. And I had a deep pain in my knee, front and back? And I noticed I was starting to lose a little bit of range of motion in my knee, and some weird feelings I had never felt before were coming back in my foot. So I called the doctor back..

He pushed my follow up appointment up and Saw me on Tuesday, October 21. When the doctor came in, he heard my story of what was going on, he felt around on my leg, especially where I told him the most pain was.. Then he stopped and just looked at my mother and I. He told us it would be in our best interest to go right to the hospital because he felt something behind my knee and thought it may be a blood clot, and since it had been quite a few days since my pain first started, he was worried the clot may have traveled already.

When we got to the ER they ran test after test, even a chest X-ray and an EKG because of how high my blood pressure and heart rate were.. It was like deja vue.. the doctors came back in and said I had an infection somewhere because my white blood cell count was high. Gave me an antibiotic and Tramadol, and sent me home, he said to follow up with a family doctor in 2-3 days. Instead, my mom and I made an appointment at the Orthopedic Institute of Ohio with a knee doctor.

On Thursday, October 23 We saw Doctor Sanko at OIO. He felt around and noticed that my pain had gotten way worse than Tuesday, even lost more range of motion since Tuesday. He noticed how diffused my pain was, and stated he believed it may be my RSD traveling up into my knee. he ordered an MRI and said he doesn't think anything is going to show up on the MRI but it was just to rule anything else out. He said with the way things have progressed so quickly, temperature differences, and a little discoloration. He believes it is RSD. My MRI was this past Saturday.

Now here is where I need all of you. Thursday I have an appointment to get my MRI read, an hour after that I have an appointment set with my pain management doctor.

I'm praying so hard that something will show up on this MRI. Because I cannot take anymore bad news. And I want this to be something that can be taken care of. But right now.. my pain level on that "scale from 1-10" is about an 11. It sucks, I can't walk right. I look like an idiot walking to and from class. And on top of that, I can hardly EVER sleep.

I just want answers. My mom and I are thinking maybe going to OSU Medical or Cleveland Clinic for this now may be in my best interest.

Those of you who live here in Ohio, where do you go for your pain?
Are there any doctors you would prefer/recommend?
Or a certain hospital?
Cleveland Clinic's neurology department was great! Do any of you know of their pain management department?

Any recommendations, advice on how to cope, things you have learned to help you relieve pain, things that keep your outlook positive.. ANYTHING AT ALL. Please, let me know..

I know this was really long but I hope you had the time to read it, because I really just need some help and advice. I'm trying to stay so strong and be positive but it's so hard when you're in this much pain..

Thanks in advance!!

Bailey