My names is Sarah and I'm 37 yo and live in Boise, Idaho. I have been Dx'd with CRPS as of July 2014.

I've had numerous issues with my right shoulder (frozen shoulder, bursitis, labral partial tear, osteoarthritis, and tendinitis) and my right hip (bursitis and osteoarthritis) throughout my life.

It started with a right shoulder injury in August of 2013. The injury was my fault and happened at home. I tried to pick up an old school TV off the ground a few inches and I felt something tear, then was in extreme pain. Over the course of four months, I saw 4 orthopedic doc's, had 4 MRI's, 2 CT's, 1 arthroscopy, PT 3 days a week, 4 injections and a partridge in a pear tree. None of the docs I saw knew what they were dealing with, except for the fact that it was getting worse (spread to my neck, all of right arm, left upper arm, and upper right hip) and they couldn't stop it. I was referred to a PM doc in December 2013 and she did am EMG (showed normal) and put me on narcotic pain killers. I went another 6 months of just seeing her instead of any further orthos, and had trigger point injections and FDM treatment done. FDM=Fascial Distortion Model includes manipulating bones and joints using pressure and ultrasound guided injections. The most time I had any kind of relief was a month, and even then, it wasn't complete pain relief. In July of 2014, my doc suggested I see an ortho surgeon for exploratory surgery to find out what was going on. I found Dr. Waters' name online and saw him within a week. Within 5 minutes of talking with him over what had happened he said "I am 99% sure I know what you have. I believe you have RSD. We're going to get a bone scan to see how your density looks, but your symptoms are pretty clear that it's RSD." Once I got home, I researched RSD and got myself familiar on what to expect. My bone scan showed osteoarthritis in my right shoulder, right hip, ribs, sternum, and left and right fingers. Wow! I'm 37! I also finally had the diagnosis I was looking for over the past 11 months. Told my pain doc and she started me out on Gaba. To make a longer story short I've been on countless meds, am now in pool therapy, and am trying to find a new pain doc. I'm at the point that I realize I'll have to move to a better area to find one and I'm okay with that. I'm also on Medicaid, which doesn't help me, and I'm limited to doctors and treatments.

I've worked a lot of construction, customer service, medical admin, collections and now I chose to spend 20k to go to school for medical assisting.

I was in my last month of school (14 mo program) and about 2 weeks into my externship when all this came around. Due to my CRPS, I couldn't finish my extern and was immediately kicked out of school.

I can't work, let alone barely get out of bed. My mom had to move from 400 miles away to help take care of me and my ex-husband (he's actually my best friend) is helping me with our 12 year old son.

I've applied, myself, for SSI and was denied, then got a lawyer for the appeal. The appeal was denied, much to my lawyer's surprise, and now I'm waiting to schedule with a judge (which they told me was at least a year out).

My current list of meds include:

Lyrica 300mgs daily
Fentanyl 50mcgm patches every 3 days
OxyContin 15mgs 3-4 daily
Amitriptyline 10mgs 1-2 nightly
Effexor 150mgs every other day
Flexiril 10mgs 1-2 daily
Prilosec 40mgs daily

On top of my CRPS, I also have gastroparesis, esophageal motility disorder, and anxiety so 2 of my meds are for those issues.

I've been in the pool therapy for a week so it's too early to tell if it's working. And I'm in the market for a new pain doc, because mine is not helping me much anymore and we've had a falling out. My bf and I were considering a move to the Portland area in the summer but had opted not to when this had come up. Now I'm thinking it would be a better option because no one (except for that ortho surgeon) knows about CPRS around here or how to treat it.

I'm almost full body now, both arms-shoulder to fingertips, right leg-hip to toes, and left leg-knee to toes.

Sorry for the long post, but hoping to talk with others like me. **