Hi tlaymon,

I am sorry to hear you are having such a difficult journey. I know how disheartening and exhausting it can all be. But please, please, please do not give up hope.

You are still in the early days of your diagnosis and that bodes well for the future no matter how bleak it may appear right now. It can take much trial and error to find what works. Go about treatments methodically and when they don't work move on to the next.

One thing I would strongly encourage you to consider is consult with a peripheral nerve surgeon for a 'scratch-collapse' test to see if anything is entrapped or was damaged during your surgery. If negative it can put your mind at ease. If positive, it may be a game changer about what is possible to help you. You got my attention with the quad atrophy. The mantra for nerve injury is "time lost is muscle lost". If the atrophy is all CRPS then treat CRPS. If its nerve injury you can do something and the sooner the better.

You are in striking distance of the absolute best place in the US for this evaluation. Washington University in St. Louis. Unless you are in a major metropolitan area you likely wont find someone with this kind of training. I know it is a pain traveling for care, most of my team is 3 hours from me in Houston. However, I also know that these people can change lives. My peripheral nerve surgeon trained there and saved me from excruciating, intractable pain from a neuroma I got from a nerve injury during an ortho procedure. My CRPS came from a later procedure and has actually been less painful than the nerve injury. Go figure.

Here are some resources. Washington U gives loads of info on nerve injury and has the clinic contact info on the page.
http://nerve.wustl.edu

Here is a link to Nerve injury I put up in April that shows the scratch collapse test and has a cool atricle about surgery on a CRPS 2 young woman.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...jury+resources

I passed a recent follow up Scratch Collapse BTW. I was quite happy about that. Those problems are subsiding for me.

The CRPS is about a year out for me and I can walk over 2 miles at a stretch these days after months and months on crutches. I still have pain (that foot is just plain messed up) but am so much better than I was. I am able to enjoy life, but I have to pace myself and not overdo. It has taken time and constant dedication to getting better one teeny tiny bit at a time. It's been very gradual and six months ago I was still pretty darn miserable. I don't expect to get to 100% but I have gone from 30% to 70-75% and am holding out for more. I had a lot of help along the way from different doctors, one of them a Physical Medicine Rehab specialist. They have a different approach to pain and disability and may be of help to you. I also benefited tremendously from a therapist familiar with chronic pain and illness. She helped me get out of a deep pit of despair.

Hang in there and go after whatever you need, Consults with specialists, imaging, therapy, treatment. You are the one most invested in your recovery. Hold onto it like a bulldog. Others may give up before you do. Don't let this sway your determination. You are worth it and we are all rooting for you.

Sending healing Love,