Dear Catra,

I am so sorry that you're going through so much. It is so frustrating when you can't do what you need to each day. I would be more than happy to come by myself and pick up toys or grocery shop if I were anywhere near. It is completely understandable that your mood would be affected by all this. Even the messy house becomes a symbol of all the things we don't have control over. I remember when I was at my worst and had out of town company stay that kept causing mini explosions in my kitchen and it just drove me nuts because I needed that ONE thing to be orderly. I know you're tired of being patient and waiting for the turnaround. But I also know that you WILL get through this.

I found steroids helpful when I was acute. The tapering dosepaks like Medrol are not very strong. If you don't get relief a repeat may help. The prednisone dose that I've seen in studies for new CRPS is 10mg 3x daily for 10 days, so quite a bit more. My pain doc gives dosepaks for flares and even wrote me one to have on hand in case of emergency while traveling. Hopefully the steroids will get things calmed down.

I hope you feel better very soon. Sending hugs and healing love,