Hi, I am new and have learned a lot already from reading through old posts. I wanted to introduce myself and also maybe get some opinions whether I even belong here... ?
I was recently diagnosed with possible CRPS by a podiatrist and referred to a pain management doc to confirm the diagnosis. I have to wait 2 weeks for the appointment and I am going nuts researching this condition in the meantime...
It started after a foot sprain in October. It seemed to get better for about a month but never fully recovered. Xray and MRI were normal. An orthopedist put me in a cam boot in November, and that made my pain worse. Shoes that I had previously been able to wear now felt uncomfortably tight and painful. The pain was mostly when weight-bearing, annoying but not unbearable pain, still able to walk with careful choice of footwear, and not a burning pain. Aching or sometimes sharp pain if I put weight on just the wrong part of my foot.
Then I noticed the color and temperature changes in mid-December. My affected foot gets cold to the touch and purple/blue-ish in the evenings. It is bright pink when I wake up the next morning. The temperature never feels warm or hot. It varies from normal temperature to cold, and it will ache and feel stiff when it gets cold. The podiatrist saw the color change and felt the cold when he saw me, and that's why he diagnosed possbile CRPS. He also gave me a cortisone injection, and that has helped with the pain but not the color/temperature weirdness.
It is about 3 months from the initial injury. If this is CRPS, shouldn't it be warm/hot at this stage? Am I already in the chronic (cold) phase? Are there other conditions to rule out? I made a neurology appointment as well, but the wait time is a whole month for that! I know people can't diagnose me on a message board, but maybe you will have some thoughts that would lead me in the right direction. It's very hard to sit here and wait for appointments when I read about how treatment works best within 3 months. I may already have missed that window
