Hi Jack,

Not sure if you're still on here, but man, you've been through the ringer and I hope you find relief soon. You've tried so many things, even being open to the "weirder" stuff! So frustrating.

Having that reduced pain window is so important for sanity and hope, and the medical/insurance/pharmacy merry go round flat out sucks. I was fortunate enough to realize I was dealing with RSD early on, and super grateful it's been 6 years since then without symptoms.

I found that most forms of meditation didn't really help much - at best there was just a brief distraction from the pain. Which don't get me wrong any distraction is nothing to complain about. But since RSD is being generated on a self-reinforcing loop by the nervous system, to be effective the meditation needs to be specifically designed not only to bring attention away from the pain, but to create and constantly reinforce new neural pathways where that pain does not exist.

I couldn't walk when I had RSD, so for me, imagination and robust visualization of fully immersive environments where I'm doing joyful physical activities worked really well. Like being 7 years old, running down the beach or through a beautiful meadow without a care in the world. Or imagining setting the triple jump record back in high school. Obviously way easier said than done with RSD level pain, but totally possible, and it did get easier with repetition.

Also, a couple times a week did not suffice. With RSD, I figured since every waking moment had some form of physical, emotional, or mental pain as context, it would take a LOT of repetition to rewire those pain pathways. So I was doing some form of visualization almost every hour on the hour, every night before sleep, and every morning first thing waking up.

And being alone sucks. If you live anywhere on the East Coast I'd be happy to swing through for a visit sometime.

-vision