Mike,

This entire thread is unfair to Betsy. She presented her views (which have strong scientific support), on why she doesn't think stress plays a significant role in the onset of RSD, and you come back with thousands of words in med-speak that she can't even understand, what can she say? She certainly doesn't have the education or experience to debate an attorney.

How do I know this? Because I have spent ten years researching RSD, and prior to that earned degrees is both psychology and social work, and I can't even figure out what some of those articles are saying. But I can say they have nothing to do with pathopsychology and RSD..

Psychological differences observed between complex regional pain syndrome type 1 and non-complex regional pain syndrome type 1 chronic pain patients provide partial support for the clinical assumptions that complex regional pain syndrome type 1 patients are more psychologically dysfunctional than other chronic pain patients

Ok I can figure that one out, and it is on-topic, but what does it say? I don't believe I'm far off in assuming that if Betsy had had the benefit(?) of my particular education she might well have said:

There are such significant differences between RSD pain and other types of chronic pain (like ours isn't controlled by opiates), and such profound differences in interactions with pshycians who know something about normal chronic pain as opposed to than number which can't even spell RSD, that its easier to think we're crazy; especially if that's what you set out to prove.

Here is a comparison between us and so many other severely disabled people in the world:

Their disability is usually visible -- and often disturbing, and natural human reactions to them could run the gamut from revulsion to sympathy to empathy to concern to total pity.

Ours is often invisible or is barely visable and natural human reactions are almost unversal: Why is that ***** using a handicapped parking space?

CRP and IL-6 have other important health consequences in addition to their role in cardiovascular disease. Elevated levels of CRP and IL-6 predicted the development of type 2 diabetes in a 4-year follow-up period in healthy women after adjustments for key risk factors; among women in the highest vs. lowest quartiles, the relative risk for developing diabetes was 7.5 for IL-6 and 15.7 for CRP (13). In another study, elevated serum IL-6 levels predicted future disability in older adults, a finding that may reflect the effects of the cytokine on muscle atrophy, and/or the pathophysiologic role played by the cytokine in particular diseases (14). Proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, may slow muscle repair after injury and accelerate muscle wasting (15); indeed, IL-6 and CRP also play a pathogenic role in a range of diseases associated with disability among the elderly (osteoporosis, arthritis, and congestive heart failure, among others) (14).

What does this mean and how does it apply to RSD? What does an abstract about.... stress while watching someone you have loved for almost half a century disintegrate in front of you; while you drive yourself beyond exhaustion in order to keep your beloved out of a nursing home; and all the while knowing you won't win....have to do with the day to day stress we experienced before RSD?

And if you're going to argue that we were more stressed than "normal" people, give us some research proving typical RSD patients were.

I could have equally dismissed the other abstracts you used as equally irrelevant to a discussion of some sort of psychological predisposition toward RSD, but I didn't bother reading them. The literature is overwhelming on this: There are no known or suspected psychological factors in the etiology of RSD.

Any research relevant to this topic must include both RSD AND a psychological instrument (test, study, etc). If it isn't talking specifically about RSD and psychology, then it isn't talking about what we're talking about here.

If you disagree with Betsy, give reasons why you believe stress plays a role in the onset of this disease. Please don't overwhelm those you disagree with, with a bunch of words that none of us understand. That is not -- in my view -- informational or supportive...Vic