Hi

Its impossible for anyone to give you any medical information on which you could rely via the internet. However, you would have to have a whole serioes of other symptoms to be diagnosed with CRPS. There are various clinical protocols with diagnostic rules for reaching a CRPS diagnosis - you have to exhibit a series of clinical signs in certain categories and symptoms in some others. You also have to go through an elimination process where they are unable to find any other condition to account for the pain.

The symptoms you have could have been caused by any number of (or a combination of) things that are nothing to do with CRPS. It could be peripheral neuropathy, the repeated trauma to your shoulder, nerve damage, an underlying medical disorder like EDS or hypermobility syndrome, a screw up with your block etc etc. Remember too that traumatic damage will always cause the surrounding muscles to go into spasm sometimes causing horrific pain.

You need to get a referral to a specialist - it doesn't always matter what discipline you are referred to. Neurologists, anaesthetists specialising in pain management, rheumatologists and some orthopaedic surgeons can have the necessary diagnostic skills and experience. However, if CRPS has been suggested by someone who you trust to know what they are talking about then you need to try and see someone who has CRPS experience. You would be best to do your own research to try and find someone with suitable local experience - I don't know where you are based. If you are in the UK you will find it almost impossible to find a CRPS "expert" anywhere or in any discipline but you should manage to find someone with enough experience to make a reliable diagnosis. In the UK, CRPS medical science is years behind the US and Europe so CRPS is considered to be a chronic pain condition and not a neurological condition (as it is in US, Netherlands and Germany). In the UK your best bet is a referreal to a pain management specialist (anaesthetist) but in the US it is as likely to be a neurologist you would see.

If you can afford it, you can look at the private healthcare and hospital sites and find people with experience. It also means you shouldn't have to wait long for an appointment.

I wish you luck. Whatever you do, please don't self-diagnose from the internet. Use it for gathering information but keep an open mind until you have a diagnosis from a specialist.



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