Originally Posted by Chemar

if I may throw something into the mix as a parent and wife of guys with chronic illness....

sometimes illness can manifest with symptoms very similar to another illness, but not both have necessarily the same cause nor even be the same disease/disorder. I know of many examples where patients were misdx because their symptoms "fit" a particular illness. However when further tested it was found their illness was caused by a different agent, and yes, in some cases infection (eg strep, mycoplasma, lyme and other microbial agents)

We have a young girl we know whohas been ill since very young. She was first dx with epilepsy and then Multiple Sclerosis....but it turns out she has Lyme disease as well as untreated strep (something known as PANDAS)
Once correct treatment starts, (although in some cases much damage done by prior wrong/no treatment) yet improvement begins

I know very little about RSD...except to deeply sympathize with the pain that you all suffer

but could it not be possible that there is more than one cause for the symptoms that manifest in CRPS? and the possibility that some may be misdx.
For those that have a clear "trigger" point of an injury, surgery, blood draw etc it seems something related to that set the disease in motion.

Similarly the damage caused by untreated infection can cause a malfunction.

so all I am saying is it doesnt have to be *only* one or the other cause because it isnt always necessarily the same illness that manifests with similar symptoms