Hello Roger and Welcome to Neurotalk! You will meet many great people here who i'm sure will be more than happy to help you if they can!!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are in so much pain right now!! You have certainly been through a lot lately! My nanan had Progressive MS and it's such an awful condition but I can't imagine having both!!

I also suffer from RSD/CRPS. I developed it when I was 12 years old after an ankle sprain and am now 14. It started in my left leg and has since spread to both arms after further injuries.

I was put on Lyrica a couple of months after I was diagnosed with RSD. It didn't really help me and I gained lots of weight so I eventually decided to come off it. I really hope that it helps you ... I have heard lots of people that have had positive results on it but like everything with RSD, everyone reacts differently and therefore you can't determine what will work and what wont.

I have always had a real hard time explaining RSD to my friends and family as they just don't get it. I have lost lots of 'friends' because of my RSD and it was really devestating - I guess I learnt who my true friends are though.

When I am explaining RSD to people, I usually tell them that it is a chronic pain condition that causes my limbs to swell up, change colour, become hypersensitive etc. I also tell them that it feels as though someone is putting boiling water and petrol on my leg as it burns that much.

No one in my family still really understands what RSD is other than my mum. I wish they would go to the hospital with me but they don't!

Have you tried giving your friends some information booklets on RSD that are easy to understand? That might be something to look into as I know RSDHope have lots of useful brochures that I have used to try and explain things.

Good Luck with your appointment with the Pain Management Doctor! I hope you will get some answers and something to help with your pain!

Please keep us posted when you can!!

Alison.