Hi stressedout,
Please don't give up. Stay with us, we can't do this alone. I have found that journeling helps me. Better yet, is a good psychiatrist. Mine happens to be a neurologist, and a pharmacologist, so he manages my pain-RSD. He has had other rsd patients.
I've never had to deal with WC, I've read a lot of stories about dealing with them. I personally would get an attorney to deal with them. Keep a record, times, and dates, especially if you go that route. There are others on this forum that have WC cases and have attorneys, that are more informed than myself.
One important thing is to exercise, stretch, swim-86 degree water. Swimming is my favorite thing to do and has actually kept me mobile-out of a wheelchair The worst thing is to do nothing. Being on the right meds is so important. There are pain management centers that are good for that.
I got RSD following benign breast surgery. Got frozen shoulder. If it hadn't been for physical therapy and massage therapy, I know I wouldn't have use of my arm. Then it crossed over and got frozen shoulder in the othr side. Had more therapy and got full use of that shoulder=arm. Then I had nerve injury to hand-frozen hand -had therapy but got only about half range of motion. I delayed therapy, because of wrong diagnosis. Then it moved to opposite hand, and got therapy right away and got full range of motion back. Same with both feet and legs. Swimming is such a great exercise, and easy on the body, has kept me mobile.
I'm so very sorry you have this monster. Can you get involved with a RSD support group where you live. The RSDSA organization has a list of groups and phone numbers of contact people. You can go on RSDSA on hte internet and type your zip code in and it will give you closest location and phone number of contact person.
To be on the right meds and correct amounts is imperative. My Dr. actually is involved with trial studies for pharmaceutical companies. I have been seeing him for 5 years.
There are ones on this forum that are and were WC patients. Some even have lifetime medical benefits. There are treatments that really help, but insurance companties don't cover, like massage therapy. That's why an attorney is important. Long term, this can be expensive and if you can get that from WC, that would be worth the fight.
Please stay in touch- we all care very much for each other. Your friend, loretta