I like MOMZPEACHY post I am a RSI patient which I lost ALL feeling in my right arm one morning at work June 2000. Felt like it was shot up with novacain within 1 hour of feeling all tingly like I slept on it. Absolutely no feeling, dead wight for months. PT helped get back the fingers moving & some of the swelling down. Then the pain severly set in. My dept had just had my work station evaluated by the Environmental Health & Safety Dept a month prior my injury set in due to neck pain. NO ergonomics found in my favor. Of course I was working 12/14 hr days coming in weekends & taking home work. It was a new position so I was determned to get it up & running. There were no lunches or breaks due to the circumstances of my position & dept needs. All I can say is... NO job, no matter your loyalty & determination is worth your health.

2 years undiagnosed from doc to doc. Then a Neurologist at Kerlan Jobe said you have TOS. I said what? Whats that? Years of incorrect PT, all the drugs & stress. 2 MRA's at UCLA with Dr. Collins 2 years later confimed the diagnosis & the damage was done. I couldnt take the pain anymore so I waved the white flag to see a surgeon. I refused large amounts of drugs physicians wanted me on unsafely driving to & from work & working while on them. Yes, & still working during all this. I still remember keyboarding all the HR, budget & payroll as my fingers were like sticks, no feeling. Why? I was the only person in the dept who did all the work while managing the information center on campus. The dept didnt have the $$ for additional help for me which was asked for 6 months prior. Funny how they found the $$ to hire 3.5 additional full time employees, me an assistant & a full staff of students to cover the info center after the injury. They had no choice. oops, O NO!

Since 2000 I have seen over 39 docs not all on my accord but due to the attorneys fighting over my case. Surgery in 2002 consisted of a Bilateral Costaclavicular DE-Compression & R Ulnar nerve decompression. Increased pain returned within a month or so. Then a RCTR. No help. I was devestated. Told I could go back to work within 6 weeks. As I look back all the CRPS aches & pains set in shortly after the injury happened, not after surgery.

I lost my job, my career, lost my medical ins due to the university enable to work with my/the surgeons limitions requested. The university's legal team fought me on my disability retirement so I had no choice but to hire big guns which only cost me $20k. 1 case down...overwhemingly found in my favor. SSDI appeal hearing finally in Nov & W/C case still ongoing 10+ years & 60k in debt due to the W/C not approving medical necessities. All sound familiar?

And I see on here, W/C & SSDI forum RSD/CRPS/FM is not a concrete dx. Social Security doc appt was an absolute joke. This is really getting long so I wont even go there.

Neurotalk has been my savoir, the friends I have made through local meetings & support groups. And now the ability to help others with our Foundation called TOSsociety.org was develpoed in my name by my husband to help others & educate the medical profession, complimentary professionals, caretakers & patient. TOSsociety.org is a non-profit 501(c)(3) foundation. The foundation has gone from an idea-reality taking big steps towards awarness. I am looking forward to adding an RSD/CRPS page on the site. Any ideas are welcome by all. As this is for you. And please note...NEUROTALK is our forum of choice for the injured & chronic pain patient.

Any more & I'll be able to hear you~all snoring. blah, blah, blah