Hi. My name is Anita and I was diagnosed with RSD in the left arm in Jan of '08. I fell at work landing on my left elbow which drove my shoulder straight up. At first it wasn't so bad, I was sent to physical therapy but after 2 weeks I wasn't improving at all. About 30 minutes after I would get home my arm would swell up, then it began to turn purple and get cold. At work it would turn almost black and it would be literally as cold as ice. I couldn't get the treating physician's assistant or the physical therapist to listen until it happened during physical therapy one day. I was taken around to the assistant who didn't have a clue so I insisted on being sent to someone who could tell me what was wrong. I went to an orthopedic specialist and he knew immediately what it was and sent me to another doctor to see what he thought. During this time I was still on full duty at work (which is heavy type of work) until the doctor realized that it truly was RSD and he began treating it. I went through a series of tests and medications, none of which seemed to work. Right now I'm on Lyrica, Mobic, and a Lidoderm patch which seems to help the most. Right before I was declared at maximum medical improvement I was sent to another doctor to see if he agreed with my doctor and he did. We all discussed doing nerve blocks but I wasn't really for it. My case isn't severe yet, it was diagnosed as CRPS II, and I didn't want to get a nerve block that they said would only last a few months and then have to learn to deal with the pain all over again. I was also told that often when the pain returns it is far worse than it was previously. Like most every one here, people just don't understand what you are dealing with and why you can't sleep and how bad that awful burning sensation is. I describe it as a bad 2nd degree sunburn that someone is scrubbing with scratchy wool, then there is that creepy sensation of spiders crawling up and down my arm (of course one time there really was, kind of funny), and the deep bone pain. I recently lost my job because of this, the workplace decided after 26 months to try to force me to violate my restrictions and when I wouldn't they said they are putting me down as a "no call no show" whether I show up or not. That's frustrating, my daughter, who is a single mother, is having to support me, she works 2 jobs and is just exhausted but really is wonderful support. It is great to have a place to go where other people understand everything you are dealing with. I look forward to getting to talk other people here.