After your well described list of symptoms there's no doubt you're along for the RSD ride. Now the million dollar question is if it will get worse, stay the same or perhaps burn itself out like around 90% of all RSD cases do within the first 24 months.
Thank goodness we only live life one day at a time because if we knew what was coming up around the corner there might be some days we wouldn't want to take the ride. Meanwhile, just work the problems as they come along the best you can and don't go around driving yourself nuts over the fears of what tomorrow might bring.
Regarding your normal fears about how you'll support yourself long term and how long you'll need to ask for financial help from those who care, all I can say is we've all been there in one way or another. When we're forced into giving up our jobs, I can think of few other moments when I felt lower. Let's face it, most of us live on the income we make. Hopefully you have put a little aside for a rainy day but when I wiped out my retirement account that had a decent balance just so I could keep us above water, it hurt then and still does today. Add to that the sad fact that being a gimp isn't cheap. A set of wheelchair tires for my manual wheelchair are more expensive then they are on my car not to mention all the other health related costs this kind of thing does weigh us down.
Even once you're on SSD, there's still a two year wait till Medicare kicks in and then you'd better have a Medicare supplement ($120 plus a month depending on your age) or you'll find you still can get the medical care you need. Add that with the fact that Medicare far from covers everything and well - the challenges of being handicapped do add up. Every state has some form of Medicaid program and various financial help, but like all things in life, jumping through the hoops can and does take time. If there's nothing else being disabled teaches us, it's patience and humility.
The one thing I advise all is that I firmly believe that we're always able to produce something no matter how much we've lost in body. Please find some kind of volunteer work you can get yourself involved with at some level. It's good for both the mind and soul as you (and me) battle those feelings of not feeling we're worthy of the help we're given by those who care. If you need any help with ideas on how you can keep finding new ways of building a different life than what you had planned, drop me a line and I'll share ways I've found that keep me from going half banana's even when the pain is putting me halfway there.
All the best and remember that we're always a recipient of those same things we share up front. What goes around always comes around. I know you'll do just fine, it's just you're needing to find a new path and new way to walk it. Bob.
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Originally Posted by lefty
Hello all and I'm back with a question about colour changes to the skin.
I've notice that the only time I see color changes is when I have a flare up, (burning, swelling) and with that the palm of my hand turns red. Along side my thumb it gets this blue and red color to it as well as the muscle below my thumb. Another thing I've noticed is that my thumb would sometimes twitch, once it twitched for most of a day, other times only for a while. Once the flare up has calmed down...if there is such a word as calm...the color returns to normal.
Since I've had the ganglion block I haven't had any twitching and that was a little over a month ago.
As far as my skin the hairs on my arm it seems to be just a slightly bit more thicker than the right arm. My finger nails (thumb and last two) have these gooves in them, but so does my left hand (which sometimes it feels like my left hand does).
Temperature in my affected hand, I just took is 94.6F, and the left is 95.1F. My overall body temperature accourding to my thermiter is 98.0. I'm so confused...I know that there is a lot of information out there on the internet, but my case is so complicated that I don't know which end is up.
I've had emg's that proved that I have cubital tunnel in both elbows, more so on the left than the right, possible carpel tunnel in the left wrist, and an MRI that shows in the left side of my neck disc abutment to the canal.
My injury was back in 08 to my left hand and wrist where I had two surgeries with plates and scews in my left ulnat bone and left thumb, the last surgery being the thumb and that was just in Feb of this year. While wearing my cast, which I protected with every inch of my being. I began to sweat and my hand got really swollen and after it was removed. My thumb was really burning and the incision was mascerated and the thin layer of skin that was over it removed. The pain had gotten worse, so much so that I had to have my cast redone at least three times.
Finally once it was removed my skin had gotten in infection from sweating. I was given pain medication, and at that time never knew anything about CRPS so I didn't give those symptoms and thought...silly me! But the pain never went away, only got worse.
My question is this, how long does the sweating last? Is it always there or does it go away and come back? Why does my hands hurt to make a fist, and why does my right hand (unjuried hand) now burn like the left...I'm really confused about this!
I've had two doctors to say I've CRPS, and one to describe my pain as dysesthetic pain, and only the workers comp doctor to change his mind to say that I don't have CRPS! Please advise me as best you can. I don't have health insurance but I am willing to try to pay for a vist to a Neuroradiologist, and another orthopedic surgeon, for their opinion.
I don't have a lot of money, and due to being terminated for lack of Family Medical Leave time, all I have is unemployment and PPD from workers comp to support my family. Workers Comp is fighting me on this CRPS because it would be considered a new case. I just want to get better, or for the most part have some kind of quality of life.
Any advice or insite would be a blessing. Please pray for me...I've already tried to take my life once because I can't take this pain. But I don't feel like taking my life any longer. All I want to do is pray and fight!
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