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irljenn · 10-29-2010, 01:31 AM

Thank you so much Rrae for setting this up for me !!

Its 6.30 am irish time as i type this and having been awake all night this time not from the pain as this seemed to be under control with the patches but the itch all over my body has kept me awake. I had to get up to take a shower as the itch was driving me insane so i think i must be allergic to the medicine. I have just taken off the patch, i read the box Rrae and it says 50mg every hour. Rrae as you were on these patches did you ever have a reaction like this when you started? I kinda felt a little drunk last night with them on but the burning pain was gone from my pelvis for the first time in weeks and i so did not want to take the patch off. I would just be interested to know if this is a normal reaction as you said in your post it took you a while to get used to these. I am going to call dr this am and see if there is anything else i can take.

I know when i logged onto this site and read the posts over the last few weeks i searched for stories like mine to see if anyone was like mine and i could not believe how many people are living with this dreadful pain. My life was so normal 2.5 years ago I had one daughter hubby who was just over 2 1/2 years old , 2 dogs and a great job and social life. then on feb 11th 2008 at 28 weeks pregnant i slipped and fell in work at 8am unfortunately the cleaning lady left polish all over the bathroom floor and in 2 seconds my perfect life came to an end. As i was pregnant at the time 28 weeks with my second IVF baby my immediate fear was , was my baby ok? i was taken to hospital by ambulance and spent the next 10 weeks before my daughter was born by c- section being made feel guilty by medical staff and myself for needing pain relief . my injuries at this time were disc damage to my back a broken arm and a torn hamstring in my left leg.

on the 21st of april my katie was born perfectly healthy at 8lb 2oz she was a big girl and with the help of my mother, father and hubby i managed to care for my baby but was in such dreadful pain constantly. about 6 months after the accident having gone through test after test on my leg and back i was referrred to a pain specialist and had blocks and rhysotomys done for my facet joints but despite not being able to walk without a crutch my leg remained a mystery to them all. I received PT every week and still do and eventually my dr sent me to a knee specialist ( nothing wrong with my knee it was my whole leg) I had an MRI scan done but as i could not straightn the leg it was completely contracted, the results were inconclusive anyway this dr told me after taking over 225 euro from me there was nothing wrong with my knee. I told him i never thought there was it is my hole leg either way he just looked at me as if i was mad and sent me on my way.

I returned to my pain dr and he said he would give me a nerve block for my leg and did another block on my back but told me at the same time that he thought i should see a pain psychologist re my leg! after i had the block done I never returned as if your pain dr thinks its all in your head what hope did i have. this all happened in march 2010 .

I have a very supportive GP who continued to support me with pain relief and did not think it was in my head but suggested i have iso kinetic testing on my leg. I did this in May this year and the PT who did this test was shocked at my story and shocked that i had been left like this my results to this test were that of an 85 year old woman. He asked me to come back to him so he could do some traction and try a few things. he had worked in a nursing home at one point in his career and dealt with old people who had contractions in there arms and he used to treat this with casts so he decided to try and straighten my leg by putting in in several casts over 10 weeks during july, august and september this year. this was dreadfully painful but now with a leg brace on daily my leg is straight and no longer contracted but the pain never left. He also started to note that i had no hair growing on this leg as he would take the casts off, and the colour difference between both legs and size difference was easy to see. he asked me to see a neurologist but i kept refusing as i said it's no fun seeing drs who think its all in your head but he kept at me and also contacted my gp so eventually i gave in and saw this dr in the middle of september. I was sent for a bone scan, sweat test and sensitivity test a few weeks later and in early october 2010 i was diagnosed with severe crps in my left leg.
So i finally had a diagnoses i was not going mad !! immediately this guy suggested that i would get great relief from a dorsal spine stimulator and after another visit with my list of questions i decided to go for it so the triall is booked for december 2nd with full implantation booked for 9th of december once the triall is deemed successful. i have my physcological evaluation next monday so once they dont think i am mad i guess it's all symtoms go.
I am so very grateful all ready for the support i have received from this site. i tried to join the irish chronic pain organisation and was shocked when yesterday they told me if i wanted to post on there forum i would have to pay 22 euro per year for the privalage!!
I know i am lucky towards most people on this site from diagnoses to installation will only be 2 months in total but it took way to long to get that diagnosis and nobody like to be made feel like a liar, i felt like crying at some of the stories i read like Mark's amazing story and SMAE's story . but all of these stories and recoveries like Jackie's and RRAE give me hope that maybe in a few months time i too will be more mobile and in less pain.

Thank you for letting me share my story so far and I look forward to getting to know you all.

I am shocked i have typed all this i had no intention of doing that but it actually feels good to have shared xx jenna