It's strange, I don't know if other people who have had this longer than I feel this way, but there comes a time when then pain isn't nearly as punishing as it was in the first four or five years or so. For me the neuro-cognitive stuff really seemed cut in around year 7 or so, although the Libon article suggests that in the 2/3rds of the CRPS patients who have some neuro-cognitive issues, it is independent of the length of illness. And with my loss of memory as well as organizational skills, etc., I appear to be in the unlucky quarter of RSD/CRPS patients. (Although that said, I think because of early blocks I was lucky to have avoided some of the other horrors of the disease.)

All I know is that at Years 0 and 2, the discrepancy between my verbal and non-verbal IQ sub-scores on the WISC-III was 22, consistent with a late diagnosis of fairly severe ADHD (inattentive), while by Year 8.5 the split had grown to what I was told is an astounding 45 points.

That and I floored my pain doc a couple of months ago, when I said that I would prefer pain as I had known it, over the neuro-cognitive stuff. Years of meditation practice have made dealing with physical pain fairly straightforward: you acknowledge but don't identify with it. Sort of like standing under a waterfall, you get wet from the spray but you're not pulled into the vortex below. For me, it's more challenging to have equanimity with never finishing a long article, let alone a book, to say nothing of remembering proper nouns. Or lose my train of thought mid-way through responding to what someone said in a conversation. Or to be treated by former peers (and some friends) like a kindly old and demented uncle. Or to take weeks in what should be filling out some simple forms . . . .

So I feel for you, anyone who happens to have caught a ride in this boat.

Mike

PS Unlike Pete’s experience, I tolerate Provigil pretty well, which helps with the fatigue that I personally had associated with medication, although I am carefull to take at least 500 mg. of Vit. B-1 (Thiamin) a day. That said, when I tried the newer Nuvigil, my BP shot up 30 – 40 points on both ends.

PPS I caught and corrected some mistakes in my last post, including an unfortunate choice of words that was not meant as it may have sounded. My apologies if I came across as insensitive. (Clueless at times yes, but insensitive no.)