is right in some ways. I also had a Phsyc evaluation by a PM clinic before they wanted to treat me. He gave them the ok but because I had such reactions to meds they still wouldn't treat me.

Also, there are some people that do need some help mentally along with the care. I have personally seen that a lot around here in my area. Belonging to an RSD group and having several friends with medical problems I have seen the way they are handling it and it sickens me. I have one friend in her 30's, watched her grow up with Susan. She started out with back problems and now she has been on so many meds that she has messed up her breathing, heart and everything else. She has now developed some of the problems Bill passed away from. She was handed so many pain meds that now she herself has figured out she needs to get off of a lot of them.

Her sister just went to the hospital awhile back and is now going to court over a drug addiction problem. She caused a major scene in the hospital. She has Interstital Cystitis but she isn't dealing with it right, she is now so addicted to meds that she is a mental case. I knew her when she wasn't. I saw a 64 year old woman get hooked on Oxycontin to the point that the Drs. couldn't deal with her. I have no doubt that there is some mental issues mixed in with what these people are dealing with.

ON the other side. I have a friend who got his arm ripped off and is guts ripped out and he is dealing with RSD now and will not live to be 50 and he hunts, fish, and does everything. Have another friend that just got the SCS took out and he has RSD in his stomach and back now and he has went back to work.

In the group I was in I saw few that were doing great and some that were so addicted to their drugs that they wouldn't go looking for other options out there.

Also I said the same thing Mommyjen said last week, I can't understand why they haven't found the same criteria to help all RSD patients instead of dealing with each case so differently that people can actually have a lot to talk about due to the so many ways we are getting the RSD treated. They have the same meds for MS, Diabetes, heart problems and with RSD patients it's like throwing a thousand balloons in the air and them going every which way.

I'm not saying this to hurt anyone on here nor to start a riot, and I do agree there are a lot of people that don't have the mental problems before but end up with them afterward but when I look back on these friends I have that are messed up now, I can see where they were dealing with mental issues.

I am one of these people that has stepped forward and have told my life story of mental illness on here and I have told it to everyone that knows me. I always refer to myself as a lost cause or a mess.

I can honestly say though by stepping forward and dealing with my mental issues I have been blessed to get the best medical care I need. My PA was always amazed with me. He always said he didn't see how I delt with major depression and everything else but was still able to help them take care of me.

I believe if a person steps back and looks at themselves and sees what they are and what they need they are much better off then not dealing with it.

She's right about being treated as malingerers or even munchousens if we don't deal with our medical issues the right way. I was blessed never to see those words on my paperwork and these Drs. are wrong to use those terms on anyone but maybe in their eyes that's what they think they are seeing wheather it is or not.

We have to be able to use our heads to deal with RSD in a calmer different way then others with other diseases. The RSD is so difficult to diagnose compared to MS, diabetes, cancer, or any other illness out there.

Ada

I just wanted to add also that one Dr. told me that Einstein and Van Gogh were genius and both fought depression. I thought how nice it was to be compared to two men that gave the world so much. I am not even in their relm but it was a nice thing for him to say to me.