[QUOTE=birchlake;814856]Jenn,

Welcome to the forum. It is a good place to learn and a good support structure for those of us with CRPS. And sometimes, just a good place to "vent" to people who can relate.

It's good that you mapped out the history a bit so we know more about you. Every journey here is personal and unique. And no, you're not crazy! But this condition can make you think that you are.....Can you put your finger on any triggering event, any trauma to the affected area? Oftentimes, it starts with what seems to be a very slight injury. One of your doctors should start you on some medication for pain, if you haven't already been. It can be a challenge finding out what works, but many of them do help quite a lot.

CRPS is arguably one of the most misunderstood conditions of the human body. And make no mistake, it is widely misunderstood even by professionals. I have had to see countless professionals before settling on a "team" of doctors and therapists that have had experience with CRPS. Ask each professional you see how much experience they personally have with it. If they say little or none or worse yet, ask what CRPS stands for, keep looking.

Best treated by a multi-disciplinary attack, my team includes my G.P, my podiatrist (who is the team leader) chiropractor, massage therapist and physical therapist, and pain mgmt doc once in a while. I developed CRPS in 2009 after multiple foot surgeries. Took about a year to actually figure out the darn thing and get a solid diagnosis, took another year to develop a best practices strategy (including meds) for treating it, and I will say things are a lot better two plus years down the road.

Here are a few links that might be helpful. The first link, check out "healing practices a-z". There are some alternative therapies, when combined with traditional western medicine, that can really be helpful. Good luck to you Jenn and hang in there. Things CAN get better. But be sure to get lots of looks and opinions. This isn't a simple condi




Hey there Birchlake.......
Thank you soooooo much for replying to me. I was beginning to think I wasn't ever gonna get a respone. So thank you again! You gave me such awesome info to begin my quest and I'm gonna be spending a lot of time looking into them. Its quite overwhelming though, I'm not sure I have the energy to do it. I'm feeling a tad bit depressed but not overly depressed. Actually I have no clue as to what I'm feeling right now. I've been an emotional wreck this week and I can't really pin-point exactly how or what I'm feeling. But this site gives me tremendous hope and I'm so glad there are others out there who understand what I'm going through! Thank you again, you don't know how much I truely appreciate you!
As for your question of what triggered it for me.....I don't know if it's relevant. I've been racking my brains trying to remember anything and only two things stuck out. I had a lapriscopic surgery to remove a grapefruit sized cyst on my left ovary shortly after having my youngest son in 2005/2006. All I remember is waking up to find an IV placed on my left forearm which was infultrated. The medications and saline they were giving me was leaking into my arm making me look like Poppye. I remember feeling pain, like the nurse hit one of my nerves in there but I was so drugged up with morphine that it didn't dawn on me to file a complaint or anything like that. I did however inform my dr who didn't seem too concerned. So I brushed it off as just nothing. But months later I could still feel th pain and in the back of my head I wondered what really happened. But life went on and I "forgot" about it.
The other thing I can remember is being at work and helping my co-worker hold a newborn baby's arm that she was drawing blood from. I was in an awkward position as the baby keep wiggling around and the momma wasn't holding her down very well and my co-worker was having difficulty locating a vein. I remember my co-worker turning the baby's arm so she could get abetter position, turning my arm as well when I distincly heard a crack in my left arm and immediately felt a sharp shooting pain. I screamed in agony and told her to stop because I couldn't hold anymore. After that day it seemed that I could no longer assist with children because of the weird positioning I had to place my own arm into and I was just afraid I would hurt myself again. The pain subsided but it never really went away for quite sometime and shortly after that my episodes with discoloration and pain began.
I don't know if that all maks sense. What do you think? Is it related? Do you think that could have been the culprit? I don't know anymore my head hurts so bad. Lmk what you think because I'm gonna try and take a shower. I'll be back in few okay.