Hi Apple,

I am so sorry to learn you have CRPS and have gone through so much
suffering before it was confirmed you had CRPS. My daugher while much
older than you also has CRPS resulting from surgery and despite the fact
the doc who did the surgery beleiving it was CRPS and sending her to a pain
doctor it was close to a year or over before other doctors confirmed and
she lost valuable time.

Sad to say this happens all to often. Things are improving, for example I
noted recently in our state nurses going through training and even those
trained are being required to add so many hours of instruction since nurses
are sometimes more exposed than doctors to help spot the problem of CRPS.

It is so important for support from family and friends. It is true family and
friends cannot really know how it feels, the challenges from day to day since
they do not feel the pain. I have tried to educate myself and continue to
do so daily since there is so much to learn and sometimes I get so frustrated and even angry at others who are part of my daughters circle,
because they have not taken the time to learn and to understand and without doing so people make judgements of those who suffer from
CRPS,

Please understand however there are those who do care, you have come
to a wonderful site with people who do care. Don't give up, you are on
a journey through pain but you are not alone.

Joydee