Hello,

My name is Emily (last name fake). I'm 29yrs old and a mother of 1 beautiful, sweet,smart,goofy little 7yr old.I was diagnosed with CRPS I, though i think it might be CRPS II. I've been having severe pain,cold,numbness, slight swelling. Mainly Just a LOT of pain. It seem to be progressing and getting worse not better. I know I am early in the "condition:" but this has started to severely impact my life.

ON 10/25/12 I (at my dr's office advice) went to the E.R. I was have Dysfunctional Uterine bleeding, possibly caused by a fibroid. Extreme cramps and SUPER heavy bleeding. TMI I know sorry. The doctor ordered a blood sample to see how much blood I'd lost and if I would need a transfusion. Well I didn't know it at the time, but it went horribly wrong.

3 different people tried to get a blood sample. The first did the most damage. He was either very very new, or still in training. Was very unsure of what he was doing and made me feel apprehensive. But everyone has to learn so I just tried to let him do his job. He put a blue rubber tourniquet on both arms. He put the left one on waaay too tight. I told him it was too tight but he said well it needs to be. He tried to get a draw from my right arm, but left the one on the left as well. I asked if we could take it off but he said he wanted to leave it one in case he needed to try that arm. I am no stranger to venipuncture so was confused at this. He fished around a bit in my right arm a ended up "blowing" my vein. A silver dollar sized bruise was left , and did not go away for a week or two. He started apologizing like crazy and went to go get someone else then came back and took off the tourniquets.
The second person was a female nurse. She was almost as bad and in a few ways worse then the first guy. She didn't wrench the tourniquet on, she fished around for about 10-15mins in my left elbow trying to shove the catheter tube into the vein. She kept saying "I don't understand. I'm getting flash back but it's not going in" I was complaining about the pain. I think she kept tapping a nerve (radial). I felt like an electric knife was stabbing my elbow.She was unsuccessful in my elbow and moved to the back of my left hand. Tried, fishing around more, for about 5 mins and finally went to get the charge nurse who was able to get a good draw from my right arm. I was given a shot of Dilaudid for the severe cramping so I didn't really notice my arm until it wore off the next day.
I'm sure you all can guess or relate to the following weeks. Being bounced back and forth from doctors to E.R. Getting the run around from the
hospitals insurance/risk management. Trying top get approved to see a Specialist for CRPS in Spokane. Their office wouldn't see me without approval from the claims department....ya. So that's my story insofar. Right now I just really want then to get my medication combination figured out, so I'm not in constant pain. It is really interfering with my life. My daughter is not getting her "normal" mommy. I try to keep a strong face for her but sometimes it;s really difficult when the pain is strong enough to make you cry. She really is a sweetheart and said "Mommy I'm prayering for you to get better" I wish she didn't have to see me like this.

I will say that having this forum. Has been an invaluable tool! It's so great to have a group of people who understand, Who know the the pain isn't all that CRPS does. It effects your family, work and relationships. Or just how other people either see you as overreacting or faking it for drugs, when you have legitimate (severe) pain. And even though the medication combo's are different for everyone, having different suggestions to what worked for them might be something that works for you. I had never even heard of this condition until this happened. Oh boy, do i wish I had the funds to make people aware how serious this condition is and start a foundation for those who need help recovering. Or some Center for research and treatment that could discover exactly how this condition starts ans how to cure it!! So even though I haven't gone through the total gambit yet, wow that feels daunting, I empathize a lot more with nerve disorders!! Nerve pain just plain SUCKS!

So thank you for reading the "book" lol and I truly want to say a great big THANK YOU!!!! To everyone out there lending and "hand or "ear" or just plain empathy.....truly THANK YOU!

It's nice not to feel alone!