Abbey,

I'm going to tease you a bit......

You are doubting that your issues might be RSD because you are not currently in the severe pain that you have heard affects most RSD'ers.

You are also a young, previously VERY active and limber, woman who is now wheelchair dependent because you cannot tolerate the pain that comes with consistent weight bearing on your leg.

Helllllooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!

If you tried to live life as before, you WOULD be dealing with more pain, right ? De Nile is a river in Egypt !

Okay, end of teasing. I have to try to make light of the RSD monster and the way it affects us all or I'd go bonkers.

I'd be happy for you if you were to get lucky and eventually find out that your symptoms/issues are NOT RSD, but instead an easily fixable problem.

In the meantime, if you can start preparing for the worst and learning more about RSD management, you'll be better able to collaberate with your medical team and participate in a plan to maximize your functioning and comfort level. If you truely cannot bear weight on that leg, you'll need to be clear with your docs whether the issue is that your leg gives out and cannot support your weight or if it is pain that is limiting your ability to bear weight on it. If you are limited by pain, it is so important to ask/beg/plead for help with managing your pain so that you can attain full ROM and basic functioning. Gentle PT can start without full weight bearing and slowly advance. Maybe it's not a reasonable goal for you to 'lose the wheelchair' totally, but perhaps it could be a goal to use techniques (meds, heat, massage if you can tolerate it) to help you manage the pain so you could advance to weight bearing during PT sessions, or for short periods during the day......and use the wheelchair at other times to help manage your pain. It is critical to try to attain ROM and basic functioning. Be aware that more advanced PT, such as weight training, CAN do more harm than good in RSD'ers.

As crappy as a dx of RSD is.......that you got the dx this early in the process is AWESOME ! Appropriate medical interventions NOW might save you a lot of pain and disability down the road. If your docs are thinking about repeated nerve blocks or Ketamine treatments (to name a few) at this stage, you have a shot at remission.

Glad you found us here at NT !