Hiya~
I am definitely in the right spot and after reading two posts in RDS & Work Comp I realize I'll not be leaving this spot anytime soon. I just had a very simple, quick question and Google brought this up. It's a one word answer.

Apparently there's a three year waiting period before the chaotic process begins AND by the time you are halfway there-- the approval for the thumb is useless because
{the wind blew and I'm blinded by this tingling halfway up my arm -but there was no way to know the third kind of topical cream wasn't the magic feather and thank God w/c didn't approve the refill because the special "mail" pharmacy/PROMO? thing was expensive and required the coordination of three separate institutions to contact the pharmacy (and one of those was an appointment setter to get to the other one) and then there was the issue with the postman... }
my hand has exploded and it may or may not be re attachable but we won't know till 6 months after the unnecessary exploratory surgery and we treat with every topical cream known to man, and postpone the nerve block until we have the second surgeon's last three office visit reports from 4 months ago and let's wait till after the holiday and that will allow time for the three professional evaluations to diagnose the exploded hand and..
and now
one of them must be a minimum of 6 hours away??

What was the question again? I took a number and thought I'd come say Hi.

I also just read some fun facts in symptoms, progression and treatments that explained waay too much that I wasn't even questioning and I'm pretty sure I missed the "catch it early" grace period by a year. And it just sunk in that this in a support group. And that I typed all that with my hands.

I'm gonna go process this over in mental health.

It is a relief to be among you.


*Appreciating my hands.

Hello and Welcome Lillian,

I am sorry you had to come join us but this is a soft place to land. You will find the RSD/CRPS forum a good place for sharing and support. Having a group of people who understand what you're going through and can give first hand experience is a huge help.

Hold on to your recovery and to hope like a bulldog. 80% of people improve over time according to CRPS bigwig Dr. Michael Stanton-Hicks of Cleveland Clinic. Treatment does make a difference and can make you more comfortable even if you didn't catch the early window. One of the most important things is making sure any treatable pain contributors have been addressed. Sometimes this means seeing different specialties and getting different workup or imaging. If all is well then methodically trying different treatments will help find which ones give you relief.

You will find a wealth of information on treatments from a compassionate, non-doomsday CRPS doctor here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3LKhOZ8mAM

and some fascinating new findings on CRPS and pain from Stanford researcher Sean Mackey here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo1UNea_tfQ

Be careful what you read. There is a lot of info out there which is really worst case scenario and certainly not true for everyone. It will not help you in your fight against this disease. Keep moving and doing whatever gentle exercise you can, be kind to yourself and come let us know how you are doing. You are not alone in this.

Sending hugs and healing love,

Hello Lillian,

Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups!