hello couragous people!, i've come here to offer a supportive voice to anyone who is low on hope, feels forgotten, abandoned, afraid or is suffering. i've survived all that and more and created a new peace filled reality i once had no idea was even possible. i've made my way back from suicidal ideation to Serenity and learned that while the pain may cause me to pass out, the Fear that lurks behind it is what will ultimately cause the most profound suffering. after almost 8 years of sharing my body with rsd i've even discovered that i can sink ever more deeply into the pain sensations and not xperience suffering and even release the pain!!

i'm not sure how active i will be here, i've kept my distance from support groups since '06, primarilly because of challenges associated with being someone with hi grade pain and physical deficits NOT taking meds or involved with physicians. my Path has unfolded a tad differently, i've been blessed to uncover a gentler approach to embracing an ever declining body. at the same time i realise that there may be others who wonder if anyone ever handles rsd in this way and i do want them to know it can be done.

2 days ago, 2km from home, just walking, the bones in my previously unaffected ankle moved, not in a nice way! i was flooded with nausea, shock messages swamped my whole system, and i chuckled as i asked myself which was worse, the noise i'd just heard or the sensations i was xperiencing?! with my 70lb malamute tethered to me i had to make it home without passing out, yikes!

i did, very very slowly, cussing, a pain releaver i utilise at will, lol.
the ankle was bigger than a tennis ball and rom was almost nonexistant. with gentle massage, using natural extracts in oil, i eventually figured out the bones had slipped like they do in my shoulder and hands, so they had to be moved back into place. and someone had to do that. oh oh, someone looked suspiciously like me, eeek!!

with ice and massage i've gotten the swelling down, somewhat, and heard the 'click' when i did some physio' movements to realign things, now i am forcing myself to lie low today, yippee for the Masters on tv!! i will need to continue to care for this owee with loving kindness until the jangled parts calm down. it is a new area owned by rsd...

whatever else u mite glean from this intro, i'm a totally harmless spirit whose intent is to remain independent and to find ways to ease the suffering of all sentient beings where i can. i seek opportunities to give meaning and purpose to my own journey by sharing aspects of it with those who may find it useful.

wishing u all peace, love, health kath

Hi and welcome to NeuroTalk! I've posted the link to the RSD forum below in case you haven't visited there yet.

You'll find lots of caring and supportive people here at NeuroTalk. Glad you joined the group!


http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum21.html

Shalom !!!!

Welcome here !!!!

Thanks for sharing your story

Howdy, and Welcome to NeuroTalk, Kath

You're writing peaks my interest very much.

I would like to know more about: "i've been blessed to uncover a gentler approach to embracing an ever declining body."

Intriging...

See, I just don't get that

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Great to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help. We are all here to assist each other as possible.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene

hello and thanks for the welcome. broken wings, is it the idea of a gentle approach that is confusing? if so, its a distinction in language as much as in action, ie, i'm not 'fighting' to survive, not 'fighting' the rsd, my challenged arm is not my 'bad' arm and i'm not fighting to find answers. the action aspect has more to do with not resisting what is and learning to embrace whatever is occuring in regards to pain and deficits.

we humins are inclined to avoid what we dont like, we turn away, run if we can, and generally resist the unpleasant. with physical pain, once its managed to reprogram the brain theres just nowhere to hide. but we keep trying, pharmacuticals can be helpful for a time and to a degree, but pain does tend to track us down eventually. so a gentler approach is to turn and face it full on, to truly relax and sink into it rather than resisting.

when this amazingly resiliant body is 'struggling' to perform an action it could do yesterday but cannot do today i dont resist, once i actually realise (always the first step) there's a struggle i stop, relax, embrace what is and accept that in this moment i just cannot do whatever. when the ankle bones slipped outa place on friday and i needed to get home and my body system wanted to shut down and make me pass out i quite literally stood in the midst of the sensations, tasted the flavour of the messages swamping me and breathed myself thro it.

i have a few magical xperiences that i've written down about just what is possible when i embrace what is happening instead of resisting. even putting the bones back into place on the weekend was sorta in this realm, horrid horrid pain, but when i got quiet inside myself, focused on my breathing and sent my focus to the ankle i just 'knew' if i could relax and manually move the ankle the bones mite shift. no fighting, no resistance, relax, breathe and lean into the pain...

i'll post a really wonderful story later today about an incident with my injured dog last summer, a sheer sided, mud slick, 12ft ravine, unclimbable by man or beast, and i got him out, alone!

i hope i havent prattled on and missed the point of ur question.

blessings

Oh, no. I appreciate your insight. You explained it very well.

I can identify with most of it and am still intriged how "gentler" and "embrace" is the happy median here... or I've been doing the same thing and just not aware of it as "a gentler approach."

I did learn how to breathe, at 40 - physical therapy/yoga. I breathe my way through a looooooooooooottttttt!!!!!!!! so if that's one of the facets of "gentler" then I'm as gentle as a limb with my pain adventures.

I'm always open to new concepts. Thanks for sharing. We all can learn and lean on each other.

Hello Shalom,

Welcome to neuro talk. You'll find a lot of really caring people here.

I appreciate the comments between you and Broken Wing. When I read the first thread I was curious about your approach to handleing your health. By the time I got to this one I think I understand.

Once I accepted I had been dealt the card of poor health (RSD) I started feeling better. At first I didn't want to accept my fate. I spent several years looking for relief around every corner. Each day I would spend hours researching RSD/CRPS. Arming myself with knowledge did help me understand. Understanding what I was up againt started to help me learn to accept. I'm sure you have heard accepting is half the battle. You call it embrace I call it accept. Regardless, of the language we aren't fighting to survive. So I think I get where your coming from.
I look forward to reading your input on topics.
Take care and welcome
Sherrie

Shalom, miatri. Welcome to NeuroTalk!

I am looking forward to reading more of your posts. Your ideas are well worth thinking about, and you seem to lead a very interesting life.