[hope4thebest]

Hi Brittany,
Welcome to the boards and to new friendships! I am glad you have your caring fiance to help and uplift you!

RSD brings changes to our lives in every way but time is our friend, as we learn to make adjustments and figure out ways to do things differently.
I am so sorry you family is not providing you with the encourgement and help that you need...
I know how hard it is when your goals and pursuits are interrupted by this 'condition'..

If your pain is tolerable, maybe you can take an on-line class in the meantime , while you figure out logistics. this way you can take a class more comfortably at your own pace.

Asking for help is really difficult for some of us and it is for me!! But I was reminded how good it makes people feel to be able to help when one is in need. I know you would be very willing to help someone if they needed you!
We have to allow others to have that same pleasure in helping us!!

Seeing a therapist would be helpful and I am wondering if someone from your church could perhaps drive you to the appointment, or maybe you can have some time with a therapist on the phone..

In the meantime, this is a place to come to when you need to feel understood! Friends are always here to listen and care!
hope4thebest

[Cake]

Hi Brittany and welcome!

I'm Kate, I'm 31 and married to an amazing husband too! My CRPS started when I was 23 from a bodged up blood test in my arm. At that point, we had two daughters- Bailey aged 2.5yrs and Olivia just 7 months old.

It's been a tough road where we've also had legal battles but we're still very strong as a couple. We now have two more children- Dayne was born 2 yrs into my CRPS, in 2002, and we had Hannah in 2006. We were lucky that I had a remission of pain during my pregnancy with Dayne, but didn't have the same luck when I was pregnant with Hannah. The success of a ketamine infusion gave me 10 months pain relief, which opened the window for us to have that "just one more" but my CRPS spread to my right leg when I was 5 months pregnant and I didn't get the remission I had hoped for.

It was really tough but totally worth all the pain, as I couldn't imagine life now without Hannah. Bailey is now 11 and Liv is 9 and they are the most amazing girls, always helping me out and they all have had to learn to clean up after themselves and be responsible for their things, as I can't exactly go around picking up after them.

I mainly take the opioid meds now, as I've exhausted the lists of other medications over the past 9 years. But I make sure my CRPS is only one aspect of my life. My husband and my kids are amazing and I'm very lucky, I have a great support network around me who helped me out when Liv and Dayne were babies (as I couldn't use my right arm at all) and who help me out now that I'm on crutches most of the time.

I'm glad to hear you have a really supportive partner- it makes the world of difference to your motivation to keep fighting this thing. My husband just works 3 days a week and the rest of the time he's home as my carer, and a stay-at-home-dad to the kids. But I'd also be lost without the friends on this forum, as it's so important for us to talk to people who truly understand what goes on in our heads, and our bodies, not just our family and friends. And it helps you see you're not alone in the world.

Anyway, I just wanted to welcome you too! Feel free to post topics and questions whenever you like. Sometimes, by browsing a few pages back, you can find your questions already answered or can carry on that discussion, otherwise ask away on a new topic!

Oh, and I second what Mike said about the opioid meds. I'm on oxycontin and a fair dose of it, but it just lets me be "normal", or as close to it as I can be! I don't get any high feelings etc and haven't with the other opioid ones either. If you have the pain that warrants them, then they work on that and that's it.

Oh, and I study from home, too. I do an online Uni course. I finished a 3 year Human Resources Management course 2 years ago, and have been spending the past year or so doing a general Business Administration course. I haven't worked since my CRPS started in 2000 so I wanted to update my skills and keep my brain working in the meantime! There's no way I could get to classes so this suits me perfectly! I study when I'm ok, I don't when I'm having a flareup. As long as it all gets done in time then its ok to be done that way. :-)

x Kate

[bbpoolgurl]

WOW Cake, that is awesome that you were able to have children after your diagnosis! Like I said, that is my biggest concern right now. Is it okay, once I get my list of questions together, if I private message you to ask them? You have just given me such hope, such a bright burst of hope, I am giddy with it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

To those of you who mentioned online classes- we have thought about it, but right now, my memory is such that I forget whole conversations (among many other things), so we decided that right now is not the best time for me to go back. The narcotics have really done a number in that regard; the patch is no where NEAR as bad as the MS Contin was, and I am verrrry slowly regaining everything back, but it's extremely slow. Hopefully, I will be able to do something like that soon.