Outlander,

Welcome to the forum. I am so sorry to hear about your possible diagnosis of CRPS. It is a scary diagnosis, but there is hope. Please take Littlepaw's advice:

CRPS is a diagnosis of exclusion and if a contributing cause can be found and treated it can make a difference in your outcome. If you have not had imaging or nerve conduction studies done those could give important information. CRPS could be causing your foot to turn out but there could be other causes such as nerve compression. Please don't settle for this unless all possibilities have been exhausted.

I know a woman who definitely had CRPS in other areas of her body, so when she developed pack pain and was told that the CRPS had spread, she accepted it. Several months later a different doctor diagnosed a spinal infection which was treated and the back pain went away. Moral of the story: Make sure all possibilities are ruled out or otherwise you may be suffering needlessly.

With that said, I hope that you share your journey with the forum. We can learn from each other and having others who understand our pain and frustrations helps us deal with it all.

Shay

Thanks littlepaw and shay. I am going back to the doctor on 11/8 to have nerve conduction studies done. my neurologist wants me to get some blood work done to rule out other possibilities, like diabetes, vit b12 deficiency and something about tssh (not sure what that is). i also wonder if there is some ankle instability because i feel clicking in at least one ankle and when i wear the right shoes i don't swell as much. I will ask all these questions, but i'm afraid. i always think doctors believe people like us are hypochondriacs or have munchausen's syndrome because we want to get to the bottom of what's going on. i'll keep you guys updated.

" i always think doctors believe people like us are hypochondriacs or have munchausen's syndrome because we want to get to the bottom of what's going on."

Outlander,

Don't worry about that. Good doctors appreciate patients who advocate for themselves. They may not agree with you, but they should be able to address any questions and help you on your quest for a correct diagnosis and treatment. Also, don't forget that you may be dealing with more than one problem. Just because we have one disorder, doesn't me that we don't have others along with it.

Shay

Thanks for the reply, Shay.

My emg study went well, so that's good, but the doctor believes it's rsd, as he called it. When i mentioned possible spreading, he said that doesn't happen. sigh. He doesn't even know it's new name, but of course this doesn't mean he's wrong.

Anyway, i'm going to continue exercising and stretching my ankle. do you think there is anything else I can do? I figure I'll just follow tips I see online.