Hello everyone
It's been several years since I posted on this board. I had been in recovery a little while then. It has now been about 3 years since I have been pain free. I posted that I would write a booklet on everything I did that worked for me and then life took over and I never did, so I apologise. I wanted to post today as I wanted to give some hope that complete recovery is possible. I now have no symptoms of rsd and have had lots of knocks and bangs and my legs recover as normal. I had rsd that started in both knees and spread to both legs and feet. I could hardly walk when it was at its worse. I realised pretty quickly that the doctors didn't know how to help - pain meds made the situation worse and intensive physiotherapy made the pain worse and my fear level extremely high. I realised I would have to it myself! I began doing gentle pilates exercises and exercises using a balance ball. (I can give the names of the DVDs I used if anyone is interested. I went for very short walks - at the time I could only take short, shuffling steps and could only walk for about 5 mins to start with. It hurt, but I perservered within my own limits - I listened to my body. I had to keep telling myself that there was nothing structurally wrong with my knees (I had had an MRI to prove this). A GP recommended The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno as it had helped a patient of hers with chronic pain to recover. This book was key in my recovery. I would read it every day. I also read lots of books on healing - people who had recovered from things that the doctors said they would never recover from. I had to get my mind in a place where it would believe I would recover. I also read books on meditation and I used a mindfulness meditation CD for an hour a day, every single day. I also journalled to let out my anger at what had happened to me - I did this every day. By sticking to this routine every single day I made progress - I could walk further and further (but believe me it was an extremely slow and gradual recovery). I also massaged my legs every day with almond oil (with some lavender and rosemary essential oils added). At first I could barely touch my legs but increased pressure very gradually. I had acupuncture, which would give me a few hours relief from the pain. I took lots of vitamin c and omega oils to help reduce inflammation. The key to really ridding me of that final bit of pain was definitely learning how to talk to and control my mind and to control the fear of the pain and for this the John Sarno book was key.
This is my routine, which I stuck to religiously everyday:
Morning - warm bath with rosemary and lavender oils added and epsom salts.
- massage legs and feet.
Afternoon - go for a walk (a step counter was motivating)
- balance ball exercises, followed by pilates (I only did the exercises that were within my limits or pushed me a tiny bit)
- read books on healing. Read 'The mindbody Prescription'. Read Jon Kabat-Zinn book on meditation - 'Full Catastophe Living'.
- meditate for an hour - 'Guided mindfulness meditation' CD -Jon Kabat-Zinn.
- Journal.
- Massage legs and feet.
I also had acupunture once a week when I could afford it!

I really hope this might help someone. I know different things help different people. One of the keys for me was overcoming the fear that the pain was telling me I was damaging myself if I tried to walk and the fear that the pain would get worse. The meditation and john sarno's book helped with these fears. Don't let the doctors take over your recovery - in my opinion they are still very much in the dark. Trust your own body and mind's ability to heal - it is a powerful thing.