Lol! I've got dog hair as well! I use a large pet hair roller, meant for carpet every few days, it's actually more effective than a vacuum, and I pay someone to vacuum. I plan on getting a ROOMBA in the near future. It's the combo of the weight and vibration that makes it impossible for me to do...

I'm disorganized at times but I've tried to adapt so that my place is still clean/ish...

My fantasy new place has to have hard wood floors, so I can make do with damp mopping. Vaccuuming isn't in my future unless they find a cure for us in the interim

I have never went to the ER for my RSD pain and went once for a migraine... although I probably should go from time to time for my excruciating migraines as I know they can break the cycle for them.

I think Lit love said it well. I know I have to have a realistic view of the pain. It will never go away. It can just be managed to a degree where we are some what functional. Even horrible flares where I am crying from the pain and frustration... it is bad, but you have to be in the mindset that it won't last forever at the flare level of pain. Just my opinion and how I deal with it.

Believe me I know the ER is not a place for chronic pain. It was a truly heinous flare-up though almost puking and passing out form the level of pain. And both of my doctors told me to go. That was the reason I was so mad at that ER doc. I HATE going to the ER, and realize that there were other people who needed DIRE help than just pain. Thankfully the new meds seem to be controlling the pain WAAAYYY better!! I am having a much better time being able to cope now! I also think the muscle relaxer (Valium) was a very good thing. It was weird cuz when I was having the flare-ups all the major veins were protruding/ popping up. I talked with my doc about it and believe that my muscles were tensing badly from the pain so I think between the oxy 10mgs 3-4x's a day as needed and the Valium is they way to go for now!

So thank you all, and I hope you all can or have found the same measure of relief as I seem to have now.

The only issues with that is for some reason unless the cycle is interrupted by pains meds or SOMETHING, that it just gets worse and worse and worse. It doesn't stop, and can go on for days on end. Since I still work and have a 7yr old that is not an option for me, to just "wait", as I said it just compounds and gets worse. I can usually stop a flare before it gets too bad with Lidocaine patches, however I ran out, I have a prescription for more but no money to buy them.

Everyone's RSD is different. And I do NOT just go to the ER on a whim. As I stated SEVERAL times before, BOTH my doctors told me to go! Sorry if I seem irritated, but that is a point of contention for me. No one seems to understand that sometimes. I also don't handle pain very well, I have a pretty low threshold but I had held it off for 2 days already and was nearly puking from the level it was at...... so I DO consider that an EMERGENCY. Especially when my doctors' advised me to go.

Thankfully now that I am on different meds, hopefully it won't happen like that again. I think part of the problem was that the meds I was on were barely controlling a normal day of pain let alone the flares. We all know it's a trial and error process. And since I'm in Washington state, high dose pain meds are usually a last resort. Well, I think we got there lol.

The Doctor definitely shouldn't make you feel guilty for taking a medication no matter what it is. All opiates are addictive "oxy" just happens to be popular right now, there's nothing intrinsically more dangerous about it. Also Oxycodone and Oxycontin are the same thing. Oxycodone is the active ingredient. Oxycontin is simply the brand name for time released Oxycodone.

Respectfully, songbird, if you really understood that the ER is not the right place for the treatment of a chronic condition, you'd be mad at your docs right now, NOT the ER doc. Your docs are the ones who failed to set you up with a reasonable treatment plan, istructions NOT to do things that you know will trigger a flare, and an emergency plan for when an UNFORSEEN flare happenes.

I did nothing to trigger it! Nothing different nothing out of the ordinary. Other than a cold going around my household, which I didn't even get. One doctor was out of town at a conference, and the other was doing an EMG in a sterile environment, and could not get me in.

Of course I was upset that my current meds were not handling the situation. And this week it was remedied..well hopefully I've only been on it for 2 days or so. And the reason I got mad at the ER doc is because he made me feel like a street druggie for the medications i was on and the fact that they weren't stopping the extreme flare up and needed something stronger!! He said my chart would be "red flagged" with that kind of "behavior". He was condescending and acted like he was being magnanimous in helping the flare!! I seriously did not expect to get reactions like this from people at this site at all. I don't go rushing to the ER every other day or week. Part of the problem in managing my medications is I am allergic to almost ALL of the non-narcotics used to treat the pain. Again I live in Eastern Washington state so it is hard to get an ongoing prescription of a stronger "opioid". I am also limited as I don't have any INSURANCE either, so the cost has to be kept somewhat low as the hospital who injured me is being very slow in reimbursing me.

I really don't think it's right for you and others to try and admonish me for going to the ER under my doctors orders. It's not like I asked for a 3 months prescription of some kind of pain pill. My doctors office said the ER could call and confer with them that I am a NEWLY diagnosed chronic pain patient, and that my medications were still in a "trial" phase. Even if I WAS able to go to my doctors they don't usually keep things like Dilaudid in injection form to help with that kind of pain. You as well as many others know that getting your medications correct and strong enough to manage your DAILY pain

The flare up was UNFORESEEN as you put it. That's why my doctor sent me to the ER. Anyone one of us who suffered from this that was, last resort, FORCED to go to the ER and treated the way I was would be incensed! Anyways that hospital SHOULD treat me and very well too, THEY were the ones that CAUSED this in this first place!

If you suspect that you could have stopped this flare with the Lidoderm patches, but couldn't afford them, then this was definitely not a medical emergency, it was a lack of budgeting/financial planning.

Some people here are still working. Many of us can't. It's not that our familes don't need the money/income.....it's that we are disabled by the pain and can't work. Part of our pain management is a mix of meds AND limiting activities (work, housework, etc). Limiting the aggravating activities is a critical part of the pain control for most of us. I consider myself lucky to have finally found a doctor who is willing to prescribe narcotics that can help me in this struggle. Make no mistake though, he wants to prescribe as little as possible to help me manage this, NOT the max that I would need if I did everything I wanted to..

My kids were a bit older than your 7 yo. Mine were 8 and 10 when RSD started wrecking ALL our lives. They've been doing their own laundry and making sandwich suppers since then......and bringing me a sandwich and an icepack. It was not the life I would have chosen for any of us.

Many here have dealt with financial ruin because of being unable to work for years before getting SSDI approval.

You have to have a realistic plan with your docs. Good luck.

"He said my chart would be "red flagged" with that kind of "behavior". He was condescending and acted like he was being magnanimous in helping the flare!"


Most health care professionals won't warn you that you chart may be 'red flagged'. That was doing you a favor.