I've had CRPS type II for 8 years after a venipuncture nerve injury to the sensory branch of the radial nerve in my right arm during a blood donation. I've had two spreads, both overnight. First was to the rest of the upper right quadrant of my body, which occurred 10 months after the initial injury. Second occurred 2 years after the initial injury, and affected the rest of the right half of my body, head to toe.

Since then, the last 6.5 years, it's been stable and hasn't spread further. Hasn't gotten too much worse, but hasn't gotten better. I consider myself very lucky that I can work and do most of what I want to do. Weight gain and fatigue has been an ongoing battle, but pain/discomfort is generally under control with warmth, meds, reasonable activity, biofeedback techniques, and keeping overall stress in my life to a minimum as much as possible.

Looking back, the first three years were horrible, espcially with the uncertainty of it all. The past five years have been much better, mostly because (1) I'm just used to the right half of my body feeling different than the left half, (2) combination (gabapentin/Cymbalta) and dose of meds that are effective, and (3) I know what works to keep flare-ups in check, and what else I need to do or not do to keep everything manageable.

I hope everything works out for you,

Ann