[Brambledog]

Ok, whole new bag of fun this weekend - any advice or thoughts very much appreciated as ever...

I have CRPS in my left side. Started in my L leg post-knee arthroscopy, spread to my foot and whole leg, then to R foot. In last few months, symptoms developing in my L arm, increased pains and sensitivity etc in my L arm in last fortnight.

A couple of months ago I had a few L side chest stabbing pains, each about 5-8 mins apart and more if I breathed deeper. I felt a bit wobbly, but they passed, and I put it down to indigestion etc.

On Friday I had a similar thing when my husband was here, and he thought I should get checked out so we went to the local small hospital. The reception nurse told me off for not dialling 999, but the doc I saw was lovely. I had an ECG (normal) and she did some neuro checks and I explained about the CRPS. She didn't know it (story of our lives) but grasped the idea quickly and asked intelligent questions. She thought the pains were due to spasm of an intercostal muscle, and said I only needed to panic if the pains were much more frequent, I struggled to breathe, nausea, clammy etc.

Yesterday I was at my parents for tea and towards the end of the meal my upper back tightened up in spasm and I couldn't move for a few minutes. My sister rubbed my back (ow) a bit but was just hurting me too much so she stopped. It eased over the next few hours but not something I've had before.

This morning I woke lying on my L side. I straightened out and felt a stabbing pain in my chest, L side but more over my heart than to the side like before. I waited for it to go like before, but it just kept going, every second or so a new stab of pain. I couldn't move, the pain was so intense, I was breathing shallowly because of the fear, and just felt completely panicked. My husband had been just about to go to work, so lucky he was there. After a few minutes of hoping it would go he phoned 999.

I can't describe the fear, but I'm sure some of you know it. I've never really thought I might die before, but I thought it today. My kids were at home, the youngest about to go to school, it was crazy.

The ambulance men were amazing. They did an ECG which was fine, and by then the pain was easing off and I could talk a bit easier. We explained the CRPS and after all their checks he said he thought it was more likely to be connected to that and some kind of muscular spasm/pain. He said if CRPS could affect any tissues and I had it in my L side, then it wasn't beyond possible for me to have the symptoms in my heart or any other tissues around it.

I rang the doc as requested and spoke to a stroppy GP who made me feel like a complete time-wasting idiot (I already felt like that), and basically it's been logged on my records. She didn't want to see me.

We're going on holiday in two weeks, to a small island. I'm not sure what to do for the best in terms of meds, when to panic etc. Should I push to see my GP before I go? Do I just have to accept this kind of thing as a new CRPS symptom? Do I get checked every time or just wait and hope that it goes?

I really hate this damn condition

Bram.