[theoneRogue420]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to introduce myself, and give you the details of my situation. This will be rather hard on me... I have never fully discussed it with anyone other than dr.s and family.

I originally got hurt at work in Sept 92... what should have been a simple ankle surgery. But with it being work comp, they screwed around for almost a year, and my surgery took place in Aug 93. I woke up and knew instantly there was something VERY wrong. The Dr.s decided I was a hypochondriac... rsd wasn't well known back then. But their own PT dept. stood behind me. After all, they were the ones who were making me cry by running a cotton ball across my foot!

But that was as far as it went, with them. For the next 3 years, I ran around the western U.S. trying to find out for myself. Thankfully, I ended up at Texas Tech and met Dr. Gabor Racz. As I had NO money or insurance, he couldn't do much for me... but at least I understood what was wrong, finally.

My life, and the lives of my two teenage sons, was a mess of course. I finally ended up in Ocean Beach, Ca., where my sons were involved in a fantastic school program, for which I shall always be grateful. The only thing was, I couldn't afford to stay... nor could the boys afford to miss out on this opportunity. I ended up selling drugs to keep them in their school. I can't forget to mention that marijuana helped tremendously with the rsd pain, with none of the side effects of pharmaceuticals.

But leading that lifestyle, lead to other rather risky behaviors, of course. I now have aids as well. The aids meds have serious side effects, making the rsd pain ten times worse. The last several years have been horrible, until I made a decision... I went off the aids meds, and can now *barely* handle the rsd pain. In the last 14 years, it has spread from the right ankle to both ankles and to a lesser degree, the knees... and lately my hands and wrists have felt quite strange. Frankly, I am terrified.

My most recent health issue is the development of frontal lobe epilepsy. It turns out, the rsd may be responsible for THAT, as well. Does this disease ever quit?!? Geez!

So, there's my story. I can't regret any of it... in the midst of all this, my oldest son got his full presidential scholarship out of that program, and is out of school already. My youngest son is married and a homeowner at 20, with an equally bright future ahead of him.

I, myself, found a wonderful man, and through Michael I also found God. So although there is much pain and heartache in our lives, there is also a deeply satisfying sense of "wellbeing", even if there is no logical reason for it, lol.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that regardless of how bad this disease is, there IS life beyond rsd... no matter how short it might be.

I am so glad to have found this forum! I am hoping to be as big a comfort to others, as well. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger... after all this time I feel like King Kong, lol.