Hi!

No, I'd never heard of it either and don't know anyone who has, or who has it. Medics here, though, have certainly encountered it; I'm told the incidence in SE Asia is fairly high.

Deb, get your water tested! ( only kidding..) Ada said she has a couple of neighbours with it too.

But the problem lies as much in the names themselves. Someone here (sorry, can't remember who off the top of my head) has a sig that goes something like "the more names they give to a disease, the less they know about it" - and, as Plato said, "They certainly give very strange names to diseases".

Try these on for size:
"'Stocking and Glove' Syndrome, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome;, Shoulder-hand Syndrome, Steinbrocker Syndrome, Sudeck's Atrophy, causalgia, Sudeck's osteodystrophy, posttraumatic osteoporosis, algodystrophy, peripheral trophoneurosis, algoneurodystrophy, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, RSD, causalgia, Sudeck's, Sudeck-Leriche syndrome, minor traumatic dystrophy, major traumatic dystrophy, Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy, neurovascular dystrophy, reflex neurovascular dystrophy, post-traumatic vasomotor disorder, sympathetic neurovascular dystrophy, post-traumatic vasospasm, complex regional pain syndrome, CRPS.

And I don't think that's a complete list.

Both RSD and CRPS are completely forgettable acronyms. RSD is marginally easier than CRPS, which is ridiculously hard to remember, and as for both Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome...... need I say more??!

We remember medical diseases with only 2 words in the title much more easily, and specially if there's someone's name in it, or it's elegantly foreign. We just need a Dr. Huntington, Parkinson, or Addison to come up with a breakthrough, oh yes! Or possibly a Dr. Epstein-Barr or Alzheimer. Of course, I jest, we'd also need a couple of celebrities to develop it too, and go public with it.

BTW, I usually don't bother with the name, if I say it people (including friends) instantly lose interest - I am *so* familiar with that glazed look in the listener's eyes - I just say "it's a nerve disorder that fires pain signals 24/7" and leave it at that. Then they glaze over and lose interest anyway .

all the best!

PS -Just wanted to add, the way it is now, you could find a whole street, one person has RSD, nextdoor neighbour has Sudecks', person opposite has CRPS, across from him is the guy with causalgia, just down the road is the lady with algodystrophy, her neighbour's daughter has RND - and none of them realize it's all the same condition, because their doc has called it one thing only and hey, why ever should you be looking for even a second name??