Maybe you're just one of those "lucky" people for whom RSD doesn't stick around. The rest of us aren't so lucky.

I have this for going on 21 years now and I am left with a disability because of it. So yes, people, please do take RSD/CRPS seriously.

It doesn't just "vanish" for most of us.

It took me almost 3 years to get diagnosed, and I think the doctors were onto it much sooner than they let on, and also thought it would clear up on its own, which is probably why none of those orthopedic specialists ever uttered a word about it. I mean were they blind?

Marleen,

It took an X-ray with patchy osteoporosis for me to be diagnosed and I was just damned lucky that the rheumatologist ordered it. I had a classic presentation of CRPS which none of the 10 or so doctors I saw seemed to notice for a year. NOW going into my 3rd year all the doctors suddenly are talking about the visible signs and the Budapest Criteria, now that most of the color has faded, the ligature mark is gone and the swelling is slight. Why didn't they mention the freakin' BC when I had every single sign?

The other day my right foot was a block of burning ice at my PT eval, so cold on a hot day, that the PT commented about it. I had to BEG her to note it in the report.

It took a neurologist and my GP/PM doctor to diagnose me. After that a rheumatologist continued my treatment (bisphosphonates for recalcitrant RSD/CRPS). I was going to orthopedic specialists ever since my car accident and apparently those weren't the right doctors to see. Orthopedists are *bad* at noticing this. I know that much by now.