I I have been fighting this for over 2 years now. It took away my walking. Now I'm slowly learning how to walk. It is very slow and very, very painful. It is in my left foot and up my left leg.

Very glad that you are walking again....keep up the good work.

Walk On - U2

Congratulations. That first step is the hardest - glad you're building momentum

Hello Survivor,

It is a LOT of work learning to walk again. So strange that the body can even forget. If PT is not helping you please be careful that your gait is not jacked up. It is easy to compensate and cause imbalance and problems. I know from experience. After my first injury and surgery (crutches 5 months) I had to re-learn in the pool. That was immensely helpful for allowing natural foot and joint motion without strain. I found I had to stretch regularly and still do to keep the myriad tendons and ligaments in the foot working. Eccentric exercises were also good once I had enough strength and could safely do them. The achilles/calf complex had really shortened. Listen to your body. Learning to walk again can cause various aches and pains that aren't even CRPS related. A good PT or trainer can help you figure out what causes over use and stress.

Keep up the fight!
Littlepaw

Thanks everyone. Littlepaw, I am starting to work on my gait. It's been a very long and slow process. I am on the treadmill. I still can't put full weight down on my left leg. I am using a walker. Next Monday I will be getting the permanent SCS put in. The trial was great. I am hoping I'll be able to be full weight bearing. Some days I just want to scream about how long this is taking. I'm just feeling overwhelmed with all this right now...

It DOES feel like forever, doesn't it? I shed a lot of tears in the last couple of years. It takes as long as it takes. Don't give into the desire to push to full weightbearing too quickly, especially if the SCS makes you feel great. So tempting - but you can really mess up your foot/ankle. Better to have good heel to toe motion with the support of the walker first. As you know it is easy to tear something that is not accustomed to being under full load. I hope you have a nearby pool! I transitioned to a cane for a while, using it on the good side to stabilize the weak - it helped a lot till I could ditch it. My PT also had me do core exercises because my abs and back were not keeping me stable enough (allowing me to "cheat" with a really messed up leg/hip motion) the "bird-dog" was especially helpful with the arm and opposite leg up.

Best of luck next week on the SCS! Hang in there and go scream in your closet if you have to - God knows I did.

Sending Healing Love - Littlepaw

Thanks. Unfortunately I do not have a pool near me. I know I can't jump into full weight bearing. I just got a knee brace for my left knee, so that will help some with the stabilizing. I go for pre-op tomorrow. I'm feeling torn. My mom just had neck surgery and she was having chest pains. So now I'm sitting in her room waiting for a doctor. She was supposed to come home today, but now we are unsure. Now I wish my surgery was later, because I don't want to leave her side. When it rains, it flipping pours...

How do I start a new thread?

I am very depressed I think about letting myself die all the time. How do I make a new post. I have to really think . I lose weight unless I take a lot of medicines and I think perhaps I will just stop taking medicines to maintain weight. I would waste away so maybe that is the answer.
I feel guilt though because I have kids in their 20s so I keep going on. But I want to go to the other side.

I read other people's posts and they are much more brave than me and I feel guilty for writing about thinking of dying. But we all have to die sometime.

Hi when2be
sorry to hear of how despondent you are feeling

I have added a trigger icon to your post as it can be rather upsetting for others to read posts about suicidal thoughts

We do have a special forum where you can post if you are feeling suicidal http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum29.html
The members there are very understanding

To start a NEW THREAD..... enter the Forum you wish to post to and look near the top and bottom left of the page where you will see the NEW THREAD button, click, type and submit

To post a reply to an existing thread in a forum, enter the thread and you will see the NEW REPLY button in the same areas (top and bottom left) Depending on the theme/skin you are using, it may say POST REPLY etc but they are always in that same location.

To reply to an existing thread by quoting the post you wish to reply to...use the QUOTE button at the bottom right of the post you are responding to.

Hello When2be,

I am sorry that you are going through such a dark time but welcome to the forum. You will find support and understanding and some helpful suggestions here. There is hope and there are ways to hold on, but it can be hard to see in the dark! Go on and start that new thread and introduce yourself, we all have to lean on each other.
Sending Healing Love, Littlepaw