I am 21 years old, and haven't heard of many people my age who have this. Everyone says I am so young to have this, and friends definitely don't understand. I am just looking to meet some young friends who also have this and may deal with some of the same social issues I go through, even attending school. Hope to make some friends

I'm sorry, I am no where near your age; but I wanted to let you know that things aren't all that bad; Wishing you a wonderful life....:grouphug

You might want to explore if there is a local support group for CRPS patients near you. The one younger poster I met here on NT had several friends with CRPS in their early 20's, and she was active with one, and she did lots of socializing online as well. You might want to check this link out as a start: http://www.rsdhope.org/support-groups.html

I know we have some college agers around here. Maybe not on as much with end of semester coming? CRPSspoonie12 is in college. Hi to spoonie as I am throwing your name around...hope you are well.

So sorry to hear that you have RSD also

I'm 20 years old and have had RSD since I was 12. It started in my left leg and then spread to my right arm after an injury.

I understand just how hard it is being ill at such a young age. I lost most of my friends from this illness because they didn't understand or didn't want to hang around with someone who couldn't do all the things they could. It is very lonely at times and people can be so cruel. I am now however in university, studying towards being a Psychologist and have a great set of friends who are understanding. Managing university and the workload is extremely hard, particularly on really bad pain days but thankfully my university are quite understanding and I don't want to let this illness ruin my future... its taken enough from me already.

If you want to talk to someone who knows what it is like being young and ill, feel free to message me... happy to talk

I'm an old fart now at 32, but I was 23 when I got it. On my 23rd birthday to be precise, at least my initial injury was. Your friends won't understand but hopefully they'll be willing to learn. Some of mine did and some even sent me links to new research but for the most part they didn't. You'll find that even a lot of Doctors are not educated about it so it's hard for our friends to be. I like to show people the McGill pain index now with RSD on the top. (look it up on google because I think links get broken). If a friend thinks you're being a party pooper, show them that chart, perhaps it will teach them to be a little more sympathetic. I also initiated a lot of things I was able to do so that my friends didn't always feel like I was ditching them. I just couldn't do a lot. When I could, I would make sure to invite them so that we didn't lose touch. Good luck to you! You're going to get through this.