I was solicited into a cardiovascular risk clinic. the needle went in and in and in, when i looked up the women had twisted away from me with the needle jabbing and twisting into my arm. i yelled ow and it went in deeper. they all tried to cover their error and whisked me out of there. the pain was worse and worse.
i was an athlete my whole life at age 49. My way of coping with pain {Emotional} was exercise. I proceeded on a hike up a ridge to get to cooler ground, The heat was making the pain just unbearable, worse than labor pains. After a mile or so I stopped and noticed my right arm and hand was grossly engorged with blood with the veins litterally popping out of my arm. I could not get the veins to go back into my arm. I tore a length of cloth from my shirt and wrapped my arm and kept elevating it.
I stayed up there for 3 days alone as I was afraid more exercise would pump more blood and I may expire. I realized she had hit and severed my nerves, brachial artery and hit the tendon as well. No one on this small island would help me in the medical field.
I started looking for neurologists in the yellow pages and flew to at least 15 different specialists. In conclusion., I have been over 8and a half years with my brachial plexus gone, a large muscle on my back gone, as well as chronic pain and swelling in the puncture site, the cubital fossa on the inner right arm. this experience has brought me nothing but loss.
i was a healthy active person, artist, musician, gardener,etc. Now I swim almost every day for an hour or so to save my life. I try hard every day to do as much as I can. For me the most painful aspect of this is that my family , kids and friends just don't understand. they just don't get it and somehow expect me to be the same person. I feel isolated and alone.
I would love to connect with anyone who feels they could be willing to understand the limitations this type of permanent injury can inflict upon an unsuspecting victim. After all, how often do we hear" it's just a simple blood draw" My heart goes out to everyone who has been hurt in this manner. From my heart to yours...I care, and I want to hear about how you are all coping. Thanks.

Hello,

I just wanted to say hello to everyone, and thank you for being so open with your battles in fighting CRPS.

My CRPS started 4 years ago from an intramuscular injection. As soon as the nurse administered the shot I screamed in pain and the pain only got worse from then on. It took 2.5 years to be diagnosed and by that time the CRPS spread from hip to my toes in both my legs.
I never sought any legal damages, to scared and dont have the energy to bother with that.. For the 2.5 years I told Dr after Dr that this all started from an injection and all the doctors said that it was impossible for an injection to cause all of that damage..
So, I thought I was the only unlucky one to have this happen from a needle gone rouge. It breaks my heart to hear that there is others out there like me and I'm so sorry that all of this happened to you. For me, this is the hardest battle I have ever fought and I have had some big battles before this disease.

Thank you everyone for sharing your story and I hope you all are having a good day.

Sarah

All of these replies reminded me of something that happened to me. i have internal RSD that started when i had gallbladder surgery. after the surgery i stayed in the hospital for 7 days because i was in so much pain and they couldnt figure out why. for each of those days i was injected with Lovenox around my belly button, the injections were to reduce the chance of blood clots. where each shot was i had horrible pain and a bruise the size of a grapefruit. they said they hadnt seen this reaction before. then i was sent home and began my horrible journey to get help. i always thought i had an allergic reaction to the injections but now i know that it was the nerves reacting to the shots ontop of being cut from the surgery.

this disorder is something that just goes on and on!