Hi everybody,

In the past month or so, I'm pretty sure that my RSD has spread to my lower right leg. It really, really hurts, and my ankle and knee are starting to get very stiff at times.

Ever since the spread started, the bottom of my right leg and the ankle have been swelling and changing colors, and I have been hiding them under my clothes. I always wear long pants, even on weekends when it gots hot (unless I'm in the back yard where no one can see me). The only person that I let look at my leg is my husband. I don't even like to look at it, it scares me when I see that it's red, swollen or mottled, or has hives. Of course, sometimes, with RSD being so random and weird, it hurts like crazy but looks almost normal. I don't even want my PT to see it. It's almost as if I'm thinking "if I don't look it, maybe the RSD is not really there..." Plus, I'm embarrassed because I think it is ugly. Does anyone have an RSD arm or leg that is nice looking??? For instance, I was working in my yard one day about a month ago and my teenage daughter was horrified at the sight of my leg - she asked me what was wrong with it. She thought it was gross. It was the first time that I became aware that it had started to swell and change colors.

Do any of you ever act that way toward your RSD arms and legs? Do you hide them even from yourself?

XOXOX Sandy