Faces of Pain

Written by Rocky Odell for the RSDSA blog. I am but one face in pain out of millions My name is not important. However, my PAIN is very important. A physician triggered the monster I now live with. CRPS, also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, is a pain disease with no cure and is very misunderstood. It has crippled my body. I live with pain often beyond description. It is a very real disease often called the most painful disease known to man. It is also called the suicide disease. All the faces of pain share pain from diseases and injuries we never heard of and certainly never wanted. We all suffer in ways the healthy cannot even fathom.…continue reading

CRPS and The Digestive System

Written by Dr. Katinka van der Merwe for the RSDSA blog. The Spero Clinic has gained a reputation for effective, non-invasive nervous system rehabilitation, and for the sheer number of people who have found remission after going through our program. Often people ask me why our clinic is so unique in its approach. I think the answer is multifaceted, but certainly, one of the factors that makes us most successful where other approaches have failed is that we approach the body as a whole. This may seem simple, but if you think about it, it is very powerful. When patients are suffering from conditions like CRPS or EDS (Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome), they are often bounced around from specialist to specialist.…continue reading

Shining a Light – The Fight Against CRPS/RSD Continues

Written by Bryan D. Pope of The Cochran Firm for the RSDSA blog as a silver sponsor of RSDSA's First Virtual CRPS Awareness Walk. The last five months have been hard on everyone as we deal with the impacts of COVID-19 in our society. I have represented victims of negligence my entire career and have seen people struggle with the aftermath of life altering injuries. Having personally represented many members of the CRPS community for over 20 years, I know these past few months have been especially difficult for CRPS/RSD Warriors.  They already face isolation and deal with challenges such as difficulty sleeping and trouble concentrating and completing simple tasks due to the never-ending pain and discomfort. Now they are dealing with…continue reading

CRPS: The Viral Connection

Written by Dr. Katinka van der Merwe for the RSDSA blog. Ten years ago, I treated my first CRPS patient, Carlos. Carlos had full body CRPS and suffered from gastroparesis. Carlos had no quality of life left, and would curl into a ball each time he ate the smallest bite of food, screaming pain ravaging his body. Carlos’s youngest son was nine months old. In those years, I was like so many other doctors who face their first CRPS patient. I was unfamiliar with the condition, and I felt daunted by the sheer magnitude of his suffering. Luckily for me, I had one tool that turned out to be exactly what Carlos needed: Vagus nerve stimulation. The Vagus nerve is…continue reading

As Parents, We Did Everything We Could

Written by Isabel and reposted with permission on the RSDSA blog. My 17-year-old son broke his leg at football practice the summer before his senior year of high school. The X-ray showed a broken fibula in two places and one of the pieces of bone was pinching the peroneal nerve. The orthopedic surgeon was concerned about foot drop because of possible damage caused to the nerve. He warned us that foot drop might still be present even after surgery to repair the fibula. Foot drop would require our son to wear a brace on his ankle for the rest of his life. Little did we know then that “foot drop” would have been way better than the CRPS he ended…continue reading

RSDSA Resources Research

RSDSA has received many requests for dentists, workers comp attorneys, and disability attorneys who know and understand CRPS. If you have a reputable dentist or attorney who works with CRPS Warriors, please share this information to help others. Loading… Please consider making a donation to RSDSA today!continue reading

Helping Others Is the Best Cure to Any of My Ailments

Written for the RSDSA blog by Elyssa Weiss. My story is nothing short of a miracle, I do say that very humbly, please know. I have Grace I hardly deserve. On Christmas Eve 2015 I fell asleep and somehow crushed my brachial plexus and then went into a coma. I was not under the influence of any alcohol or substances and I say this because it is hard to believe. I was also not heavy at this time. Evidently the crushing of my brachial plexus caused Rhabdomyolysis. I had liver, kidney, and heart failure. My brain swelled and I had double lung pneumonia. I also had three pressure blisters on my leg and feet that were 4 x 4 inches. 16…continue reading

Every Day That I Am Not in Pain Is a Good Day

Written for the RSDSA blog by Maya S. Hi! My name is Maya S. and I am sixteen years old. Shortly before my tenth birthday, I began feeling severe pain in my right foot, but I had not had any type of injury. In just a few weeks, I became unable to walk, wear clothes on my foot, or attend school. The pain that I felt prevented me from sleeping by keeping me up all night. I saw many doctors and underwent a battery of tests, all of which indicated that nothing was physically wrong with me. I was lucky to receive a diagnosis very quickly. Just three weeks after I began feeling pain, I was diagnosed with CRPS. I…continue reading

Podcasts, Pools, and Patience – Melissa’s CRPS Journey

Written for the RSDSA blog by Melissa Adams How and when did you develop CRPS/RSD? I had an Achilles surgery in May 2016. Shortly after the surgery I had a HUGE fall. The pain was so severe and different from the surgery pain. I kept complaining about it, but was told it was all in the healing. However, I knew something was wrong. So finally, after a year of speaking my truth, I received new X-rays and had an MRI that showed my “new” Achilles was torn and my heel had four hairline fractures. The doctor wanted to wait to see if the pain would relieve itself. It did not, so I had another surgery in September 2017. I was…continue reading

Battling CRPS Is No Small Feat

Written by Gina Clark for the RSDSA blog. How and when did you develop CRPS/RSD? I was officially diagnosed with CRPS in September 2019. I have had close to 10 years of injuries and surgeries that have led to a significant amount of trauma to my lower right leg, foot, and sural nerve. I was originally having pain on the ball of my foot in 2011 and it was then discovered I had a bipartite sesamoid. The orthopedic doctor performed a sesamoid removal at that time. I waited a little while to recover and sort of felt "back to normal," but I was still in pain even after some time. I went back to the orthopedic doctor (a new doctor…continue reading