Embracing Valentine’s Day 2018

By Samantha Anderson Living with CRPS makes holidays stressful. Valentine's Day is a whole other topic. Sometimes, we are our own Valentine, while other times we may not feel up to going along with our Valentine's plans. How can we adapt to make the most of this day about love? Valentine’s Day can be a stressful day for those of us living with CRPS. Some of us get a little down because we cannot do the things we would like to do to celebrate this day of love. Others may get down because their relationships may have changed over the course of their time with CRPS. This year, I am personally sending the self-love Cupid to everyone with CRPS’ house…
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Living with RSD- Never Give Up On Hope

By Guest Blogger Brenda Refior Brenda discusses her life before being diagnosed with RSD and all of the things she endured after a traumatic incident. Through all of this, Brenda is able to find hope and encourages readers to do the same. Find out how below. Before I had RSD, I was a strong and happy person who loved life to the fullest. When I was nineteen, I tried out for an Olympic handball team at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. I was accepted and asked to go to the Lake Placid training camp, but this conflicted with my wedding plans. I was young and felt that all of life was ahead of me, and decided not to go…
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Complex Regional Pain Syndrome- What To Do About It

By Dr. David Brady This blog was initially titled Complex Regional Pain Syndrome- What Is It And What To Do About It. It was featured on Fibrofix. To learn more about Dr. Brady, you can click here. Here, Dr. Brady writes about what Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is and how to approach it. Chronic pain affects more individuals than diabetes, cancer, and heart disease combined and yet its origins can be so elusive that an accurate diagnosis of a chronic pain syndrome can be difficult. Determining precisely what you are experiencing and identifying the cause of those specific symptoms is undoubtedly important to unweave the complexity of chronic pain syndromes and find the treatment approach that best addresses your specific…
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Quotes and Mantras To Help People With CRPS

 By Samantha Anderson Everyone has bad days. They are inevitable. Bad days are what make good days feel amazing. It can feel incredibly difficult to get through some bad days, particularly if pain is high on those days. We all need something to pull us through and remind us that things get better and that we are strong than we believe. Take a look through some of the quotes that we found helpful for bad days with CRPS. Consider printing out this list or taking your favorite one and writing it out to hang up on your mirror so you see it every morning. Quotes: For the moments when things just are not going right: “Keep your face to the…
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Combating a CRPS Winter With Music

By Samantha Anderson Getting through cold, dark winters can be difficult for anyone. With CRPS, we understand that there can be more complications. As someone with CRPS, I've fought through some of the darkness of winter with music. Get on board with me and see what my recommendations are to get you through to Spring! Winter can be incredibly difficult for people with CRPS. All through the United States, we’ve been facing some crazy weather. There has been snow in places that it doesn’t snow, temperatures lower than Alaska in the Northeast, and overall low temperatures all over the country. This weather can make us feel less than stellar. With snow and ice, it can be hard to get around,…
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Top 5 Clothing Brands for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

By Samantha Anderson Fashion and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome don't always walk hand in hand. Trying to find clothing that is comfortable can be a task. This article features primarily women's clothing brands (although some fit both), but stay tuned for a men's clothing article! Finding comfortable clothing can be a hassle for every day people. Adding Complex Regional Pain Syndrome into the equation can complicate matters even more. Every person with CRPS is so different. Some people need clothing that does not move around very much and stays close to the skin, as the movement of the fabric causes pain. Others cannot wear tight clothing and need things that are more flowy so they are not restricted and there…
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When It Gets Cold- Activities To Do With CRPS

By Samantha Anderson Winter has arrived and is hitting many areas of this country hard. Temperatures are low, snow is coming, and many people with CRPS are trying to figure out how they can stay entertained without further aggravating their CRPS. For many people with CRPS, winter is not a friend of theirs. Cold air and storms can make pain levels go up and can really put a damper on someone’s day. It can be a quite unfortunate occurrence, especially for anyone that loved to play in the snow pre-CRPS. Snowy weather and storms do not have to mean that the fun ends. There are indoor activities that you can do to keep yourself entertained this winter (and during any…
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A New Year With CRPS, A New Start

By Samantha Anderson 2018 is coming up quickly. With a new year, everyone is thinking of restarting and having a better year. For those of us with CRPS, we're looking for hope while also looking to improve our lives through a new years resolution. Let's talk about the changes we can make. There are typically two types of people in this world. There are those that boast “New Year, new me” at the strike of midnight on January 1, and then there are those that roll their eyes and say that a new year is only a change of numbers. I, for one, am in between those people. I’m not an optimist and I’m not a pessimist. I like think…
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Using Somatosensory Rehabilitation to Treat Allodynia

By Guest Blogger Tara Packham, Ph.D., OTReg (Ont). @TaraLPackham Postdoctoral fellow, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Reearch and Care. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario Canada Allodynia is formally defined as a painful response to a stimulus that does not normally produce pain.  This includes painful feelings in response to 1) light touch such as a caress, or the stroke of a cotton ball; 2) temperatures that would normally be comfortable (like cool water from the tap, or the warmth from a mug of coffee); or 3) gentle pressure, like wearing a sock or a bra.  In the Budapest criteria for complex regional pain syndrome, allodynia is considered both a sign (something that can be measured) and a symptom (something the…
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15 Tips For Healthcare Providers Treating CRPS/RSD

By Guest Blogger Melissa Wardlaw As a patient with CRPS/RSD, I am lucky to have a pain-management physician I have been partnered with since 2004 whom I trust, who trusts me and who understands my complex medical issues. As I have visited many physicians and other specialists on my medical journey before and after partnering with him, clearly this hasn’t always been the case! Recently I spoke to an audience of healthcare professionals at a healthcare conference, and left them with this takeaway of some helpful treatment tips I have comprised in all my years as a CRPS/RSD, chronic illness & pain patient. 1. Patients with CRPS/RSD are on individual journeys and every patient is different! Even though most patients…
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