Finding Your Flashlight With CRPS

By Guest Blogger Morgan Trevithick Morgan experienced a CRPS diagnosis after doing something she loved. She was then surrounded by the darkness that CRPS can bring. What did it take for her to come out of the darkness? A flashlight. See what she means below. Most people have passions, and even if they don’t admit it, there is always something that secretly brings them joy. This, for me, was running. I could have suffered the worst day of my life, but the second I heard my feet bounce on and off the pavement, all my stress dissipated. On July 8, 2015 I suffered an extreme running accident that lead to nearly every injury one person could possess. After about a…
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How CRPS Is A Family Disease

By Samantha Anderson Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in our pain and our diagnosis that we do not realize that CRPS goes beyond us. Our families can be changed because of a CRPS diagnosis. While we have to focus on working on our own pain, it can be important to recognize some of the impacts of CRPS being a family illness. Last night, I was watching a television show with my mom. In it, the son was struggling with an illness. The therapist speaking to the parents explained that it is a chronic illness, which makes it a family illness. This does not mean that it is genetic, but it means that the family is affected by it. That’s…
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5 Things People With Chronic Pain Need You To Hear

By Guest Blogger Rachel Ehrenberg Often times, we discuss what we want to hear from our loved ones about chronic pain. It is not often we get to tell them the things we need them to know and to hear. Rachel took the big step to make this list happen. There are so many misconceptions about people with chronic pain. Unless you are living with it, nobody can actually truly understand what living in with it feels like. It becomes extremely draining emotionally and physically for us struggling with chronic pain. And for me, whenever I am having a rough time, there are a few things that I wished people knew about. I suffer from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)/Chronic Regional…
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Not An Inspirational Blog About CRPS

 By Guest Blogger Melissa Lanty Sometimes, all of the positive, wishful thinking blogs can be too much, especially for members of the community that are feeling frustrated. Melissa is here to let you know that you are allowed to be frustrated and aggravated and that everything is not always sunshine and rainbows in the world of CRPS If you are looking for the positive, inspirational story then I suggest you stop reading, this isn’t it.  I am out of examples of ways I’ve overcome this illness, I have no “bright side” to share today.  Today I am mourning, today I grieve.  I don’t want the positive encouragement, I don’t want the pity, I just want you to understand that I’m…
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Being A Wounded Healer With CRPS

By Guest Blogger Gabe King "You come out of suffering sometimes scarred. But you come out, anyway, a stronger person...you become, yourself, a wounded healer." -Bobby Schuller As a chronic pain warrior, have you ever thought of yourself as a healer? Not a physical healer, by no means! If that were the case, we would not be in the state we are in currently. No, I speak of being what Bobby Schuller termed a 'wounded healer'. What does that mean? A wounded healer is one who is or has gone through a time of suffering. Instead of being broken by it all, they come out stronger and are able to aid those on a similar path. Though unable to heal…
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Hope Has Found You

By Guest Blogger Terri Arnett Suddenly living life with chronic pain syndromes, such as CRPS/RSD, can be a shock to the system. There are a number of trials and tribulations that people living with CRPS/RSD go through. Terri Arnett writes about her experience and how she now feels hopeful and encouraged. I know why people take their lives due to mind-altering pain. The type of pain that shrouds your every move, your every thought, your very existence. A pain no narcotic can relieve. A level of pain that makes you think you will lose your mind. I know because this was me. This is my story.   For 10 years I wandered the land of Ooos and Aghs. It started…
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Seeing Is Not Always Believing: Perception and Chronic Pain

By Guest Blogger Gabe King This blog was originally titled "Seeing Is Not Always Believing: How Chronic Pain Warriors Allow Others' Perception To Shape Them." As a chronic pain warrior, Gabe knows first hand how other people's views of us can impact how we think about ourselves. What advice does he have to help us through? "What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing." C.S. Lewis Your hanging out with some friends and they decide to do something that you cannot physically do. You have told them over and over again about your condition and how you are not able to do certain activities that you could do in the past, like the one they…
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Stages of Grief With CRPS

By Anonymous Being diagnosed with CRPS at a young age comes with its own complications. There are so many things to try, so many people with different opinions, and so many different emotions that can be felt. This author wrote about their experience with CRPS, grief, and learning to live with pain. When I was twenty-four years old, I was working 40 hours a week on my feet as a restaurant manager.  Working this way for three years straight never really bothered me.  It wasn’t until one Friday afternoon when I began feeling an excruciating pain in my lower left leg.  Despite it getting worse as I tried to walk on it, I really didn’t think much of it. I wrote it…
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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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