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Kiwi challenge - Wendy's story updated
{Hi, my name is Wendy and I live in Lower Hutt, which is an outer suburb of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I am 48 years old and live with my flatmate Ron, 2 cats "twins" Sid and Munchkin and my lovely faithful miniature black Poodle named Benjy.
My story starts back in April 1998 when I damaged my right shoulder (a rotator cuff) while lifting heavy cartons at work.
I had several months of physiotherapy at the time and eventually it settled down except for a sharp hot steel knitting needle type pain that came out from my spine (C6/C7) to my shoulder-blade area. No one took any notice of it when I mentioned it and I just learnt to live with it.

In 2000 I changed positions at work and started doing full time data entry. On a couple of occasions my arm would feel heavy and my fingers tingly so I reported it to my supervisor.
We have a masseuse that comes in every two weeks who gives upper body massages and I decided I would have one at this time to help relax my muscles. Approximately 10-15 minutes after having my massage my neck and back seized and I couldn't move my head…I was in a huge amount of pain. The masseuse tried 4 times to get me more comfortable but was unable to help. I was sent to the physiotherapist across the road from work and she diagnosed me with neck and back sprain, giving a time frame of two weeks for recovery.

Well, I was in a neck brace for 4 months and physio from May until September- all to no avail and the pain just got worse and worse. ACC took the claim as being a continuation of the original injury of 1998, which was a blessing.
The constant agonizing pain was draining my energy and one day at work it got so bad that I couldn't move my arm at all, not to write nor pick up the phone. That is when I collapsed in all ways, physically and emotionally and my doctor put me off work.
I have seen two specialists, had cognitive therapy, psychological therapy and physical therapy.
Both specialists diagnosed me with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type 1 (CRPS 1 is without any known actual nerve damage) also known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) and the physiotherapy and psychological treatment didn't appear to be helping me at all.
I was also on quite a few drugs and with trial and error found a suitable medication program which worked well for me after some time.
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