{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.
www.rsdalert.co.uk
for correspondence click CONTACT
