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personal stories and notes from our correspondents
Hi, my name is Tish
Until recently I thought I was alone in the world of RSD. NO ONE seemed
to have a clue what RSD entails. In Jan '98, I suffered multiple fractures
to my right elbow as a result of a fall. This happened on a Saturday.
By Monday I was being scheduled for surgery. Almost immediately following
surgery I was diagnosed with RSD. I had lots and lots of questions but
NO ANSWERS! My doctor and both therapists had only the most basic answers
to my questions. All admitted there just wasn't enough known about RSD
at that time. I surfed the web and found nothing.
This was almost five years ago. For five years I have been in so much
pain. I continued to go to the office every day. Every day ended the
same… pain to the point of tears because my job was constant data
entry and I had no other options. I had to have a steady income.
About two months ago, for what reason I can't explain, I decided to
once again check the web for any info on RSD . I WAS ABSOLUTELY STUNNED...
The information out there was almost overwhelming. The shared experiences,
the sense of understanding among RSD sufferers. I was in tears when
I called for my husband to come see what I had found. Thank you, thank
you, thank you. I now know I have other options. So much has been accomplished
in these past couple of years and I wasn't even aware of those changes.
As of this date it is hard to imagine a cure for RSD, but at least the
medical profession and other agencies are no longer hiding their collective
heads in the sand.
Lindsay
A year ago I was a normal college student. Then I woke up one night
and could not put pressure on my right food. I had this burning pain
like nothing I had ever felt before. I turned on the light and I had
little bruises on the bottom of my foot.
I called the school nurse and she sent me to the local hospital. I explained
to them that I didn't do anything to my foot to hurt it but that it
really hurt (I was embarrassed to tell them this but it was really sweaty
and cold). So the doctor came and tried to jam her fingers through the
bottom of my foot and told me...I had glass in my foot. When I asked
her how it could be glass when there were no cuts on my foot she simply
told me the "bruises" were really a nasty infection and gave
me a prescription, told me to take Advil, use crutches and see my family
physician in 2 days to check on my infection. I left the hospital feeling
absolutely crazy and in horrible pain.
In 2 days I saw my family doctor and he poked around too (once again
almost making me pass out from the pain). He knew the hospital had said
glass and I told him the sweaty cold foot thing and he made the appropriate
mmhmm noises then said, "I feel something in there." Soak
your foot and call a surgeon in 2 weeks if it isn't better. I was feeling
crazier. Would you go to the doctors with chest pain and have them tell
you they were shot? NO! Then why were they telling me something magically
got inside my foot?
I couldn't hold out the 2 weeks, it hurt and I knew the 2 doctors were
wrong, my family knew they were wrong. I finished the antibiotics and
my 'infection' hadn't gone away, it was worse. We called a surgeon that
was known by our family and he was the first sane person we talked to.
By the time I saw him I didn't even mention the sweaty foot, but he
did! He was also very concerned with the temperature difference in my
two legs. He didn't know what was wrong with me (he suspected RSD or
a blood clot) but he got me an appointment with a vascular surgeon the
very next day.
The vascular surgeon ruled out a blood clot and got me in with a doctor
that is a pain specialist and finally I was diagnosed with RSD and I
knew I wasn't crazy.
One of my questions is has anyone else gotten RSD like me, with no previous
injury?