Hi, I'm new here, my name's Dawn. I got th RSD dx about 2 months ago and am trying to figure out how 2 cope. I'm glad to see this post & response, as it's exactly what I needed. The pain is one thing in itself, but having noone believe that theres something wrong with you is another. I have rsd in my shoulder, and some days im ok, and some days im not. I sometimes think that I should pretend it hurts all the time so people believeme (not including my spouse and kids) .... but with them, im pretending im ok, so they dont worry, i dont want to bring them down when im not feeling well. I also worry that my husband might just get sick of it all. (we're newlyweds and pretty happy, so its probably a baseless fear. hes actually been pretty great about all this. thank god I go back and forth between being determined to fight this, and being depressed. I've been in PT for about a year now and i just seem to stay the same. I dont know if im going to make it better or to keep it from getting worse. my pain is actually a lot better than it was before (which of course is still a lot now), but now i keep getting these episodes where my hand just goes limp and im doing more and more with the other arm and less with this one. im so thankful that it isnt as bad as some of you guys unfortunately have it, but i think even though the pain is less tahn it was, its getting worse. it feels like its spreading too. sorry this is so long, theres just noone to talk to about this. does anyone know if there are local support meetings to go to ? or where to find this info? may God bless us all with strength to deal with this .....

Dawn