I just wanted to say hello to everyone and that I am glad to be a new member of your group. 

 

I was diagnosed with RSD in my left foot a year and a half ago, I went in for a bunion removal surgery and that is where my RSD journey began.  Six years earlier I had had the same procedure done on the right foot and had no complications.  Two days after my surgery on my left foot I felt something was wrong as the pain that I was experiencing was not close to anything I had ever experienced.  My podiatrist tried different medications to bring me pain relief; none of the medications worked.  Due to the extreme swelling and pain he thought there was a blood clot and scheduled me to have it removed.

The day that procedure was scheduled he questioned me about symptoms, and I told him that I had noticed my foot was cold in comparison to my other foot.  He went to touch the foot to check it and I immediately pulled back in pain.  At that instant he got this look of sadness on his face and told me he was wrong in his diagnosis of a blood clot: I had RSD. 

I left his office feeling scared and lost.  What was RSD?  How long will I have it?  What medications can I take to make it go away?  That night I got on the internet and did a search on RSD.  My feelings of scared and lost turned into fear and hopelessness.

After my podiatrist made my diagnosis it took me four months to get into a pain specialist.  During those four months I realized that I would not return to my career I had as a paralegal for over 11 years, and I had to try to explain to my 13-year-old son what RSD was.  It was an adjustment for him as his mother could no longer go out in the back yard and play baseball, jump on the trampoline, ride bikes, wrestle and our other activities.  He had to learn that sometimes mom could only sit up in her bed and that was all the activity she could handle.  I think the hardest thing was he could not see the RSD; there was not a cast or bandage.

For me the hardest lesson was that I now have limitations and I sometimes face new ones each day.  It has been hard as I am a single mother; however, I am blessed to have my friends that I have met online that know the struggles and the pain.

I have had the spinal injections, trial spinal cord stimulator and now am on a mix of medications (Gabapentin, Duragesic Patch, Lunestsa, Cymbalta, Lyrica, Ultram, Pamelor).  I have fought this year and a half to keep out of a wheel chair but I am having increased troubles walking so I am going to be using one here soon.

 

Thank you all for just being members of a group like this, for me it is so often through the words of others that I find that extra strength I need.

 

Deanna