Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association

Recently, during a dinner outing with my wife and another couple, I mentioned my plan to try driving again (it’s been several years since disabling neck pain made driving a thing of the past). One friend responded, “Great! You can finally be independent!” There was no ill-intention in her comment. Still, it felt like an [...]

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is consuming. It changes your life. It affects simple tasks and things we all take for granted. I get asked a lot to describe what the pain is like. Whether it’s doctors, clinicians or even people who just want to know. So here goes. It’s fire. And it’s ice. How [...]

As a patient who has been living with a multitude of painful chronic illnesses for over 15 years now, I have had to reluctantly rely on caregivers. Being a highly independent and self-sufficient person my entire life (even living in my own apartment at 16), this has been a very difficult pill to swallow! The [...]

Tell anyone that you live with a condition that makes you feel as if you are engulfed by flames every day, and they would assume your condition is a curse, through and through. To some extent, they would be right. Living with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a hefty burden to bear. My nervous system [...]

I have complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and I honestly feel like I am at war with my own body, and I never know what will happen from one moment to the next. There is so much going around about the “opioid crisis” and how such and such drug is being over prescribed, that they [...]

As March comes marching on in, this means that college students are about to make their travels to exotic spring break hotspots like Miami, the beaches of Cozumel, Mexico or hit the slopes of Colorado and Utah for some fantastic skiing. Some may head home for a visit and some may take an alternative spring [...]

I grew up in and out of the hospital. It was normal to have my caregivers bring me something to eat or drink only for me to not want it. It was normal to need help with getting dressed and getting showered. I now realize I took you for granted. When I moved out on [...]

I want to apologize to my friends. For the first year of my disease I was mad them all. I was mad they didn’t come and visit. I was mad they didn’t understand the pain I was in. I was mad that they had no idea how close to breaking I was, or how my [...]

Ten years ago, I started dating my now-husband. We were each 14 years old. This was less than a year after my complex regional pain syndrome / reflex sympathetic dystrophy diagnosis. As a matter of fact, I was still on crutches when I started dating the boy with the blue mohawk. At that point, I [...]

It’s easy to assume that all people that have been diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) want in this lifetime is a cure. That’s why so many of us focus on awareness, awareness events, fundraising, and even on keeping up with the latest research. There is nothing more we want than to be the [...]