As you probably already know, I’ve lived with CRPS for 12 years now and it turned my life upside down (if you’d like to know more, my story is here). What may surprise you is that this is the THIRD time I’ve had the condition; a fact I didn’t know until we got hold of my medical records.
The first time was at age 11 when I remember having a sore leg for a few months, which was ultimately resolved through a nerve block and physio; at the time, I was told it was Sudeck’s atrophy, which I now know is an outdated name for CRPS. The second was when I broke my ankle in my twenties; during my recuperation, there were a few weeks when it became hypersensitive to touch and very different in temperature from my other leg. Those symptoms will leap off the page to anyone living with CRPS now, but at the time, I thought it was just a normal phase of my healing.
Both times the pain and other symptoms eventually went away, leaving me with a nasty memory but nothing more.
So why did my CRPS resolve on those two occasions but not now?
It’s a question that still has a tendency to circle my mind endlessly at 4am. What was different then compared to now? Was it because I was younger? Was there a noticeable difference in my treatment? Or in the initial symptoms I experienced? Was it because those times it started on a Saturday in a month with three Fridays and I happened to walk under a ladder and say hello to a goat? (That last one isn’t serious, just in case you’re worried!) The reality is that I don’t know and I probably never will.
What it does show, though, is that recovery from CRPS is possible, although perhaps it would be better described as remission. My colleague Andrew has written yet another brilliant article on recovery/remission from CRPS which I encourage you to read here. And if you’ve got any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you; please join our Facebook community and share your thoughts with us here.