I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), also known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSD).
Physicians do not know why it develops or what causes it, but CRPS is a nerve disorder that usually occurs after a traumatic injury, surgery, sprain, fracture, or a period of immobilization. The principal
symptom is pain dramatically disproportionate to the injury.
More than 140 years ago Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, a Union Army surgeon, first described the excruciating pain that we know as CRPS.
CRPS can lead to disability.
I may look “healthy,” but I often suffer unbearable, unrelenting, and burning nerve pain. The McGill Pain Scale rates the pain of people with CRPS higher than that of people with cancer.
My skin may swell, sweat, change colors, change temperature, or hurt to the slightest touch.