@staceyshaffer180

9 months ago

Ren, this video hit me hard. I was misdiagnosed for years. I was 58 years old and took my grandkids roller skating one afternoon. I fell and used my left hand to brace my fall, hit the floor with all my weight on my wrist. I heard the most awful sound of my bones breaking in my wrist and when I looked down, my hand was completely bent back towards my elbow, palm side up. I had surgery the next day and they put 3 plates and 12 screws in my wrist. About 6 weeks into my recovery, still with a cast up to my elbow I started getting a pain I’d never experienced before. My hand would feel like it’s on fire. The nerve pain was just excruciating. I went back to the surgeon and told him of my symptoms. I was told it’s normal to hurt for up to 6 months after this kind of extreme injury, he gave me more pain meds and I went home. At this point I was getting so upset, it consumed me that I wasn’t wrong, something was seriously wrong. I was crying nonstop because of the pain, if the wind blew on it, it hurt like hell. It was unbearable, I wanted to go out to the garage and take an ax to my hand, just cut it off to get rid of the pain. Two weeks later I went back to the surgeon, he took my cast off, which was so painful. I again told him of my symptoms in my wrist. Now, I’ve broken 6 bones and have 3 sets of hardware in me from snow skiing accidents so I know what “normal pain” is. The surgeon said I just want more pain meds, get over it, it’s in your head. He cut off my meds and sent me on my way once again. By this time, I’m having thoughts I’ve never experienced before. I wanted to kill that surgeon, walk in to his practice and go postal. It consumed me thinking of revenge against this doctor because I thought he really messed up my hand and wrist. I had absolutely no use of my left hand and it was shrinking, getting weird looking. I went to my primary care doctor and told him about my condition and how it was affecting me. He referred me to a psychiatrist, which I did go to a couple times. Six months later, now I’ve lost 17 pounds since my accident (no appetite cuz of pain) and I’m convinced I’m losing my mind. The thoughts I’d get were just horrible. I decided to go get a second opinion. I went to one of the best orthopedic surgeons in Washington state at the University Of Washington sports medicine. Within 10 minutes of listening to me and checking out my hand he said four letters that have forever changed my life, CRPS. He said you have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, also known as RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome). It’s the second most painful disease a human could get. Pancreatic cancer was the first according to the Gilman pain scale that doctors refer to. Just getting diagnosed was like a rebirth. The first thing I did was to learn as much as I could about CRPS. It’s a very rare disease that effects the limbs after a traumatic injury. The pain is chronic and there is no cure. The symptoms are: chronic pain, rhythmic muscle contractions, loss of muscle, muscle spasms, pins and needles pain, nervous system, depression, headaches, dysfunction or sweating, uncomfortable tingling and burning constantly. It took me years to get back to being me. I realize some people will say, it’s just a broken wrist. It was a lot more than just a broken wrist. It almost killed me! I thought about doing the worst thing, it was a scary time in my life. The not being believed about my condition and pain I was having was really difficult. I’m now in a great treatment program. I attend an online support group called “The Purple Bucket” with other CRPS patients, I no longer take pain meds, I get four ganglion nerve blocks a year to help with the nerve pain and I meditate to keep my sanity. I just wanted to let you know how much I can relate to this video and how much I and the world appreciates you. Sending love always, Stacey.

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