Life with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Guess Blog Anna Dabering

Hello everyone I hope you are all well, I know with the second lockdown it can be a difficult time make sure that you are kind to yourself and you reach out to your family and friends or other support services.

November is CRPS awareness month therefore I wanted to raise awareness about the condition so thought I would ask my friend Anna to tell her story about her life living with the condition so just want to say Thank you to Anna you are a amazing friend.

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I’m Anna, I live in Scotland not far from Glasgow. November is CRPS awareness month hence why I’m writing this. Jack and I have known each other years now although living at opposite ends of the country.
Before rambling on about myself best to start with what complex regional pain syndrome actually is. “Complex regional pain syndrome is a condition that causes severe pain which won't go away. It usually affects just one arm or leg and often follows an earlier injury to the limb. However, the body's reaction to the injury is much stronger than usual and may affect more of the limb than the original injury did.
Doctors sometimes make a distinction between two types of CRPS:

• CRPS type 1 follows an injury such as a fracture or sprain but with no nerve damage and is sometimes referred to as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
• CRPS type 2 follows damage to a nerve in the limb and is sometimes referred to as causalgia” (VersusArthritis,2020)

CRPS typically causes the following symptoms however can cause others or equally doesn’t have to follow set pattern at all. I know people who have no pain but still has other symptoms:

• Extreme pain in one or more limbs and other areas
• Colour and temperature changes in affected areas
• Sensitivity to touch
• Hair and nail changes
• Muscle spasms
• Swelling

My CRPS started after a steroid injection error from a consultant, the location and dosage were incorrect this was supposed to treat some tendon pain.  I’ve been ill for 3 and a half years. My pain started out solely in ankle/foot slowly spread all the way up to my hip within the first year. Somehow I’ve been extremely lucky which I fully accredit to my dog (she forces me to live even on bad days I have to get up to deal with her) I managed to get a year of remission. I hate that word but a year in which my symptoms were under control with medication. During this year I was working as well as doing a placement and I managed to get my degree in hospitality business management. So most weeks I only had one day off a week. Unfortunately last June my symptoms worsened to the point I was back reliant on an air cast and crutches again.  I’ve had to leave my job and more recently after a nerve conduction test my CRPS has spread to my elbow. CRPS is horrible but due to it I’ve one of my happiest memories of me leaving two footprints in the sand for the first time in a year at Morecambe beach seeing how proud my family were. Life changes but there is always hope.

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To follow Anna's Journey please follow her on Instagram ​https://www.instagram.com/life_with_crps/