[petesfxr]

I am new to RSD and so far I would never wish it on a soul. I grew up being different, suffering from 2 years of ulcerative colitis and all of the meds to keep me alive. So now doctors are telling me that all of the pain that I am experiencing could be the result of Prednisone. I am not sure if they are on the right track or not, but at some point leaving it to the doctor's just isn't enough.

When the doctors told my parents that high doses of the drug Prednisone could have ever-lasting effects on my body, it didn't matter, as long as at the time, I didn't suffer from pain or worse even, death. Eventually the removal of my large intestine solved the need for drugs. Now 21 years later I am suffering yet again, but this time I have yet to find a drug to fall back on.

My friend, my surgeon, tells me that I am a walking time bomb, and with no ability of his own, can't help me. Gee that's comforting.

For the longest time now, I never understood what it meant to have pain without injury. Boy am I learning fast. I now know that it all started in 2003 with my first Tear. I was working with one of the Big 3 and doing a reasonably easy job, when all of a sudden my right shoulder felt as if some one had stabbed me. I actually looked to see if anyone was around me. I tried to continue the job I was doing, but I couldn't raise my arm to the level necessary. It was horrible. After being misdiagnosed for 9 months with a joint strain, and being sent to PT, my third opinion/doctor visit paid off. I had suffered and progressed an upper and lower rotator cuff tear. Normally, an individual with this type of injury should heal within three to six months after surgery. Not me. Full healing as well as range of motion took one year and an additional month.

Then 2 years later, I encountered my first right knee meniscal tear. Yes, I said first (as well as my first surgery on this part of my body). A very short while later, I had a second. This time I had an operation on both the meniscus and my left wrist which for some reason was causing my thumb to go numb. While recovering from that, my perinial nerve detached from the calf causing the inability to control my foot. Well in other words, to cause my falls. After reattaching the nerve, a fourth surgery for yet another meniscal tear was performed.

After doctors at the orthopedic center ran out of ideas, and the rhumetologists thought I was addicted to drugs, and the pain center couldn't control my pain with even more meds, nerve blocks or severing the nerves to my legs all together, I find myself realizing that a doctors practice is just that...doctors practicing medicine. Eventually they might just guess it right, but until then we must all just keep smiling.