Get ready to yawn!
I had terrible trouble sleeping due to an increase in pain, mostly in my right leg. When I got up, the first difference of note was a little more swelling than usual. After toodling around for a few hours, the damp spot on my pants started waving at me, too.
This did in my resolve to not look at the leg -- something I do in the name of Perfecting Denial. If I cannot see it, it does not exist.
Ah well, so the other day when Buddy the Kitten snared my leg with his precious sharp little claw? He set the development of a small ulcer in motion. It's seeping what I guess is called lymphatic fluid.
I tend to mimic the opinions and sayings of my cool, Hawaiian-shirted, sandalled-in-December neurologist. He hates two terms often used by patients when speaking of CRPS/RSD: spread and flare. I believe his feeling comes from their use in highly unscientific and medically inaccurate ways.
Yeah, well. When he experiences pain, drastic temperature change, and major discoloration MOVE from one part of his body to another -- like from the right leg to the left -- then he can pontificate against "spread."
But I agree with him about "flare." I "met" a woman online who claims to have been in a "flare" for some ridiculous period of time -- five years, I think. All it means to me is an increase in severity of some symptom or other. Quite frankly, if I focus on the word, I get so distracted by all the pain that I couldn't tell you if things were really worse or just seem that way.
I find it a confusing concept and when I invoke "flare-up" privileges, I feel mostly embarrassment. But I still do play the Flare Card a couple of times a year but never longer, I don't think, than two or three days. Seriously, if you are calling something a "flare" that has been going on for weeks, guess what? It's not a flare... It's a change.
When I use it, I really am saying: My pain and discomfort, as well as my ability to deal with them, are beginning to feel out of my control. I am going to give in to them for a little while. During this period, please don't hassle me. I will get back to doing-the-best-I-can as soon as possible. If you feel I am abusing my Flare Privileges, please just say so. I will take your opinion under advisement. Thankyouverymuch.
I wouldn't normally invoke "flare" on the basis of change in one limb but today, I'm gonna. Part of it all is that because I need to keep this bloated ugly leg elevated to keep down the swelling, that leaves me prone to overthink my overall pain, and therefore to make myself feel worse.
Lucky me, I've got this insane kitten (and rotating Dobbies and Marmies) who has volunteered to keep me company. And an Alex Cross murder mystery. And diet root beer. (I know better than to bitch about this to Fred... life with me is one long, interminable flare of a different sort, I figure. And besides, yesterday I managed to destroy a microwave and a coffee maker, which ought to keep him busy as he sets out to replace these household necessities this afternoon. Bless his bones.)
Again... in addition to trying to gross you out, I also provide these endearing little videos of funky feet and hellacious hands so that people who wonder what CRPS / RSD looks like can know. Please be aware that symptoms do vary a little from person to person, and that what something looks like doesn't necessarily translate clearly into severity of pain, etc. If you have symptoms of CRPS, don't put off seeing a doctor who knows what it is -- early treatment is the way to a cure.
I had terrible trouble sleeping due to an increase in pain, mostly in my right leg. When I got up, the first difference of note was a little more swelling than usual. After toodling around for a few hours, the damp spot on my pants started waving at me, too.
This did in my resolve to not look at the leg -- something I do in the name of Perfecting Denial. If I cannot see it, it does not exist.
Ah well, so the other day when Buddy the Kitten snared my leg with his precious sharp little claw? He set the development of a small ulcer in motion. It's seeping what I guess is called lymphatic fluid.
I tend to mimic the opinions and sayings of my cool, Hawaiian-shirted, sandalled-in-December neurologist. He hates two terms often used by patients when speaking of CRPS/RSD: spread and flare. I believe his feeling comes from their use in highly unscientific and medically inaccurate ways.
Yeah, well. When he experiences pain, drastic temperature change, and major discoloration MOVE from one part of his body to another -- like from the right leg to the left -- then he can pontificate against "spread."
But I agree with him about "flare." I "met" a woman online who claims to have been in a "flare" for some ridiculous period of time -- five years, I think. All it means to me is an increase in severity of some symptom or other. Quite frankly, if I focus on the word, I get so distracted by all the pain that I couldn't tell you if things were really worse or just seem that way.
I find it a confusing concept and when I invoke "flare-up" privileges, I feel mostly embarrassment. But I still do play the Flare Card a couple of times a year but never longer, I don't think, than two or three days. Seriously, if you are calling something a "flare" that has been going on for weeks, guess what? It's not a flare... It's a change.
When I use it, I really am saying: My pain and discomfort, as well as my ability to deal with them, are beginning to feel out of my control. I am going to give in to them for a little while. During this period, please don't hassle me. I will get back to doing-the-best-I-can as soon as possible. If you feel I am abusing my Flare Privileges, please just say so. I will take your opinion under advisement. Thankyouverymuch.
I wouldn't normally invoke "flare" on the basis of change in one limb but today, I'm gonna. Part of it all is that because I need to keep this bloated ugly leg elevated to keep down the swelling, that leaves me prone to overthink my overall pain, and therefore to make myself feel worse.
Lucky me, I've got this insane kitten (and rotating Dobbies and Marmies) who has volunteered to keep me company. And an Alex Cross murder mystery. And diet root beer. (I know better than to bitch about this to Fred... life with me is one long, interminable flare of a different sort, I figure. And besides, yesterday I managed to destroy a microwave and a coffee maker, which ought to keep him busy as he sets out to replace these household necessities this afternoon. Bless his bones.)
Again... in addition to trying to gross you out, I also provide these endearing little videos of funky feet and hellacious hands so that people who wonder what CRPS / RSD looks like can know. Please be aware that symptoms do vary a little from person to person, and that what something looks like doesn't necessarily translate clearly into severity of pain, etc. If you have symptoms of CRPS, don't put off seeing a doctor who knows what it is -- early treatment is the way to a cure.
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