I was thinking today about how I have been meeting CRPS straight in the face, and not letting it win. There are two answers that I have for this. The first and foremost is my faith. As I’ve mentioned before without God I wouldn’t be able to face each and every way that I do. The second way is that I’m trying to arm myself with as much information as I can about CRPS.

What I mean by arming myself is that I try to stay up to date with the just about anything that I can regarding CRPS. That could be the latest treatments, or even the latest theories behind what is going on in the brain. You’d be amazed at how many questions you can answer just by arming yourself with the information that you need. There are all kinds of ways to source the information that you need. You can go on sites like the ones that I have listed on my blog, or you can source the internet. Working with my physiotherapists has been my biggest source of information.

As I read blogs and I talk to people, I’m finding that people either make a choice to support therapy and really try to get better, or they give up on it thinking that it’s not working because they aren’t getting better. Understanding CRPS and what’s going on in our body, helps you understand why certain things work and don’t work with your therapy. I am very lucky to work with therapists who give me lots of information about CRPS, and why my body is acting the way it is. They are always looking for new information and as they get it they educate me. From there we work with how my body is reacting to treatment, and help each other with my treatment plan.

What’s important is that as therapy tries different treatments on you there is a real need for you to give them feedback on how it’s working. Giving them feedback is only going to help them help you in the long run. Letting them know what does and doesn’t work is important because they need that information in order to try to help us. We are the ones that are affected by this condition not the therapists, if we let them know as much as possible about what’s going on then they learn from us.

As the therapists and doctors have educated me it has taken away a lot of stress and worry. Isn’t that a big part of making our pain better? Sure there are still all kinds of answers that I would like, however I’m educating myself with as much as possible. Talking to others who suffer from the CRPS also helps. We answer questions for each other and give each other valuable information that were looking for. So instead of keeping to yourself put yourself out there and make friends. As the saying goes ” there is strength in numbers ” .

If you feel like you need answers, then don’t just sit back and expect that they are going to find you. You need to find the answers any way you can. If you aren’t getting answers from your doctor then ask!! If you want more info on CRPS itself then you need to source that info!! Don’t sit back and become defeated by this illness because in no way does it have to defeat you. Arm yourself with as much as you can and you will find that you become stronger in your fight to overcome your illness. It will also help you in making the choices that you might find youself needing to make.