When Amy Anderson stumbled, she heard a loud pop. Her ankle had completely folded over. She’d torn her peroneal tendon in her foot. “The intense pain was immediate, I went nine months of misdiagnoses before I was finally diagnosed with CRPS, complex regional pain syndrome. Then I needed six months of desensitization therapy before they could repair the tendon.”
She says, “It’s all pain sensations at once, so it’s pin/needles, stabbing, crushing, constant aching. It feels like a red-hot poker is always in my foot. So imagine if you put your foot in ice water for a minute, pull it out and pour gas on it, light it on fire, then shoot a million tiny arrows into your foot.” It is at the top of the McGill Pain scale and has been nicknamed the suicide disease.
The Cleveland Clinic says CRPS affects about 200,000 people every year in the U.S. Most of the cases are caused by nerve trauma or by injuring the affected limb. The thinnest nerve fibers that let us feel pain, itchiness, and temperature are damaged. These nerve fibers also control the small blood vessels and affect the health of cells.
When Amy was taken by ambulance to a local ER with a flare, the doctor had no idea what she was suffering from. She says, “This disease has so little awareness med schools aren’t even teaching doctors about it. Since it’s so rare there’s little call for researching cures.”
It’s time for that to change.
I’m Katie Andraski, with my neighbor Amy Anderson and that’s our perspective
