CRPS?? What is that? I have never heard of that before?

Hey, I'm Adrea, and Bridget is my sister-in-law. I know some of you may be asking the same questions I did when I heard the term CRPS. I am asking that you read Bridget's story to have a better understanding of CRPS, and please be generous to donate if you are able. Anything will help with the medical expenses she is facing. Here is her story.

It began January 12, 2023 with a knee surgery to repair cartilage and a bone transplant. Before surgery I was healthy with only knee pain. I woke up from surgery with my whole body in severe involuntary shakes. That should have been my first sign that my nervous system was malfunctioning. After 2 doses of medicine to stop the shakes I was sent to recovery and headed home. One week later it was found I had developed a DVT blood clot in my lower surgery leg and was put on blood thinners. A week after that, my entire surgery leg began turning blue, cold and extremely painful as if oxygen supply had stopped. This is when all the doctors visits and trips to the Emergency Room began. Trip 1 was to the knee surgeon who says the surgery wasn’t the issue, but they did scans. Trip 2 was to the vein doctor because we assumed it was the clot's symptoms. Trip 3 was to a 2nd vein doctor because the first said nothing immediate could be done. Second vein doctor tells me - these symptoms aren’t from your clot, This looks AUTONOMIC! That didn’t make sense to me so I took it with a grain of salt. Trip 4 was a trip to the ER, by ambulance, for rapid heartbeat, chest pain and shortness of breath, they did more CT scans, but nothing was found. Pain and symptoms continued to worsen and spread. Trip 5 was to my primary doctor to follow up from ER trip, nothing new resulted. Trip 6 was to the ER weeks later when pain in leg became excruciating. Every vein and artery was thoroughly checked, all coming back good except the same small clot by my ankle, which the ER doctor said isn’t causing these issues. He says,” Mrs. Durr this looks AUTONOMIC. This looks like CRPS." Panic set in because this is second doctor to say this. He refers me to rheumatology. Trip 7 was to a rheumatologist who thoroughly ran all test to check for CRPS and other autoimmune diseases. By this time the pain was so extreme that for 3 weeks straight I was literally screaming in pain on the floor all day long. The burning pain began to travel up my leg into my hip and back. I was unable to walk. I was unable to sleep. I couldn’t lay in beds or on furniture, because it made it worse. The symptoms of burning in my back were so severe, spreading to other areas like my good leg, neck, and even numbness to my hands. Then to full body burning. This led to trip 8 to the Er which resulted in finding nothing that would be my cause. Trip 9 was to my primary doctor again, who thought my back pain might be from cysts on my spine seen in MRI. Trip 10 was to a spinal pain injector who looked at my MRIs and said he would inject, but didn’t see much and may not help. Trip 11 was to a neurosurgeon to see if it was a spinal condition that needed surgery. Without mentioning any previous talks about CRPS, I explained my sciatica-type pain and other symptoms. He looked at my MRIs of spine, turned to me and said,” this sounds like CRPS (Complex regional pain syndrome) and you need to go outside of Lake Charles to a research facility that’s familiar with this.” My heart sank. This was the 3rd respected physician to tell me this. I finally had to accept it, in order to fix it. After researching CRPS also known as “the suicide disease” and seeing the debilitating pain and effects it can lead to, we found a facility in Arkansas that deals specifically with putting CRPS into remission. Two days later we were on our journey to check into the SPERO clinic in Arkansas. All of this happened within two months time period.

At the Spero Clinic the whole goal is calming the nervous system and neuromuscular re-education. These treatments include Vagus nerve stimulation multiple times a day, Magnetic emission, Electrical stimulation, Breaking up scar tissue, Cold laser therapy, Running microcurrents through the body, Neuromodulation, and the major treatment, neuromuscular re-education. The treatments are from 9am -5pm Mon-Thurs and a time frame of about 12 weeks. It takes a lot to retrain the brain and repair the damaged nerves. They have a high success rate of putting CRPS in remission, but there are no guarantees. Since CRPS is not widely researched these treatments are not covered by insurance and all cost are out of pocket, not to mention rent for an apartment, food, etc. I have been at SPERO for 3 1/2 weeks already. This has been the hardest time of my life physically and mentally. I have to be away from my husband and daughter, as they are back home working and going to school. The treatments here range from very aggressive to mild and relaxing. Each one has its specific target on the body. Most deal with stimulating the nerves and teaching the body to reconnect with those nerves and use them correctly. So far, in the four weeks that I've been here, I've gone from a level 9 pain to a level 4 at highest, with some days only a 1. Before beginning treatments, I needed total care from my husband. Bathing, dressing, and cooking were nearly impossible. After treatments, I am currently able to drive, cook my own dinners, and perform complete self-care, which feels amazing. There are good days and still occasional bad days because healing has ups and downs. I have Faith that by the end of the 13 weeks, I will be in remission, because I know that GOD has put me in the right place for what I need.