Living with CRPS

Living with CRPS is hard. Hard doesn't seem like a strong enough word.

CRPS pain is medically ranked as being worse than the most painful things people can imagine - amputation, kidney stones, child birth. It's not merely the pain, though. People have a weird relationship with pain... from the time we're kids we're immediately taught to ignore and override, to focus on when it'll be all better again. Naturally, when someone hears we LIVE IN pain, I believe they simply can't process the concept. Why can't we look ahead to the future, push it aside in the moment, and "get over it"?

Hey, I know you're paralyzed, but just get up, walk over there, and climb the stairs. Push through. Get over it. Look to the future, when it's all better.

Hear it now? I would never dream of saying that to someone with paralysis, but it's a sentiment commonly said to people with severe pain conditions, like Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. 

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