Back in 1994 life for me had changed. I was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD/CRPS) and quickly went from a healthy and athletic individual to a thin and frantic one. The outlook according to the doctor was dismal with less than a 50% chance of walking without my cane and being pain free. I understood why the doctor told me that. Doctor’s make decisions based on experience and education, I mean we all do. From the patients he had seen with RSD and the treatment options available back then and the success of those options (what works for one, doesn’t necessarily work for another), that is what I was looking at.
I did alot of research on RSD and I understood this disease/syndrome to be a situation where my initial injury had healed, yet my body was still responding as if it hadn’t. My body kept reacting as if the injury was occuring again and again. What a mess, the pain, shooting and stabbing at times and burning at other times, always left me wondering how I was going to feel from one day to the next. I made a decision to push myself, use it or lose it I always said. People say that life is full of choices and I definitely made one in 1994. If I was going to feel bad regardless of whether I sat on the couch or moved about with my cane, I was going to move!
I am not saying that my journey was easy, it wasn’t. It began with lumbar sacral blocks leading to a sympathectomy. Physical therapy, chiropractors, massage therapy, forcing myself to exercise, quitting smoking, limiting my caffeine, eating better, taking supplements, making sure I slept better, and setting different priorities for myself (I wasn’t the same person physically or mentally because of the RSD and the chronic pain and I couldn’t do the same things in a day I used to). It took me five years to walk without a visible limp and eleven years to find the wellness products I currrently use to manage my pain and symptoms.
When I got sick, it took a while, and required several visits to various doctors before I got diagnosed with RSD. As time passed, and I visited different doctors, I became frustrated and felt that some of my family and friends started doubting me. Sometimes back then I even doubted myself. One of the most important things I learned during this journey toward wellness was that I had to continue believing in myself and the decisions I made about my treatments. I remibded myself that I know me, I know my body, and I know when something is wrong with it! I feel sad that so many of us have had to experience that, please don’t ever second guess yourself.
The single biggest lessen I learned is that “We are responsible for our own health”. Doctors are individuals who perform a service based on their experience and education, very similar to an accountant or lawyer. Doctors do not always have the answers and they are not responsible for all of the outcomes. A doctor can provide us with options and treatments that can help us. It is our responsibility to participate in the decision-making on which options and treatments we are going to try. The doctors can’t do it by themselves and they shouldn’t be expected to. The physical and occupational therapists, the herbalist, the naturopath, and the psychologist can’t do it by themselves either. We have to “PARTICIPATE”. I didn’t walk without my cane by not doing the exercises the physical therapist gave me to do!
My friend Connie said to me one day (she is always in such a good mood) and I will never forget it – “Every day when you get up, you have to choose to be enthusiastic”. Each of us controls what we eat, what we think, how we feel. Believe in yourself, educate yourself on options and treatments, and know there are always people who love you and support you.
“Life is interactive. Participate in your own health, in your relationships, in your community, and participate with all the love and the strength that God gave you”!
© Written by Mara Gerke 02/17/2011
