Asphinctersayswhat??

Did you know that most RSDers have dual diagnosis-es? (I'm sure that there's a plural form of the word, but I'm too fed up to figure it out right now.)  Did you know that RSD has a wide variety of symptoms and side effects?  Did you know that no 2 RSDers have the exact same symptoms and side effects (at least to my knowledge anyway ... and we all know what a friggin genius I am!!)?  Did you know that RSD and CRPS are the same damn thing?  Did you know that I am tired of hearing about RSDers belittling other RSDer because they don't understand these facts??  I mean seriously people, STFU!!! (sorry Mom!!)  It's bad enough that most Normies and medical professionals can't seem to wrap their brains around these concepts, but to try to discredit an RSDer that, in person, you couldn't pick out of a group of 2 and that you only know through freakin Facebook, is goll-dang pathetic!!  Is this how we want the Normies to see us??  As accusatory malcontents hell-bent on creating as much drama for our own personal entertainment because we have nothing better to do??  Let's each get our own personal facts straight before we start using the medical degrees that we got on WebMD to impose our individual maladies onto another sufferer, or worse, call each other "Liars."

Here are the long and the short of my personal facts ... I have RSD.  I could say that I have CRPS, but that wasn't what it was called when I was 1st diagnosed back in 1991.  Had I been diagnosed (and alive) in 1891, I would probably still be referring to it as "Causalgia" or had I been diagnosed after 2002 I would probably be calling it CRPS.  I could say that I have Type I RSD, but I could also say that I have Type II RSD.  That's what happens when you have a noninvasive, yet substantial injury as your RSD catalyst.  I could say that I'm in Stage III with a few signs of Stage IV, but only after getting out my medical dictionary to define and dissect every damn word in the explanations of all 4 "Stages."  I could say that I have Fibromyalgia as my 2nd diagnosis, IBS as my 3rd, Chronic Upper Respiratory Infection as my 4th, and GERD as my 5th.  And I could say that I probably need to get a thorough physical again soon because 3 and 5 seem to be morphing together somehow.  (RSDers, don't go jumping over to WebMD to try to diagnose me yourselves!!  I'll kick your crippled butts ... verbally, of course!!)

As RSDers, it is our duty to spread awareness in the simplest of terms for all to understand, right??  Quit spewing the doctors' words (or WebMD's) verbatim then!!  I can think of about 63 other things I'd rather learn or do today other than sit at my computer looking up and deciphering every gosh darn symptom that comes gliding across my computer screen!!  And I am an RSDer!!  Imagine how the Normies feel when we (you) use those big words.  Fer reals now, outside of other RSDers and most people in the medical community, how many people know what Allodynia is??  Atrophy??  Dystonia??  Edema??  Hyperesthesia??  Hyperalgesia??  Vasomotor??  Sudomotor??  (Even spell-check doesn't know what half of them are!!)  You people need to learn how to use your words and your imaginations to describe what your symptoms are like.  (I took myself out of that equation because I already do just that!!)  We (yes, putting myself back in again) don't want sympathy, we want understanding and compassion from our Normies and the world in general.  Those big words, without some kind of definition, breed sympathy and disbelief because people don't understand what they are.  For instance, one of my side effects is Dystonia, or as I prefer to call it, the Hippy-Hippy Shakes.  I can't control them but that alone is not gonna kill me!!  The last time I told a Normie that "Dystonia" was just part of the disease, this Normie asked me, "Is that contagious?" as they unconsciously took two steps backward, away from me.  Use your words people!!  Explain things in layman's terms instead of regurgitated doctor-speak!!  Let's bring awareness AND understanding at the same time!!

I have faith that I will continue to use my own words to explain my RSD symptoms and side effects to the masses.  I have faith that by doing so, when a Normie goes to spread awareness on my/our behalf, they will accurately describe, as well as name, the effects.  I have faith that this entry will make absolutely no sense to a lot of people, but I also have faith that this will hit home with quite a few as well.  Share and make aware, and use your words to do it!!  (please??????)