"This was taken on a flight home from a family vacation in 2022 that I was forced to end early because my left eye and jaw swelled shut," the author writes. Note: This article contains mention of suicide. It was a rare beautiful afternoon in Seattle in the spring of 2002, and I was throwing a football around with the guys at work.
I probably shouldn’t have been doing so in a skirt and heels, because I wound up with a fractured finger, sprained wrist and damaged rotator cuff. After the cast was removed, the doctor told me to wash my hands. The last thing I remember was going to the sink — and then everything went black.
I had momentarily passed out from the pain I experienced just washing my hands. I was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome, a poorly understood form of pain that is severe, chronic and debilitating. “Although most cases are triggered by an injury, the resulting pain is much more severe and long-lasting than normal,” notes the U.
K.’s National Health Services . “The skin of the affected body part can become so sensitive that a slight touch, bump or even a change in temperature can cause intense pain.
Affected areas can also become swollen, stiff or undergo fluctuating changes in color or temperature.” CRPS makes my skin feel like it’s on fire on the inside yet freezing cold on the outside. My bones feel like they are broken, and my skin is so sensitive, it’s difficult to wear clothes or shoes.
My skin swells and turns reddish-purple. Th.
