Last month was CRPS Awareness Month and I actually chose to skip my usual post about it, as I fear y’all get tired of hearing about my health challenges so often.

Well, as fate would have it, my fall a few weeks ago has brought on a flare of my systemic CRPS, with a vengeance.

Since I just can’t shake it – and though I’ve canned this post several times – I feel I should share what this really looks like, if only to give support to my fellow chronic illness folks.

First, here is an old CRPS awareness month post from 2021, written when I was in a pain crisis, that discussed my history with this wretched disease:

CRPS Awareness at The Autoimmune Hippie 2021.

As my disease has progressed and changed, this flare is similar in some ways but also very different.

First, in addition to the CRPS issues, I am dealing with a new broken 5th metatarsal (and now a walking shoe for three weeks):

Second, as I’ve shared in the post above and written often, in addition to severe pain, CRPS can manifest in many ways:

It can affect the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and endocrine systems – and really any part of the body.

For me, with this particular flare, that has looked like:

• Severe burning in my jaws (I have TMJ) and facial pain.
• Increased headaches.
• GI symptoms galore.
• Increased sensory sensitivity – massive sensitivity to scents, spices, sounds. . . It’s almost impossible to explain to a person who hasn’t experienced it.
• A level of fatigue I can’t describe. I am accustomed to spoonie energy challenges – this has left me completely gobsmacked.
• A deep itching in my soles of my feet, that can’t be reached and is so distressing. It will even wake me at times.
• Episodes of absolute throbbing pain in my left hand with incredible sensitivity to touch. While I live with pain every day, I become alarmed when it presents in a new, more extreme way – especially in my hands.
• Terrible brain fog (yes, even more so than usual)

There have been all sorts of other issues as well: nerve pain I cannot get under control, symptoms of dysautonomia I haven’t had to deal with in some time, dry eyes that feel like sandpaper. . . The list feels endless.

CRPS still continues to be poorly understood and terribly underfunded – and often even medical professionals are unfamiliar with it, frequently offering treatment suggestions that CRPS patients cannot have such as ice to injuries.

As long as that is true – and as long as there are other spoonies out there dealing with these chronic illness issues – I know it’s important to share the whole picture of this autoimmune life.

Sometimes it’s really not pretty.

As always though, we move onward. 🧡

(Our next Blogmas post is much brighter: Christmas in the Hippie Hut ♥️)

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.