Don wanted to share his story with us so here it is.   Please remember that the people that share their stories have given me permission to publish them on the web.  I will keep all information that might identify you out of the story.  If you have an interest in contacting any of the people whose stories we share, please e-mail me by clicking here and I will get in contact with the person that the story belongs to and see if they would like to be contacted.

My RSD Started only about a year and a half ago and has been getting worse. It all started with a car accident on March of 95  After an L4 - L5 discectomy ( which reherniated again later but is not as bad) in 98 I had a 3-level cervical fussion.

The lady that ran the stop sign had a leased lexus with no insurance, she sold her home and I think may have went to another country so she could keep her money. Thus I have an uninsured motorists suit with what was then my insurance company State Farm.

On my 2nd operation they sent me to their neurosurgen who aggreed with my doctor that I needed surgery, their (insurance company) lawyers then said we know better and we will not pay for it. The day before medical arbitration they said, its cheaper to settle now then to pay additional lawyer fees since we will loose anyway, so my lawyer dropped the arbitration.  Then they started with their games and a year later my lawyer just refiled.

After my 2nd surgery I went back to work and about 6 months into the job I fell chasing a suspect ( I'm a cop) The x-rays showed nothing, (so they said !) after missing a lot of days of work for pain in my neck I went and got 3 cortizone shots in my neck, a month after that  (it took 6 weeks for the shots) I began getting charlie horses in my legs.  The doctor of the pain management clinic told me that it was a side effect and gave me muscle relaxers and sent me on my way.

Well, the pain came back again (in the neck) getting worse and worse. In mid October I went to another surgen witth the original x-rays that were taken the night of the fall, he pointed out I had a broken screw in my neck from the prior surgery.  Even though the emergency room doctor said everything was ok the written radiologist report said everything was fine and the surgen who operated on me who also looked at the x-rays said all was well.

Well after the other surgen I went to showed me where the broken screw was it stood out like a billboard.  After a discogram it was found that a c4-5 disc fussion did not take place. Durring this time my hands began to get hot, swell, cramp up, charlie horses in my throat muscles , my hips began to hurt if I laid on my side for more then 20 minutes, sharp pains in my shoulders and out of the blue sharp pains in any area of the body. The wind outside feels like knives  stabbing me.

After the 3rd surgery (and this doctor also gave me muscle relaxers but would not address the muscle cramping and overall pain I had) I was released for work. The next day on the advice of a friend who is a doctor - I went to see a neurologist. He was honest when he said he treated about 20 other people with RSD but only one got better the rest are all worse !!

Now I am schedualled for an EEG and an MRI and am to see him in three weeks.  At least now someone is working on the problem, one that may force me to retire (of course, he kept me out of work).

I am 39 years old and was very active. About 1 1/2 years after the first signs of RSD I am now 85 years old. I hope you enjoyed my story as to where you can learn something from it and maybe, just maybe you have been where I am about to go and can help guide me through this passage of Hell !