Crps Warrior. Not going down without a fight.

On April 27, 2007 I was horseback riding for the first time in a couple of years, due to being pregnant with my then 18 month old and 5 month old. It was the first ride of the spring and my horse decided to be antsy. We were in a field when my horse spooked. He reared and I was thrown. The horse was still running, spooked so I immediately tried to get up to avoid being trampled when I fell to the ground. My L3 vertebrae had been shattered.

Trying to let my back heal naturally, I was restricted to my physical ability. In November of 2007 it was discovered that my back was not healing correctly and that a fusion surgery would be necessary. I was in a lot of pain at this point, but doctors were certain it was all due to this issue. On February 8, 2008 I had fusion surgery and when I woke up I was in the most excruciating pain I had ever felt in my life. The doctor had aassured me that once I had this surgery the pain would be reduced immediately.

Months go by and I tell the doctor I am in tremendous pain still. Two types a burning pain that affects my back and leg and an aching stabbing pain in my back. The doctor completes dozens of tests over the next 4 years and nothing. He can't explain why I am still in pain and why the pain in my leg keeps getting increasingly worse.

In 2011 we move to WV, I know I will need to establish a new doctor. I visit Dr. Underwood in Clarksburg WV. He talks with me about my history and when he goes to exam me, he puts his hand on my leg lightly and I scream in pain. Immediately he says I have RSD, or newly renamed CRPS. He runs some tests, an MRI, CT scan and an EMG. My diagnosis sticks, and I start to Cleveland Clinic for help.

At the Cleveland Clinic I receive sympathetic nerve blocks which put my disorder into remission. I am able to have another child, 8 years later. In April 2015 I am hit in an intersection by a teenager who ran the stop sign. My CRPS flares it's ugly head. This time worse than ever. In the ER, doctors grab me and touch me as I am screaming in pain because they have never heard of the disease and don't know what to do for it. I go back to Cleveland, but this time the nerve blocks don't work, physical therapy doesn't work. Nothing works, and my doctor moves to Miami, FL. Where do I go now?

Fall 2015 I find a trial for neridronate. I participate in phase 2 study and find out I had a portion of the real dose. I am almost pain free and can run again for 10 months!

This brings us to fall 2016, and I am in the ER again in excruciating pain. The doctors there try narcotics, even though I told them they wouldn't work. Finally the mother of one of my son's friends are there and she looks up alternatives and discovers ketamine. The ER tries this and it works. I think a miracle.

Determined to get my life back, I see an ND who helps develop a diet, exercise and supplement plan. I find Dr. Lee from the National Spine and Pain Center and start reading as much as I can.

Currently I am on prescription meds three of them, diet, essential oils, PT, supplements and am in the process of planning treatment in Bologna Italy to receive neuridronate again.

I am a fighter, I will not give up and I will not lose hope. I will be cured.