Traci

[Guest guest]

Hi traci,

Not sure if i replied to your email but i wanted to welcome you to the

group. i also have rsd and have had it for the past 5yrs. I also have fur

babies that help me get through each day but no children yet. hoping to have

one sometime in future but its been a struggle.

I see you also relocated to another state as i did- i came to nc from ct and

also dont know many people.

I hope to talk with you more in future but welcome:)

>

> Hello, I am Tracie, I am 35, and I have had RSD and Lupus for 12 1/2

> years. I recently moved to Arizona b/c my pain management Dr. had been

> suggesting the move for several years due to the warm and dry weather. I

> wish I would have been able to move out here a lot sooner! When I left Ohio

> I was on 9 different meds, I had been struggling to gain and keep some

> weight on me (I only weighed 105 lbs, 110 was the highest I ever could get).

> I was in very high pain scale #'s for so long I learned to live with it,

> which was not living, but barely existing. We sold everything in the house,

> bought a small trailer, and left Ohio, the state I was born in, the only

> place I had ever lived in and where my family lives. We arrived in AZ on

> March first, and have been here for the past 9 months. About a month after

> we got here, I started not needing all 9 of my meds. I now only take

> 4!!!!!!! I learned that pain levels that high (on the scale of 1-10, about

> an 8 ALL the time, with flare ups

> past 10) don't have to be a way of life like it always was for the past 12

> years. I have gained weight, and have actually been able to maintain it too!

> I now weigh 138lbs, the most I have ever weighed, Even through both of my

> pregnancy's!! I feel soooo much better. My Lupus has gotten under control

> b/c I am no longer so under weight. I have been having less problems with my

> RSD as well since I have lived here. This is my first experience with an

> 'Arizona winter', the last season I haven't lived through yet. Since the

> temps here have been way lower, and I can really feel the temp changes, I am

> hurting the most I have ever since I got here. On my really bad days my pain

> levels seem to get up there like 'the old Ohio days', but it is livable b/c

> I know that this weather is just for a little while, and it is WAY better

> than spending yet another winter in Ohio.

>

> I have 2 bio kids, my son is 18 and stayed living in Ohio, and my

> daughter is 15. I have been with Mike for 11 years, and he has 4

> kids. 2 stayed in Ohio, his daughters, 19 and 18. His 16 yr old son went to

> VA to his bio mom, and his other on, 14 lives with us here. Mike and I went

> from 6 teenagers and a 2 yr old grand daughter, to now having just the 2

> kids. I have my best bed in the world, my dog Junior, who truly believes he

> is NOT a dog, but my child, and my cat, Nakeeta who truly believes she is a

> dog! My cat is twice the size and weight of my dog, she weighs 22 lbs!, she

> is my little girl!

>

> Sorry that I am rambling on! Oh yeah, my RSD started in my left hand, and

> through the 12+ years has traveled. It is now in both hands, arm and

> shoulders, it started in my feet about a year ago. Because of the RSD and

> the Lupus, my hips give me a hard time, and the right one likes to slip out

> of joint a few times a year.

>

> Since I have moved here, I only know a few people, but none knows or

> understands what RSD is, so other than my daughter and my 'hubby', I am

> dealing with this without any 'friends'. Meaning someone I can talk with

> that not only knows, but can relate to what it is like living with RSD, and

> chronic pain.

>

> I usually don't 'talk' this much, but I wanted to introduce myself and

> give you all my life in a nutshell!

>

> Please feel free to email me or IM me whenever.

>

> Look forward to meeting some of you soon,

> ~Tracie

>

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