FWD:story about 17 yr.old with RSD since age 12

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 4/10/2007 8:58 AM
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http://www.wkyc.com/news/rss_article.aspx?ref=RSS&storyid=64650
17-year-old Erikka Elsbury is a prisoner in her own body and under constant torture. She describes, "The burning pain is like dousing your arm in gasoline and lighting it on fire."

She has a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or RSD. It's also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

RSD happens when there's an injury, even minor, and the pain message misfires. It's caused by an abnormal nervous system response, although no one knows why it happens.

Erikka sprained her wrist when she was twelve. Even though her wrist healed, the pain continued and then eventually spread to other parts of her body.

She can't tolerate simple things, like the wind, a soft touch or baggy clothes. "Even the sheets on my bed hurt so I sleep with the sheet over half my body because it hurts too much to cover my other limbs."

Erikka is a patient at the Cleveland Clinic's new Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center. She'll spend a week there as an in-patient learning ways to deal with her discomfort. Then she'll come back everyday for another week. The condition has already caused her to miss many days of school. The program's goal is to get her functioning and back in school.

She's connected to an IV device that injects pain medication directly into her spine. However, her future treatments will be much different. "The cure is really getting back to daily activities again and continuing those daily activities to include exercise." Judy Hall, RN said.

Right now Erikka can't even open her hand because the pain is so intense. By the end of her stay, she'll be doing a half hour of aerobics.