The Pain is Exhausting

I have a friend who recently dealt with kidney stones and was in tremendous pain. She kept saying to me, “I don’t know how you deal with pain like this every day, and yours is worse.” My answer, “A lot of drugs and my DRG Implant.”

I felt bad for her but was also very grateful that she began to understand what we go through with CRPS. Plus, I was diagnosed with stage two kidney disease (from taking pain medications), so I know a bit about kidney pain. My friend had to take pain medication all day for nearly a month in order to function and spent a lot of time in bed. She was exhausted from the pain and couldn’t understand why. I knew. It takes so much energy for our bodies to cope with the pain that we get worn out.

It takes so much energy for me just to take a shower that I have a hard time functioning afterward. The warm water irritates my CRPS foot. It often feels like the water is stabbing me with every drop. Trying to do other things poorly affects me too, like cleaning the house. When I get inspired to clean, I get completely fried, suffer all night long, and have to take extra medication. I definitely can’t shower and clean in the same day.

My friend having kidney stones reminded me that we go through so much with CRPS. We are tired and that’s okay. We are limited and that’s okay too. We don’t have to feel guilty for not cleaning the house or showering every day. It’s okay. We can do what we can do. We can educate the people around us about how much CRPS affects us. And we can pray they never get kidney stones or have to go through what we are going through.

The CRPS price is high but we still have our minds—for the most part. We can still choose a good attitude, have some humor, and encourage others that pain won’t win. We are some of the strongest people on the planet. We can get through this with a smile and hope that our future can get better. Medical advancements are coming, like the DRG Implant. We will not just survive, but we will thrive and maybe even take more showers.