Our vision when we created The Burning Limb Foundation was to provide help to those suffering from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.
After seeing the devastation caused by this terrible disease, I felt the need to create the Burning Limb Foundation to provide assistance to those suffering from Chronic Pain diseases, specifically trauma related illnesses such as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. We will not focus solely on the physical issues but also the emotional trauma such as PTSD that often are a by-product of these illnesses and are never treated.
We help individuals, their families and caregivers find their voice and funding, so that they won’t have to fight that battle alone and struggle to find the treatment they most desperately need.
What is CRPS?
CRPS/RSD is a chronic neuro-inflammatory disorder. It is classified as a rare disorder by the United States Food and Drug Administration. However, up to 200,000 individuals experience this condition in the United States, alone, in any given year.
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic (lasting greater than six months) pain condition that most often affects one limb (arm, leg, hand, or foot) usually after an injury. CRPS is believed to be caused by damage to, or malfunction of, the peripheral and central nervous systems. CRPS is characterized by prolonged or excessive pain and changes in skin color, temperature, and/or swelling in the affected area. The level of pain is measured as one of the most severe on the McGill University Pain Scale.
What does it feel like to have CRPS?
“I feel as if someone dipped my foot in hot lava, hit me with an electric cattle prod and then strapped a bag of africanized bees to my foot. It’s just inescapable 24 hours a day.”
“At my worst, my body felt like I was being dipped in boiling oil — and it was everywhere. My legs felt like the bones were slowly being crushed — and it was relentless, hours and hours and hours of the worst pain I’d ever experienced. It felt like from head to toe I was being burnt alive — and it was a hell that existed inside my own body.”
Watch these short videos to see why The Burning Limb Foundation needs your help