Midwest Retreat for those Afflicted with RSD/CRPS (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome) on July 26 - 28th, 2013

 While surfing the web for new CRPS/RSD information, I saw a notice for an upcoming retreat especially for RSD/CRPS patients from Saturday, July 27th to Sunday, July 28th of this year, at the Blue Lotus Farm, located in West Bend, Wisconsin. This is a good opportunity to connect with others who are experiencing the same life challenges as a CRPS patient as you are. The Blue Lotus Farm is a non-profit retreat center that caters to those dealing with debilitating illnesses and conditions and their caretakers. Though travel is physically hard and financially expensive for those of you who are CRPS patients, it would be a valuable experience if you are able to go.

I found the retreat mentioned on the Midwest CRPS Support website. Midwest CRPS Support is a group that is located in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area that is dedicated to increasing awareness of CRPS in relation to treatment options, research, and increased conversation on the topic in general. Though it looks like a fairly new website, their hope is to be able to help CRPS patients at any point in their diagnosis, and to bring like-minded people together.

The impetus for starting the Midwest CRPS Support organization was a CRPS patient named Mia DeFino, who was diagnosed with the condition in September of 2011. After Mia was diagnosed with RSD/CRPS, she worked together with her family, boyfriend Lenny, and friend Katy, to start a website that RSD/CRPS patients could access online to find peer support and resources. https://askcompetentlawyer.com/Read more about Mia's story here.

Here are several unique features of their site:

• Click here to participate in a CRPS wound healing survey, which is being conducted by researchers in the state of Michigan to figure out why CRPS patients' wounds heal more slowly than others.
• Under their Resources tab is a link to Authentic Happiness, a website created by the founder of Positive Psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman. This information can be helpful to RSD/CRPS patients as previous research has suggested that keeping an optimistic outlook can be extremely beneficial to those dealing with chronic pain. They have different questionnaires to help you assess your current happiness level, and to learn techniques for improvement. I thought this information looked very valuable and believe it could be helpful to anyone.


• Also under the Resources tab is a link to CRPS Research Around the World, which has links to various organizations and faculties conducting ongoing RSD/CRPS research.


• Here are some excellent books they recommend under the Resources tab, if you are a reader, both inspirational and encouraging in general for those dealing with difficult life challenges, as well as books directly related to RSD/CRPS patients.


• From their Home page, if you scroll to the bottom, on the right hand side there is a link to What is CRPS that provides some very good information for explaining to those unfamiliar with RSD/CRPS, exactly what it is and how you are affected by it, even though at times you may "appear" to be fine.


• I found this link to their Archives section which has information from past months back to August of 2012. Here is a very interesting article which you can find under December 2012 called The Spoon Theory , which describes what it is like to live with chronic illness that others do not have a conception of, and the unique way that the author explained it to her best friend.