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FEATURE | PATIENT PROFILE
PEOPLE
WITH CRPS
THEIR STORIES AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The following are profiles of five remarkable individuals, identified by RSDSA,
who live with CRPS—and on-going pain. Although their stories are different,
all have in common the desire and will to make life better for others with the
condition—and the determination to live full and meaningful lives.
Stephen Spagnoli
STEPHEN SPAGNOLI, 46, A FORMER LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHER, MUSICIAN,
AND COMPOSER FROM QUEENS, NEW YORK, ALWAYS KNEW HE HAD TALENT
AS A VISUAL ARTIST, BUT HIS LIFE AS A PAINTER DIDN’T BEGIN UNTIL HE
STARTED RECOVERING FROM A TERRIBLE THREE-YEAR BOUT WITH RSD. This
experience, he says, was his “wake-up call.”
In1997, Stephen developed a repetitive stress injury in his right arm
caused by doing work around his house. Within three weeks, his left arm
mirrored the same symptoms. Visits to numerous doctors produced no
results. “I explained to the doctors that having pain in the other arm meant
the pain had to be neuropathic, but none agreed.” In 1998, a doctor who
was convinced that Stephen had tennis elbow operated on his right arm. Stephen Spagnoli
“That’s when the disease exploded and I was diagnosed with RSD,”
Stephen says. “The pain spread from my arms to my trunk, then to my legs, my face—everywhere. I had a full-body allodynia. I was
bedridden from 1998 until 2001. I spent 15 hours out of each day in the bathtub. The quality of my life was zero. I was treated
with heavy doses of morphine, but the drugs did nothing to reduce my pain.”
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