Sarah

I’m in Year 9 and I live in Canberra. I’m on the SRC and I love PE. To most people, I seem like any other teenager. But I’m different, because I live with chronic pain.

My pain started in Year 5. It was triggered by an injury, and the pain just didn’t go away.

It started in my ankles and now I have constant aching pain in my ankles and legs.

Sometimes the pain is bearable and sometimes it’s so bad I can’t go to school or participate in social activities outside of school.

For a while my condition – Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) – baffled doctors. Many told me the pain was all in my head.

Yet the pain was so severe that I spent six months in a wheelchair, because it hurt to walk.

With no medical diagnosis, my mum found out about hydrotherapy, and that helped me get back on my feet.

But the pain returned in Year 7, and again I ended up in a wheelchair.

This time I was admitted to the pain clinic at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, where I got the diagnosis of CRPS and the right treatment. It was a turning point for me.

I was treated with hydrotherapy, physiotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and I was prescribed strong painkillers, in order to dull the pain signals long-term.

Today I no longer take painkillers. Instead, I try to keep active and do physiotherapy exercises every day. I use mind techniques too.

My parents bought an ultrasound machine and a TENS machine to use at home, and they really help when the pain gets bad. My parents and my brother have been a great support.

I still visit the specialists at the pain clinic in Sydney, just not as often, and I recently attended a group session there, with other kids who live with chronic pain.