Hi everyone, this probably wouldn’t be what my Mother or Doctors would call the best place to go for info but I need to speak with people who have experienced this.

I dislocated my patella in a fall at the end of December 2022, I had never fully dislocated it before but had, had subluxations. This was obviously incredibly painful and scary for me. Went to a&e and have X-rays and an exam confirming the dislocation (chip in kneecap etc.) and was put in a brace and sent home with instructions to start physio when I could walk again without crutches. When I got home my partner had to cut off my boot, and we realised my foot was also swollen. (They didn’t even take my shoe off in the er so weren’t aware of this). About a week in and trying to move my foot I realised I had completely lost the ability to bend my big toe and was experiencing burning on the sole of my big foot and around my toes, specifically at night. I had constant tingling around these areas, like tv static, and pain in my ankle. Kept resting and elevating and icing as directed with a ‘simple’ injury, whilst experiencing a lot of pain and instability in my knee (obviously) it got to the two week mark (where they told me i’d be able to be back at work as a vet assistant) and I still couldn’t walk at all without crutches. My inner ankle was the size of a golf ball and my skin was scaly and falling off underneath and dry on top (it looks horrendous), my foot was cold and off colour and would go purple/blue after a shower, I couldn’t bend or move my big toe or lift my foot (as in flex toward my face, at all), twitching, and I couldn’t sleep due to the pain and burning. I didn’t sleep more than an average of 3 hours a night for the whole first month. But anyway, after 2 weeks, my partner and family pushed me to go back to my GP as all of these issues with my foot can’t have just been caused by a dislocated patella. My GP saw all of these symptoms, and diagnosed me with an ankle sprain (?) foot drop, and noted the muscle wastage already evident on my thigh. He referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon, who I saw after a few weeks in the same position. Since then I have seen 2 specialists, began physio, have an MRI of both my knee and my ankle/foot and a nerve conduction study of my leg. Everything from those tests looked normal (except the swelling, evident on the MRI). I have now been diagnosed with CRPS and put on some nerve blocking meds. There is a lot more detail I could include (such as not being listened to, crazy waiting times, fear, anxiety, being off work this whole time etc.) but I am aware this is already extremely long. I feel lucky, as I know I am not experiencing anywhere near the level of pain and symptoms other people with CRPS experience, especially after reading this SR, which makes me feel like maybe something has just been missed, and I don’t have CRPS? i have made progress with my knee since the injury, but still have to wear my brace as it is prone to buckling, but I can now walk short distances unaccompanied, just trip due to the foot drop and can’t do stairs without one crutch. But the colour, swelling, skin texture and burning issues remain. My physio’s were convinced it would be an entrapped/compressed nerve but the nerve study was normal. The thing is I am not in constant pain, which I feel like is a big part of this diagnosis. I have pain, everyday, but not all day, and it’s worse at night. I have a significant limp, and if I put full weight on the affected foot every step will hurt. But basically I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar, or if you think this is something other than CRPS? I just find it hard to believe/am confused about the whole thing, but I feel like they’ve ruled out anything else it could be. It’s just so crazy.

TLDR; dislocated L patella at the end of December 2022, since then have had swelling, discolouration, skin scaling/falling off, burning, twitching and pain on L foot. Doctors think must have sprained ankle at the same time but don’t remember it. MRIs and Nerve Conduction study all normal, diagnosed with CRPS. Not in constant pain, and feel like not nearly as bad as others I read about. Concerned wrong diagnosis? Can it get worse? I am very scared.