A man with a condition so painful it’s been dubbed ‘suicide disease’ shares the devastating reality of how to deal with it – Health

Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide that some readers may find distressing.

A 21-year-old man diagnosed with a condition so painful it’s been nicknamed the ‘suicide disease’ has opened up about what it’s like to live with it.

When Charlie Moore landed a spot on a video editing show at MTV at the age of 18, he dropped out of college and moved to London to start the course.

However, his world came crashing down during his second year of the course, when he began experiencing muscle spasms and tension in his right side, which then turned into “muscle tearing” pain down his right side.

The pain would become so unbearable that Charlie was forced to end his internship and return to live with his parents in Frome, Somerset. condition for the next four years.

The confusion would last until just weeks ago, when Charlie was finally diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) in October.

What is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)?

According to the NHSCRPS is a condition in which a person suffers from severe and disabling pain.

CRPS is usually caused by an injury and is often limited to one specific limb, but it can also spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms include muscle spasms, difficulty sleeping, severe pain and swelling in the affected area.

Charlie said: “I have it mainly in my right arm and right hand, it spreads all the way up into my shoulders, neck muscles and my head.

“All muscles contract when they go into spasm.”

The condition’s other name refers to some with the condition having suicidal thoughts due to the immense pain, the NHS says.

There is currently no cure for CRPS, but doctors can help patients control pain through a variety of treatments.

For Charlie, his treatment will include starting a series of nerve blocks – which involve injecting drugs into the nerves to block the pain signal – and physiotherapy.

Some people may show signs of improvement after a few years, but sometimes this is not always the case.

For Charlie, he would go to the emergency room ten times in the years leading up to his diagnosis, “begging” for support from the medical staff as he struggled with the excruciating pain.

Revealing the extreme measures the pain pushed him to, he said: “I thought the pain would go away, but it got so extreme that I ended up attempting suicide.”

“It got worse and worse. Eventually I had to quit my internship,” he continued. “I had to move back in with my family.”

After his diagnosis, Charlie now lives with him parents and he receives £115 a month in Universal Credit and is raising money money to pay for his treatment and live independently through GoFundMe.

“I’m now in a position where I have to get my career back on track,” he added.

“I was able to pay for my nerve blocks with my GoFundMe, but I’m still raising money for new camera equipment and to live independently.”

Charlie’s GoFundMe can be found via the link here.

If you are suffering from any of these problems and would like to speak to someone in confidence, do not suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour telephone line on 116 123.