Rebecca Benson just has to look at a photo of a functioning human foot and her brain sends sharp, spasms of uncontrollable pain through her own limb.
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The agony is so unbearable the 33-year-old has considered having her right foot amputated.
The only thing that has stopped her is medical advice that the phantom pain she would be left with could be just as debilitating.
Rebecca has Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome - the name is underwhelming considering the devastating consequences of the diagnosis.
It turned a happy, career-driven woman into a housebound shell of her former self. A woman who can't have children and can't have a career.
It's not just an assault on your body, it's an assault on your mind too. You are in pain all the time, you can never get comfortable, you can't shift and make the pain go away.
She has spent two years in a wheelchair, eight years on crutches, and in her darkest hour wanted to end her life.
The nightmare began in 2005 when Rebecca, then 21, was involved in a car crash.
"My foot got caught in the pedal of my car. At the time I had other injuries so it was less of a focus," Rebecca said.
"Everything else healed, but my ankle was still an issue. I would just wear an ankle brace but it kept going and it wasn't until two years later I got a scan on it and I had a 1cm tear in the ligament.
"So in December 2007 I went to have surgery to get the ligament repaired. It was supposed to be four months off work, non-weight bearing."
As soon as Rebecca woke from the surgery she knew something was wrong.
"I was being told that it was just surgery pain but it just felt really weird and that pain just continued but it kept getting worse.
"It went a motley, black-blue colour, my foot and my leg. Then I was in a moon boot and it was like water at the base of it. You couldn't touch it at all, the hypersensitivity was horrendous."
At the beginning of March 2008 Rebecca was diagnosed with the rare syndrome.
"That was the hardest thing. I was just sent on my way."
She did her research, went hunting for answers, a cure. She wanted her life back.
Complex regional pain syndrome, also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, describes an array of painful conditions that are characterized by a continuing regional pain that is disproportionate in time and degree to the usual course of any known trauma or other lesion.
Starting in a limb, it manifests as extreme pain, swelling, limited range of motion, and changes to the skin and bones. It may initially affect one limb and then spread throughout the body.
"It produces the symptoms of an injury, like edema, burning or melting sensations, stabbing pain, hypersensitivity," Rebecca explains. "You can get a deformity because without using the limb, it can claw.
"My foot started to claw. I also developed disassociation with my leg. I couldn't wriggle my toes because it felt like it was dead, not there any more."
CPRS affects more females than males, usually women in their hands in their 30-50s.
"I got it in my lower limb, which was rare at the time," the 33-year-old said.
Today, Rebecca is on 16 medications a day. At her worst she was taking 30 a day.
"I was bed-bound, I couldn't drive. My family became my carers.
"It's not just an assault on your body, it's an assault on your mind too. You are in pain all the time, you can never get comfortable, you can't shift and make the pain go away.
"It's just there and the more you move the more it hurts ... but then not moving is the worst thing you can do for the condition."
For Rebecca it felt better to rest than move, but that brought severe depression because she was unable to work, socialise or do the things she loved to do.
"I was looking for anything to get rid of it. I was seeking any type of treatment. I had three nerve blocks that didn't do anything.
"I tried a spinal chord stimulator where they put a wire up through your spine. It was very uncomfortable and it didn't work. I was deemed unresponsive to treatment."
In 2009 doctors told Rebecca she needed to stop looking for a miracle cure. That broke her spirit.
She pushed on to get her degree in childcare. But she couldn't complete her final prac because she was in a wheelchair and was given an honorary degree.
"I worked so hard for that. I was on so much medication but I got my study done. Even so, I could never work my dream job.
"The stimulator was the last stop but once that failed, they all went away, I was left to myself.
"For four years I had no treatment, was just seeing the GP I was getting my medication from. That's when I hated the world. I wanted to give up.
"The medication was causing issues with my kidneys, I started losing my hair, I was medically retired from work.
"In the back of my mind I had always thought I would find a way, but then I 100 per cent gave up. It was a really dark period."
"I even thought about amputating my leg. They will say to you that you will still have phantom pain but you're just that desperate to get rid of it.
"I was suicidal. Mentally where it takes you, it's a very isolating condition. I lost all my independence completely."
In 2014 a specialist in Wollongong saved Rebecca's life.
"Within two months of seeing him I was in Lawrence Hargrave Hospital for a three-week stay. I was having ketamine infusions to bring the pain intensity down so then the physio could get to work on me.
"I was then on a nine-month outpatient program and seeing a a psychologist who specialists in chronic pain."
Rebecca learnt how to identify triggers for her flare-ups. Obvious ones were emotional and physical stress, but the biggest eyeopener was her sensitivity to changes in the weather and photos of functioning feet, particularly right feet.
"During therapy they would show me pictures of feet; I would have to identify whether they were left or right as a way of desensitising myself. They were trying to switch my brain response off."
Things started to look up and next a physiotherapist taught Rebecca how to walk properly again and be rid of the crutches.
"Over a two-year period they brought my pain intensity down to a three out of 10, from a 10."
Earlier this year the condition spread to Rebecca's hand - she couldn't hold a fork for two months. It was a reminder for her that while she has identified many triggers, the acute attacks can come from nowhere.
The key to her positive outlook is having a really good support system and medical team around her.
"You have to have knowledge about the disease and you have to put the work in. You have to know your triggers and accept that there is no quick fix and no cure."
But she wants other sufferers to know there are ways to improve their quality of life.
"It flipped my world upside down but now I'm accepting it's part of my life. And I feel a responsibility for getting the word out there."
November is CPRS awareness month.
Visit http://www.chronicpainaustralia.org.au for information and support.