Imagine stubbing your toe and feeling like it's been set on fire... for months. Now imagine that burning sensation spreading to your entire leg, and instead of easing over time, it gets worse. That’s Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). It is a condition as problematic as its name suggests and yet, bizarrely, not talked about enough.

Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome is a long-term, often debilitating condition that typically affects a limb like an arm, hand, leg, or foot after an injury, surgery, stroke, or even something as mundane as a sprain. It’s like your nervous system gets stuck in panic mode.

There are two types:

Type 1 (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy): Happens without a confirmed nerve injury.

Type 2 (Causalgia): Involves a definite nerve injury.

Regardless of type, the result is the same: persistent, severe pain way out of proportion to the initial injury, often with odd side effects.

Why CRPS Is No Ordinary Ache

If pain had a reality show, CRPS would be the melodramatic diva. The pain can feel like burning, stabbing, throbbing, or shooting. It’s often accompanied by:

• Swelling
• Changes in skin colour or temperature (hot and red one minute, cold and blue the next)
• Excessive sweating
• Hair and nail changes
• Muscle weakness and spasms

It can also cause allodynia, which is a fancy term for when even a gentle breeze or the touch of fabric feels like torture.

Worst of all? The pain doesn’t stay neatly in one place. It may start in a toe and sneakily creep up the leg or even jump to the other side of the body.

Why It Happens

Ask ten doctors what causes CRPS, and you might get eleven guesses. The exact cause isn’t fully understood, but it seems to involve:

• A malfunction in the peripheral and central nervous systems
• Abnormal inflammatory responses
• Dysfunction of blood vessels and pain pathways
• It’s the body’s overreaction to trauma, like a car alarm blaring long after the bump is gone.

Life with CRPS

Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt the body; it impacts daily life. CRPS affects every layer of existence:

• Mental health: Anxiety, depression, and even PTSD-like symptoms are common.
• Mobility: Limited range of motion and muscle weakness may lead to reliance on walking aids or wheelchairs.
• Sleep: Pain that flares up at night makes good sleep feel like a luxury.
• Work and relationships: Jobs may be lost, plans cancelled, social life drained.

What adds to the distress? Many people with CRPS report feeling disbelieved, even by medical professionals. It’s an invisible illness with painfully visible consequences.

How Do You Treat It?

There’s no one-size-fits-all cure, but the goal is to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life. Treatment is usually multi-pronged:

• Medications: Pain relievers, nerve-blockers, antidepressants, anticonvulsants
• Physical therapy: To restore mobility and function
• Occupational therapy: To adapt daily tasks
• Psychological support: Pain management techniques like CBT and mindfulness
• Interventional approaches: Nerve blocks, spinal cord stimulation, or ketamine infusions in severe cases

Early diagnosis is key. The longer CRPS goes untreated, the more entrenched and resistant it becomes.

CRPS Is Real, Rare, and Relentless

Though CRPS is considered rare, with estimates suggesting around 5 to 26 cases per 100,000 people annually, it’s devastating for those who live with it. It often shows up uninvited, stays far too long, and brings along a suitcase full of complications.

But awareness is growing. Support groups, research into new treatments, and advocacy efforts are helping give a voice to people who’ve lived in silence. With the right treatment plan, support system, and a dash of stubborn hope, many people find ways to live well despite the pain.

In a surprising discovery that bridges the gap between creepy crawlies and cutting-edge neuroscience, researchers at Virginia Tech have identified unique compounds in millipede secretions that could pave the way for future treatments for pain and neurological diseases like Parkinson’s, depression, and schizophrenia.

Led by chemist Emily Meyers, the research team uncovered naturally occurring alkaloids in the defensive secretions of the Andrognathus corticarius, a species known colloquially as the Hokie millipede. The millipede, which lives under decomposing leaves and branches on the university’s Blacksburg campus, produces a chemical cocktail that not only deters predators but may influence neuroreceptors in the brain.

“These compounds are quite complex, so they’re going to take some time to synthesize in the lab,” said Meyers, who specializes in studying underexplored ecological sources for potential new drugs.

A Hidden Chemical Arsenal

The compounds, dubbed andrognathanols and andrognathines by Meyers’ team, belong to a class of complex alkaloids. They were discovered after researchers collected several millipedes from wooded areas on campus and analyzed the contents of their defensive glands using a suite of chemical tools.

The results were striking: some of these secretions had a disorienting effect on ants, one of the millipede’s presumed predators. But that’s not all, several of the compounds were found to interact with a neuroreceptor known as Sigma-1. This receptor has been linked to multiple brain disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), and Parkinson’s disease.

In addition to warding off predators, the researchers discovered that the compounds may also serve a social function, possibly helping millipedes signal their location to family members in leaf-littered environments.

From Defense to Drug Discovery

This study, recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, is not Meyers’ first foray into studying arthropod chemistry. She has been collaborating with entomologist Paul Marek, and together, they have previously suggested that the family of alkaloids found in millipede secretions could have significant therapeutic potential.

“Millipedes have been around for hundreds of millions of years. They’ve developed these intricate chemical defense systems, and we’re only beginning to understand their value,” said Meyers.

While the compounds show promise, the next hurdle is a familiar one in drug discovery: scalability. The compounds exist in trace amounts in the wild, and researchers need larger quantities for in-depth testing and potential pharmaceutical development.

The Road Ahead

The team is now exploring partnerships with laboratories that can synthesize the compounds in bulk, which would allow for further testing on their biological activity and medicinal properties. Meyers emphasized that while the research is still in its early stages, the potential applications are broad, from pain management to novel treatments for complex neurological conditions.

“Nature has always been a wellspring of inspiration for medicine,” said Meyers. “And sometimes, the most powerful solutions come from the smallest and most unexpected creatures, like a tiny millipede under a log.”

With this groundbreaking discovery, scientists are reminded once again that the natural world may hold secrets that, once unlocked, could transform human health in unimaginable ways.

When we hit peak COVID, with people being urged to stay at home and only to leave during emergencies, the issue of how we may be able to diagnose people with the virus, while making sure they aren’t contaminated in the process of getting the test, gave the rise to at-home tests While people were questioning how accurate it was, these at home tests prove to be of great health in difficult times. While now that COVID has died down, people are still opting for at-home test, so researchers looked into a new way to diagnose cancer. To be exact, skin cancer.

University of Michigan researchers have developed a new skin patch that could one day allow for easy, at-home testing for melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. The patch, called the ExoPatch, uses a simple test strip with two lines—much like a home COVID-19 test—to give quick results without needing a painful biopsy or blood test. This technology could help people detect melanoma much earlier.

What Is Skin Cancer: Causes & Prevention

Skin cancer is a type of cancer that begins when skin cells grow abnormally. These cells can harm and destroy healthy tissue. Sometimes, they can even spread to other parts of the body.

There are many kinds of skin cancer. The most common types are basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. While these are common, they are also highly curable. The most dangerous form is melanoma, which is more likely to spread and is therefore harder to treat.

Causes and Prevention

Most skin cancers are caused by a lot of sun exposure, so they typically appear on parts of your body that get the most sun. You can lower your risk by protecting your skin with clothing or sunscreen. For cancers that appear on parts of the skin not exposed to the sun, the cause is often different. To stay safe, it's important to regularly check your skin for any changes and tell a doctor about anything you notice.

How the ExoPatch Works

The ExoPatch is a small silicone patch with tiny, star-shaped needles. These needles are so small they only go into the very top layer of the skin and don't draw blood, making the process less painful. The needles are coated with a special gel that attracts and collects exosomes, which are tiny packets released by cells. Cancerous cells release specific exosomes that can indicate the presence of a tumor.

After wearing the patch for just 15 minutes, you can remove it and place it in a liquid that dissolves the gel and releases the exosomes. You then dip a test strip into the liquid. If two lines appear, it means melanoma exosomes were found. If only one line appears, the test is negative.

Science Behind the Test

Exosomes were once thought to be cellular waste, but scientists now know they carry information like DNA and RNA and are used by cells to communicate. Cancer cells use exosomes to prepare other tissues for tumors to spread. By detecting these specific cancer exosomes, the ExoPatch could catch cancer earlier than previous methods. In initial tests on mice, the patch was able to successfully tell the difference between healthy skin and melanoma tissue, collecting 11.5 times more cancerous exosomes from the melanoma samples.

The ExoPatch is still in the early stages of development, but the researchers are optimistic about its potential. After further testing on humans, this technology could be modified to detect other cancers with solid tumors, such as lung, breast, colon, and prostate cancer. The team has applied for a patent for the patch, which they believe could have huge applications for at-home disease detection in the future.

A 40-year-old British father of two, Sam Suriakumar, was diagnosed with a glioma in February 2020 after experiencing unusual symptoms that he initially dismissed. One of the earliest signs was a strong, unexplained smell of bleach, which he assumed was from household cleaning.

According to his account shared with Brain Tumor Research, Suriakumar recalled, “It was a smell like ammonia or bleach, and it felt like a cleaning agent was filling up my mouth. I now know this as a symptom or a warning sign called an aura.” These auras are often linked to certain types of brain activity or seizures and can precede more severe neurological events.

Suriakumar, who was healthy and physically active, began experiencing the smell intermittently, including during a workout at the gym. “I felt like I was going to collapse, and I had to put the weight down,” he said. “I didn’t know it was a trigger warning that something was going on in my brain.”

Seizure on the London Underground Leads to Hospitalization

The pivotal moment came while he was commuting home from his office in central London. After feeling unwell throughout the day, Suriakumar boarded the subway and soon experienced a tonic-clonic seizure. “My seizure was so severe that I fell off my seat, and the contractions were so violent that I dislocated my shoulder,” he recalled.

Emergency services were alerted, and he was taken off at Balham station by station staff before being transported to St. George’s Hospital. He reportedly had another seizure in the ambulance on the way.

Despite having no previous health issues, doctors initially struggled to determine the cause. “I had some scans and a lumbar puncture. At first, nothing really showed, but a further scan revealed a mass on my brain,” Suriakumar said. It was eventually diagnosed as a glioma.

Understanding Gliomas and Their Impact

According to the Cleveland Clinic, a glioma is a type of tumor that originates in the brain or spinal cord. It includes several subtypes such as astrocytomas, ependymomas, and oligodendrogliomas. These tumors can be aggressive and may require a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Gliomas can appear in both children and adults and often affect areas of the brain responsible for essential functions like speech, memory, and mobility.

Suriakumar’s tumor was described as growing like a “cobweb,” making it difficult to remove without damaging critical areas of the brain. Doctors informed him that only about 40 percent of the tumor could be removed surgically.

Ongoing Treatment and Health Setbacks

Following the diagnosis, Suriakumar’s life changed dramatically. He was unable to work or drive and had to navigate the challenges of treatment while entering the first COVID-19 lockdown. In July 2023, while attending a wedding in Brazil, Suriakumar learned that his tumor had grown after two years of stability.

He underwent surgery after returning to the UK, followed by a biopsy, radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden in Sutton, and a year-long course of chemotherapy. “I was really sick during chemotherapy,” he said, noting a 44-pound weight loss.

Looking Ahead: Monitoring and Milestones

Despite the difficult treatment journey, Suriakumar has focused on regaining his strength and celebrating milestones. In April 2025, he participated in a fitness competition in Belgium. He recently marked his 40th birthday, a significant personal goal. “When I was first diagnosed, I didn’t even think I’d see the end of the week. Turning 40 was a massive dream for me,” he said.

His most recent scan, conducted in May 2025, showed stability in the tumor. He now undergoes check-up scans every six months.

“I couldn’t speak, hear or understand what was going on,” he said of his early days post-diagnosis. “But I’ve come this far, and I’m still here.”

Suriakumar continues to raise awareness about the early signs of brain tumors and the importance of not ignoring unusual bodily signals, no matter how minor they may seem.