Stockings are the devil

The husband and I were recently invited to attend a ceremony, for which we would be required to dress up a bit.  We agreed.  The day came and it was chilly outside.  It was maybe 40 degrees Fahrenheit (that's about 4-5 degrees Celsius for the foreign readers).  I had to wear a skirt, but I don't dress up very often so I didn't have any stockings to wear.

I called my mom, who has always had an abundance of stockings, to see if she could lend me a pair. She agreed and off we headed to pick them up.  I decided to try them on there, and it's a good thing I did.  I pulled the right leg of the stockings over my right ankle and all of a sudden the pain was so bad I could barely fight back tears.

What had happened here?  I'd worn stockings as recently as a few months ago without a problem?  I assumed it was because my mom is much more petite than I am and I asked my sister if I could borrow a pair of hers instead.  Same result.  I got the stocking jut over my ankle before the pain became so bad I had no choice but to immediately remove them.

I couldn't understand what was going on.

I decided I wasn't wearing stockings.  That seemed the only solution.  I opened the door to leave and discovered that was not a solution at all.  As soon as the cold air hit my leg I was in even more pain than I had been with those devilish stockings on.

I asked my mom if he had anything else I could wear on my legs.  She asked why and I explained the conundrum. It was either severe pain from wearing stockings or severe pain from not wearing stockings.  there was no winning solution.

That's when I got my answer.  My mom had purchased stockings that are meant to "grip" your legs tightly, constricting the blood vessels.  Well, there you have it!  I can barely wear socks because constricting the blood vessels in my leg causes intense pain.  We first discovered this the first time they casted my leg after I got CRPS.  I'd forgotten how much pain that cast caused, but it's vivid in my mind now.

I was eventually able to find a pair of regular stockings, which are still restrictive, but at least they aren't that bad.  The night turned out lovely and although my leg hurt, it could have been so much worse.

My stimulator is still broken.  It looks like Tuesday next week might be the first chance I have to get it fixed, but even then, the Rep hasn't called back to confirm :-(  I'm still crossing my fingers that Tuesday is the day.  The pain is driving me batty.  I can't sleep when my leg hurts this much.

Update to The Downfalls of Heat:
I tried laying off the heat for a while.  It didn't seem to make much of a difference.  Lately I've been using the heat a lot more, trying to ease some of the pain.