Woman forced to sleep next to freezer due to a rare condition that’s like ‘burning alive’

'The only slight relief I get is constant elevation [of the leg] and using ice packs 24/7, I even have a freezer at the side of my bed', says Paige Howitt

A young woman has been forced to sleep next to a freezer because she suffers an agonising condition in her left knee that makes her feel like she is being “burned alive”.

Paige Howitt, 23, was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) – which medical experts say is an excruciating pain on a par with the amputation of a limb.

The often incurable condition leaves Ms Howitt, of Great Barr, Birmingham, with a constant severe burning sensation in her left knee, muscle spasms, swelling and insomnia.

She was getting treatment in a special oxygen chamber where the pure air was said to boost the body’s ability to heal and it gave her relief.

But she has since been forced to give up the service because of the cost of the care and the travel to get to Wolverhampton, where the chamber was based.

She is now hoping to raise £25,000 to buy her own facility to use at home – but in the meantime she is forced place ice packs on her left leg while it is propped up on a pillow.

“The only slight relief I get is constant elevation [of the leg] and using ice packs 24/7, I even have a freezer at the side of my bed,” she wrote in her appeal on crowdfunding website JustGiving. “But they've reduced the blood supply to my knee causing secondary problems.”

Ms Howitt was diagnosed with CRPS two years ago following problems that arose when she had an operation to realign her left kneecap.

“I then developed intense pain in my knee. My surgeon and pain specialist diagnosed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 2 - my nerves had been affected in the operation.”

The key symptom of her condition is pain that may be constant, leaving sufferers feeling “burning” and “pins and needles” sensation, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Ms Howitt has been forced to give up her nursing studies because of the condition and said it is hard for her to even leave her house because of the syndrome – which doctors said was incurable.

“CRPS has changed so much of my life and has took away my dreams. I suffer from depression and anxiety due to it, every day I want to give up knowing I'm out of options,” she said.

At the special oxygen chamber at a therapy centre in Wolverhampton, she inhaled the air in sessions for up to 60 minutes in a process which is said to boost the body’s natural ability to heal.

The care helped her condition but she had to give it up because of the cost of the service and the travel to get to the clinic.

Ms Howitt is aiming to raise £25,000 on the crowd-funding website JustGiving to buy her own oxygen chamber and has raised more than £2,000 of her target.

“There isn't a cure but I need some sort of hope and relief, having a chamber can give me that.”