What do you call RSD??

I have always viewed a disease as a foreign thing coming into your body and wreaking havoc. Then I have always viewed disorder as something already in your body wreaking havoc.

So because of this thinking, I have always called RSD a disorder. Nothing "new" came "into" the body to cause problems. It is your own body causing problems. When my mom had cancer, it was a disease - a foreign body came in and caused problems. It was the same with my dad and AIDs.

Can someone please show me where a "disorder" was in fact called a "disease"???? Or, vice versa.

Please check back for updates, as I am on a group, http://RSDSupport.com and if given permission, I will be posting some responses from them.

Pain Free Air Hugs and Lots of Compassion!!!!

UPDATE: with Permission:

Hi, Christine,
I'm going to take a stab at this from what I understand. . .but also add the term "syndrome" as RSDS and CRPS both end in the word "syndrome."
I think the clearest way I can do this is to go to the mental health field and give you the difference between a mental health 'disorder' and a mental health 'disease' or 'illness'. A disorder, and I'm going to use the example of Narcissistic (I'm a lousy speller, I know) disorder is not caused by a physical event in the person's brain. It is not caused by deterioration or chemical change and it is not progressive. It is quite literally the way the person chooses to think. This person's thinking is disordered. Whereas Schizophrenia is a physical event. The person with schizophrenia actually has changes happening in the brain, the 'disease' or 'illness' is progressive.
When I think of syndrome, I think of many different elements that make up a classification of diagnosis. The person doesn't just get red blotches, run a fever and have a sore throat, instead the list goes on and on and the characteristics can differ from patient to patient.
I am new to the RSDS community, having my diagnosis for about two weeks, now. So, anyone is welcome to jump in and correct me on this if they feel the need.
When I read about RSDS, I consider it a DISORDER that creates in effect a DISEASE. No, you can't catch it, if you could it would be a 'communicable disease'. Disease is something that causes lasting damage to the original organism and often progresses to the destruction of the organism. . .whether FROM a disorder, or FROM an outside event. So the disorder for RSDS would be the way our bodies perceive and handle pain in the sympathetic nervous system, but the disease is the progressive damage to the actual cells resulting from the disorder.
So it's a syndrome of many different symptoms that can differ from person to person, caused by a disorder in the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in diseased limbs.
Does that make any sense?
I hope so. And as I said, if any one that's been around here longer disagrees, I'm open and willing to see other points of view.
_________________
Have a sweet day!
BMcC