A young woman with from Highbury is petitioning the health secretary to make her rare illness “a properly recognised condition” on the NHS.

Helena Stone, 21, of Calabria Road, has suffered from complex regional pain syndrom (CRPS) since she was 16-years-old.

Helena says GPs in Islington and all over the country lack knowledge of the condition, and has started a change.org petition to raise awarness, which has so far gained more than 800 signatures.

“In Islington it’s really hard to find a GP with an idea of what CRPS means,” said Helena. “Whenever I go to the hospital I have to explain it to the doctor or nurse and quite a few people have told me: ‘It’s just psychological’, which is very demoralising. CRPS is the most painful condition known to medicine and can make life unbearable.”

The NHS website describes CRPS as a “poorly understood condition in which a person experiences persistent severe and debilitating pain.”

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