Surviving the Suicide Disease — Behind the Book

Hi, I’m Jonathon Romero — a musician, educator, CRPS survivor, and apparently now… an author. I didn’t plan to write a book. But pain has a way of rewriting your plans.

In 2018, I donated blood. Simple. Routine. Until it wasn’t. What followed was something I wouldn’t wish on anyone — a burning, twisting, suffocating kind of pain that no one could explain for months. Eventually, it was diagnosed: Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, aka The Suicide Disease.

No, it doesn’t make you suicidal. But it can make pain feel like your only reality — so overwhelming that escape feels impossible.

That’s why I wrote Surviving the Suicide Disease: Pain, Persistence, and Peace through Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. It’s raw. Unfiltered. It digs into the darkest places I went — and how I clawed my way back, sometimes an inch at a time.

This blog is where I’ll pull back the curtain even more.

You’ll get:

• Stories that didn’t make it into the book.

• Updates on my journey — physical, emotional, spiritual, all of it.

• Resources for those living with CRPS or other chronic pain.

• Musings on fandom, music, mental health, and why Green Lantern lore somehow makes an eerie amount of sense when you’re surviving the unimaginable.

If you’ve ever felt invisible in your pain, this space is for you. If you’re a caregiver who’s been in the trenches with someone you love, it’s for you too. If you’re just here because you like superhero metaphors and watching someone wrestle with existential dread while making bad puns… also welcome.

So grab a ring — red for rage, blue for hope, or green if you’ve got the will to keep reading — and let’s dive into the fire.

Thanks for being here.

– Jonathon