"Think before you speak" . . .

I still walk with a limp or "rock and roll" after six years and always use my stick. An acquaintance called me Jake for about three years. I mostly took it in good humour until I snapped one day. It occured to me, that if it had been a really vulnerable person who had been spoken to in this manner that it could have had a really detrimental effect on them.

In the past someone has suggested that if they had a walking stick that they may be able to walk faster, but the most insensitive thing that has ever occured was when another acquaintance kicked my walking stick away saying that "he'd always wanted to do that to someone"

I am lucky that I know how to deal with these kind of situations, but I hope that people would really think how it could affect the more vulnerable.

So:

Hands, neck and head - degrees of discomfort

It  is now 4 weeks since our mini break and 6 weeks since the Saeboglove trial.

During the third week in July my husand & I had a two nights break in Cheshire where we visited a National Trust property: Dunham Massey and the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunham-massey/

Tatton Park, we knew to be a very big park which has two lakes, and we were advised that the flower show is spread over a large area of parkland. With this in mind we took my wheelchair to enable me to get around more easily. (I must stress that I do not use this very often but had to concede that "it was needs must". ) I did find this uncomfortable as it did shake me up and afterwards my neck really began to be painful.

Over the last three weeks I have experienced a very painful neck and shoulder, a "swimmy" head and have noticed that the fingers on my right hand have started to be very tight and curl under. I have found it difficult to be in situations where there are a few people, walking any distances, reading, doing anything on the computer for more than 30 minutes and speaking with people on the telephone.

These areas of discomfort may or may not be related and I have thought about what I can do to allieviate these problems or what may be causing them. It can be difficult at times to separate the issues from one another.
I have had some acupuncture treatment which enabled me to sleep much better however the stamina and heavy legs were just the same - maybe my body is just telling me to rest.

With no sign of these symptoms ceasing I visited my practitioner 4 days ago. After a lengthy discussion I had the treatment to relax very tight neck muscles and put my body back in alignment again. Within minutes the pain that I had been experiencing in my neck and the "swimmy head" all but disappeared and I walked out 35 minutes later feeling a great deal better than I had done over the last weeks. - - Now I need to increase my walking distances and gradually build myself up to the level where I was previously.

I can have meaningful and rational discussions with the people who still work with me and we see various angles of the intermittent problems that I do experience. I do find this very cathartic and useful to stop some of my anxieties.
Last week's pre-treatment dialogue brought me around to giving these points consideration:

1) Try drinking decaffeinated drinks
2) The neck problems and other sore areas in my back were the likely result of using the wheelchair
3) Reading will stimulate the brain and could cause the swimmy headaches - as will over use of the computer
4) The fingers may be as a result of exercising for the 2 weeks period whilst wearing the glove and now I have stopped it may have caused the fingers to tighten.
5) Exercising whilst using the glove will have stimulated muscles and tendons that could have been fairly dormant and will now have stimulated brain activity, causing the swimmy heads.

I just still accept that I will have these little blips but talking and discussing issues are always still a very useful aid to recovery. Knowing what the body is attempting to put right and how it choses to do so is still astonishing to me. I can only thank all the people who are helping me along the way not only in the physical treatment but also with good dialogue.