A blog to make Julie smile again (hopefully!)

I was so chuffed to have made Julie smile with my Tripoli analogy that I thought I'd be brave and write another blog.

I've just been for an "Away Day" with my choir. Exhausted now but home to a chaotic household as other half had been doing guttering and internal chaos awaited me with hyper dog and teens - they've taken every towel we have for their extensive showers, left toilets disgusting, frying pan with congealed scrambled egg on stove - smears of ketchup - maths homework strewn - sure many of you know the scenario. So instead of tackling it all now I thought I'd put my feet up and chat to all of you until I can summon enough energy to tackle some of it at least in a bit!

I woke up at 8am after an excellent night (amitriptyline and codeine but no whisky) - the first in ages. I expected to wake with a sore knee because I went to bed with one. I knew how much standing and being still I would have to do today so last night I made myself walk up and down our stairs about 15 times before shower and bed and this seems to have worked but I'm aware that I'm still early on in the suffering stakes and lucky to be able to walk things off in this way. In fact I find that if I don't I seize up and then things really do hurt horribly.

And for first time in 6 months I awoke to NO PAIN or heat at all. So what with the lowering of ESR and the no pain I thought "hey ho here we go thsi could still be post viral or something - could be on it's way out?!". But mindful of the body's equivalent of Gaddafi's lot lurking somewhere close by I didn't mention this possibility even to my other half. Walked the dog early and arrived feeling great. But I did keep moving because more than ten minutes in once spot, whether sitting or standing, and I find I'm bug****d. I think fellow choir members are getting used to me wandering around waving my hands and wriggling my feet like a crazy lady but all my joints have taken to snapping loudly too now as I go which is disconcerting - is this something about getting older or am I just noticing it more now I wonder?

Choir mistress was very solicitous and at the end instructed me to rest because I looked "wiped out" and boy did i feel it - but then so did everyone else I'm sure! I broke my gluten and dairy free diet of recent months because everyone brought scrummy food stuff and my oatcakes and my own philly with smoked salmon seemed to go down well so I felt obliged to sample all the other dishes - you know how it is - needs must?

But then as we started again I realised that my hands were aching horribly and bottom left thumb joint was making movement and page turning increasingly hard to the point where I could hardly hold my pencil or lift the music. Well it wasn't exactly a full burst of gunfire I guess but a bit of a reality check nonetheless.

Towards the end of our rushed tea break a friend, who is also a GP from another island came up for a chat and asked if I was on MTX yet? So I told her of continued limbo that for me = Tripoli situation and she thought about this a bit and said that it was probably best to assume I've got RA and am just having a good day - because, although she had come across the rare instance of a longer bout of post viral arthritis and Palandromic one they didn't have positive RFs and it is rare that it disappears entirely (although possible she conceded) She felt that if f I assume it is RA I'll be that much more appreciative and surprised if it does eventually dwindle away to nothing. Better that way round she's right don't you think? Then a chap joined in the discussion and said that his neighbour has RA and was wheelchair bound for a while but she started drinking Manuka Honey mixed with cider vinegar and hot water and had noticed a huge improvement to joints and was back to walking with crutches again now.

So that's why I decided to blog here again and opt out of denial for a bit longer because I keep getting so badly depressed the other way round when gunfire sounds again that I realise I'm just torturing myself.

Not sure about the gloves yet Julie - they are so tight I can't type when wearing them but will try them now while I hoover and let you know. Sorry this is so long but better therapy than housework anyday!

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Yoo Hoo Tilda

Sounds like you had a good day. Now you gotta tell them hairy men to get their arses into gear and blooming well tidy up!!!

None of this "oh I'll do it when I feel like it rubbish!" Are they incapable. I don't think so.

Glad you are feeling a bit better, despite the threat of invasion from Gadafi's lot!!!

I think that GP you were talking to has a point? I am sure you are what I was a few years ago. All this got it one minute and not the next. Feeling overwhelmingly tired one week and then better the next. I was constantly having days when I could have sworn I was coming down with the flu, then the next day I was fine - All my body would ache, I would just generally feel bloody miserable and all my joints ached and burned.

I take Manuka honey, I have it with warm water and cinnamon, supposed to be good for you... hope that is what is helping me feel better... Or sometimes I just slop it all over me oatcakes, or rice cakes... yummy

Hope you are taking it easy. get yourself off to beddie byes and get those blokes to clear up!

You did make me smile

Take care Julie xxx

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Hi Julie - I did get a really bad case of the blues last week - the worst yet and I don't normally get depressed - and that and GP friend decided me to just say to self this is RA and it could be a lot worse and get over it and deal with it blah blah (sorry I admit the hand pain drove me to the whisky so spelling and grammar gone to pot - ooh there's another idea if I knew how to get hold of it.?! ).

I'm expecting a Skype call any mo from my youngest sister who has been abandoned by her man and lost a close friend to liver cancer (a mother of 3 young kids) all in space of a week and is an awful state. So big sis here glugs down the whisky and dons the strangling gloves to put on a brave face and feel awful for living 800 miles away from her. I think I've taken over the mother role and father - but not very well unfortunately so this made me feel guilty and miserable last week too.

And youngest son (14 and not yet that hairy) is now playing his trumpet beautifully having unloaded the dishwasher hooray. Middle one has just returned from a night of waitering saying he's going out to a friends and might be back by 4am - don't wait up! When I object on grounds of OH being on nightshift and hurricaine force winds and rain outside and the fact that he's now back in school mode he says "I'm 16 mum get used to it!". They are so grown up if it suits them but would they know what to do with a toilet brush? - I think not. Actually I showed him one once and asked him what he thought it was to which he replied "why it's a toothbrush for smelly giants mum?!" and so I showed him what to do with it while trying not to split sides laughing - for all the good it's done hah?!

Take care and have a good night yourself.

Tilda x

[sylvi]

Kids who'd have them.Very good blog,enjoyed it very much. My two are much the same, my son thinks its ok to leave his plate and glass by the side of the chair for some one else to pick up. Daughter who is dyslexic can only do one job at a time and takes a long time to do it as well. Amytripteline wonderful drug, starting to get some sleep after so long only getting about three to four hours at a time,forget the whisky. I also take two painkillers when i settle down. I've got ra and fibromyalgia, which i've only just been diagnosed with.

It's nice to hear from others, with different stories.

Take care

Sylvia. X

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Hi Sylvia, thanks and yes hmmm re kids! All still in bed this end and I'm trying to make a spicy carrot and apple soup - which they will turn their noses up at no doubt but got a chicken to roast this evening once husband has surfaced from his sleep after night duty. So another good night was had by me too so you and I are both finding Amitriptyline a good drug for us. The GP friend yesterday said that a mental health nurse friend takes it for her back and swears by it.

Mind I got a tablet stuck on my tongue a few nights ago and my tongue was numb as anything for a few hours which is a little scary - but what the hell if it works and gives me sleep I'm not complaining life's too short! Thank goodness for electric graters as my fingers are rubbish today but everything else is good and if only the weather was bonnie I'd go for a nice walk with the dog! Gale force wind and driving rain doesn't entice somehow though? Tilda x

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And it could be that it's actually the codeine 15mg with paracetamol 500 mg taken once every 24 hours just before bed that's giving me pain free sleep too - thanks for that tip Summer!

[cathie]

One good thing is that if you can break the cycle of sleepless nights then you can often get back into a good habit. I've started sleeping through the fireworks from the tattoo up at the castle!

Do you thiink our high winds are connected to the hurricane, like distant ripples? Its v windy here too this morning, invigorating just for a few minutes

XC

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Yes I had wondered the same re the hurricane Cathie it's very coincidental. Will phone son in Edinburgh later and see that he is okay today. Made the soup (youngest and hubby had a few bowls each) and still feeling lack lustre and fluey. Wonder if I might have a urinary tract infection actually cos blood in pee (sorry if too much info!). I reluctantly got my waterproofs on and went for a walk over the hill with the dog who was desperate (blasted boys wouldn't do this for me of course - only go out at night?!). We only made it half way when a gust so strong almost knocked me off my feet and the dog was terrified so we went down into Stromness instead. Not a soul to be seen anywhere. The wind has blown the tops off all the trees and the ground was so slippy I almost came acropper. I came home all hot and windblown and even more ill tempered than I was when I started out. Now snuggled up in bed with dog snoozing happily at my feet. Seems the best place to be and I'm resolved to stay put until things improve! Poor New Yorkers they are so much worse off than I I'll try and quit my weather gloom. Sleeping through tattoo fireworks is some feat I'm impressed. I moved out of our room last night as skylight above our bed was making such a racket with the rain and wind! Tilda x