Last week was a good week!

[JulianJ]

Last Monday my wife and I flew to Madrid and then drove to Aranjuez for a few days.

We walked around Toledo on Tuesday, Aranjuez on Wednesday, Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, Thursday morning we walked around Chinchon.

Most days where in excess of 10,000 steps.

No problems with walking at all, in fact I really enjoyed it. it was all paved surfaces so not rough walking.

The only problem I had was from my camera around my neck, will have to look into a better way of carrying it.

There was I in shirt sleeves and the locals in hats and coats. In Toledo some of the bars had electric heaters on!

Still on 7mg, but way much better than was when I was trying to get to 6mg. A few more weeks before I try another step down.

The photo is of the Palacio Real de Aranjuez

[isabella2015]

So glad to hear that, I’ve just gone down to 7 pred and hopefully will soon have some of your energy, tho already feeling a lot better. Good luck, sounds a wonderful trip.

[JulianJ in reply to isabella2015]

Isabella,

it was a great trip and I feel so much better after it.

A week away from work has helped in so many ways and I would recommend a short break to anybody, time away from normality was great.

[SheffieldJane]

That sounds like a wonderful break. I hope you had numerous pleasant stops during your exploring. I guess you did as you are familiar with the heating in the bars. 😉 In excess of 10,000 steps sounds like you are going from strength to strength. The visual stimulation and sheer interest and change is so good. Interesting about the camera causing pain and strain. It is so easy to overlook something like that. Maybe it will have to be a camera phone for a while.

I have been to Australia many times as my eldest and her family live there. It bemuses me to see them wrapped up in hats and scarves on what we Brits would regard as a pleasant summer day.

I have hit a stumbling block at 6 mgs with real exhaustion and some pain, there is a definite draining of motivation. Feel sure it's my Adrenaline function. Hoping that this bump in the road is surmountable too.

Well done JulianJ it is encouraging to here how well you are doing. Keep us posted!

[Sandy1947 in reply to SheffieldJane]

Hope you feel better. Facing the challenges of this condition takes all your resilience! I appreciate your ability to focus on helping others on this forum. You are an inspiration!

[JulianJ in reply to Sandy1947]

Thanks Sandy, all I do is say how I feel and what I'm doing. If people can find anything to help them in that, great. I don't think I'm far enough down the road to be able to give advice, but honesty in what I do and how I feel has to be good for something.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to JulianJ]

Even the person on their first day can have something of value to share - if it helped them, it is valid.

[JulianJ in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks PMRpro

I write what I do because it's how I feel or what I'm doing. I don't give anything as advice, but just the musings of a pained body, it's really good if somebody finds one thing in what I say as useful.

This forum has helped me, just reading that others have the same kinds of issues has helped me more than anything else.

Help and advice on tapering or eating with 2am doses is so useful.

[JulianJ in reply to SheffieldJane]

I was surprised at the camera strap, I will look at other straps as I do like to take some photos. I have a compact camera as well as the phone, but I do like my DSLR as well.

In work I go for lunch time walks, 2-3 miles so doing the extra wasn't a problem and I'm really glad of that. I did think that the walking may be too much for me, but it wasn't. I did reduce what I was doing the week before going due to shoulder and neck pains and I think that helped.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I'm not a bit jealous Hoping to persuade himself to head to Spain in the early spring - when it is warmer there than here...

We had the hats and gloves experience in Tangier on our honeymoon 40-odd years ago. It was 20C+ or so and sunshine so for us having left London in January it was like summer! Depths of winter for everyone else! But in Spain and Italy (and Germany) it is the date that is significant: if it is past September 15th that is the autumn and you wear your autumn fashions. Doesn't matter that it is 28C in the shade...

[JulianJ in reply to PMRpro]

It was a great break, I went over the beginning of last month and thought that Aranjuez was such a pretty place I had to bring SWMBO over. Well worth is, felling rejuvenated and ready for work tomorrow, not sure about the 04:45 wake up!

[Rugger]

Great to hear you had such an enjoyable break in sunny Spain.

You're right to stick at 7mg for as long as it takes. Before my PMR flared this summer, I had stayed for 2 months at 7mg - that dose seems to be a sticking point for some of us. I then carried on with the reductions, but had to go back to 10mg from 4mg! Now heading second time around for 7mg, in a week's time, maybe.

[JulianJ in reply to Rugger]

I've been on 7mg for 3 weeks and don't plane to change for another 4-5 weeks.

I went from 15-7 pretty quickly, failed to get to 6, but that isn't going to stop me, but I is going to be a long haul. I've had some bad weeks, but keeping a positive attitude has helped, that and having time to myself on Sundays really helps. Family are really supportive, but my time at the range talking and helping others with their shooting is a great break from the rest of the week. I'm finding that Saturdays are spent sleeping more than before, but I expect that with the fatigue.

PMA is so important

[daworm]

Awesome!! Thats the way I've been doing things...if i feel good i get out and enjoy life, sometimes overdoing it a bit, but I now know what "may" happen if i do too much..lately my body has been o.k. with it, no really horrible days following busy days...hopefully it continues this way...doesnt that sun feel great!! i think its very beneficial to our health to get out in the sun and fresh air...

[JulianJ in reply to daworm]

The sun was great, didn't reduce any of the shoulder or neck pains, but really boosts the system.

I can feel more breaks like this, I don't like really hot sun, but 20C and dry, a great change.

I'm still getting used to my PMR, so not sure what I can and can't do, I just try and do as much as I can, but stop if it feels bad or I feel tired. Not got in a position yet that I have done too much.

[daworm]

A good day in nice weather is a great "pill" to take for sure...a lot of these auto-immune illnesses happen much more in the northern parts of the world where it's grey and dreary for large parts of the year...can't get much natural Vitamin D3 like that!!