I thought I’d write up my experiences for those of us who are not going to go far or fast, either ever or anytime soon e.g. like me with mobility problems separate from the PMR.
Set baseline I’m 67. I walk at all times with a rollator and have spinal curvature. My left leg is slightly twisted and also slightly shorter than the right, with a more limited range of movement. I can’t stand up straight or walk without hanging on to something. My usual walk is to the nearest patch of grass and trees, about half a mile there and back, bit of mooching around the park, pop into the Co-op, bit of window-shopping. Some of the pavements are terrible and require considerable push. As if the uneven surface weren’t enough, this is Brighton, home of the Royal Society for the Protection of Weeds*. I live alone and look after myself. Bend, stretch, twist, turn, it’s called housework. This has kept me ticking over, i.e. BP etc normal, throughout my 3 years of PMR.
* theguardian.com/uk-news/202...
I hope at least I've given you a laugh.
The rollator enables my life, things that would be a nightmare on two sticks, putting the trash out, taking the laundry to and from the machine. Hi, Amazon, just put it on the trolley, would you, please. Even the delivery of quite large and heavy things is a doddle.
Provided your hands work. You can’t readily push a rollator If your hands don’t work, are weak or painful to use and I was sometimes barely able to lift a half-empty mini-kettle following the Moderna jab infesting my hands. Winter, PMR and mostly the wretched jab had meant I had moved less. For something like 3 months since just before Christmas I didn’t go out at all and I think much more critically cut my ADL (activities of daily living) to the bare minimum to keep me clean and fed. I was not in a good state but decided to sit out the six-month life of the jab and see what happened next before deciding whether to see a doctor. No doctor can do the one thing I’d have wanted: remove the vaccine from my body!
As the 6 m drew to a close, my hands indeed recovered but there were two parting-shots, a magnificent flare, all the symptoms of onset, and no sooner had I got that sorted than my right leg started to give way every few steps. I’ve been sitting on my backside for 3-4 m and now I’ve got muscle weakness. Who’s surprised but N-O, no, being unable to walk a bridge too far. Let’s just take this slowly. 80 paces up and down the forecourt. OK. 100 paces, stiff as a board, as though I’d run a marathon. 130 paces. 130 to 200 was too big a jump and it was two weeks before I felt able to get out and do 250. 300 and I’m out of the forecourt and on actual pavement! The distance goes up. It’s all it has to do, doesn’t matter how fast. My leg is now completely strong, the nightmare of its giving way every three paces a distant memory.
Swimming, yoga class, anything that involves getting there first. And back. Don’t ignore that bit. The whole business of getting a taxi, getting in it, seat or step too high, where’s the handle you cling onto, haul myself up, oof, made it, getting out again, walking to the leisure centre doors and negotiating them, getting from there to the pool, getting changed, finding a locker, repeat in reverse order can sometimes look like a workout in itself, an ordeal. This may of course be due to pain but in my case it's mostly due to what I call PMR of the brain. Another day in exactly the same physical condition, it’s all fine. What’s different is resilience. I suppose, though I don’t remotely know, it’s something to do with the fight/flight response. You have no fight. You just want to sit safe in your little cave away from anything that expects you to actually do something.
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