TFI Friday!

Yay - weekend!  Hopefulness is in the air....weather is set to be fine and with any luck, warm;  it's Mother's Day on Sunday and the family is convening round at mine for lunch.  I expect I'll cook but I don't mind that much. It will just be wonderful for us all to be in the same room again.  It seems like ages since that happened.

All of that is giving me something to look forward to because I've had a rough couple of days with discomfort and stiffness.  My hip has been bordering on painful and on the scale of 1-10, I'd say it's been hovering around the 7 mark.  My foot which I thought had settled down temporarily has resumed its 'bastard!' status with a vengeance.  As a result, the penguin waddle has been more pronounced than ever.

Grumpy Trousers and I had a little trip out to Tesco in Chesterfield on my way to work this morning, and even though I'd taken 3 strong painkillers I still wobbled into displays of newspapers and flowers like a drunkard.  I'm aware people give me funny looks, and I can imagine they are wondering to themselves 'What is WRONG with that woman?!'  My balance is bad on days like today, yet another day it's not a problem.  I truly bamboozle myself.

Excuse me for a few minutes - there's a bit of excitement outside my window.  I happened to spot a fire crew with two engines and ladders rising up and down .  Must go and observe.  For health and safety purposes you understand.  Not gawping at all.  Or perving.

Well if it was the window cleaners I'd be saying "cue Diet Coke!", but as it was, the team of hunky firefighters  are all uniformed up while performing an exercise. No fire. Nothing to see.  I've lost interest now so here I am back to writing.  

And they did NOT look like this!

Where was I?  Oh yes wobbling into displays.  To help with the balance issue I've been attending a yoga class each Thursday after work, and I have to say in class I can balance pretty well.  If I close my eyes I wobble but apparently everyone does so I'm not unique with that.  I find it helps to hold on to the back of a chair while standing on one leg.  That way it prevents me from keeling right over.  At the start of the session I am pretty unbalanced, but the more I do the better it becomes.  Clearly I need to practice some yoga poses each morning before I let myself loose on the world.  I'd hate to see pensioners, children and small furry animals fleeing for cover!

I will be seeing the doctor on Monday about my hip problem.  A Sports Therapist friend has suggested that it might be a form of Bursitis which is  inflammation in a small sac near my hip joint.  It seems to have been hanging around a long time to be Bursitis, but I'm clinging to any suggestions and possibilities.  She told me if he actually confirmed it as this then she can help me with some physiotherapy.  I also may need to see the Acupuncturist again.  I will know these things better after Monday.

I recently did a post titled Menopause Crap in which I moaned about my night sweats and itchy skin etc.  Well, that seems to have abated due to stopping using some HRT cream that  I had to use  for, ahem - ladies personal stuff.   I only used it one or twice a week anyway but even such small doses can leach into the bloodstream causing symptoms like I was getting. I'm glad I got to the bottom of that as it was starting to worry the bloody socks off me.  I shall resume using the cream as and when I need it, and maybe not use the full dose.

A few more appointments in the offing as well.  MRI scan on my foot in a couple of weeks, then back to see the foot specialist for the results.  I do hope he can do something for me, whatever it may take.  If my foot is corrected, there will be less strain on my hip.  Result being I can walk a straight line and there will be no more trashed displays in shops, or freaked out people running for cover!

If you're in the UK, I hope you have a Happy Mother's Day.  Sorry if you're elsewhere, but your Mother's Day is different to ours.  But whoever, and wherever you are, kids or no kids here's a cute bouquet from me to let you know I'm thinking of you.

The pain - to drug or not to drug? That is the question!

In view of the fact that me and my foot are currently getting nowhere with the NHS, I've had to resort to painkillers. 

Over time my GP has prescribed a range of them from simple paracetamol, through to codeine, ibuprofen, and Tramadol.  None of which work very successfully.  I had to stop the ibuprofen as it gave me stomach acid, and the Tramadol just made me feel nauseous.  Codeine for some reason has no effect whatsoever. 

However, I thought I'd found a breakthrough with the paracetamol when one morning while in a hurry to get to work, I inadvertently took two with my coffee instead of water.  I spent all that day being relatively pain free and was overjoyed to think that at last I'd found some temporary relief.

Subsequent doses produced the same level of relief so I thought I was on to a winner, until I did some research.  The long term implications of paracetamol and caffeine look dismal.  I already have CKD3 (chronic kidney disease level 3 which is fairly low level), so I really should be treating any drug I take with extreme caution.  The implications for the liver are even worse.  I've linked HERE to an article in The Daily Mail so you can read for yourselves what happens.  I have to say it makes alarming reading for anyone who has to take pankillers regularly.

I can't possibly spend the rest of my life swallowing pills on a daily basis, and reading that article has highlighted how much of a stink I now need to kick up with the NHS over the lack of treatment of my foot.  Seemingly it's the root cause of a lot of things, beginning with balance problems, the stress it's causing my hip, and before long it will impact my lower back and my knees.  Before the last two things happen I HAVE to get my foot sorted out.

For weeks now I've been having acupuncture in an attempt to control the hip pain.  This is £30 an hour, and as the weeks wear on the cost is eating into my small income; and it's debatable whether it's doing much.  The day of the treatment sees me very comfortable, and with a slight spring in my step waddle, but the following days feel as if I'm back to square one.  I'm sure this is not the fault of the acupuncturist. I think it's because my problems are complex and need trial and error sessions before we hit on the right path.

In the meantime, I met with a friend today who is a sports masseur.  She gave me a thorough going over and suggested that when I have  my hospital appointment next month I explain to the consultant that my Tensor Fasciae Latae (yeah I know, here's a link!) seem to be affected.  We talked at length abut the impact one affected area has on another, and it seems I am lucky that my knees aren't affected already.

So, on this informative note dear readers (I'm assuming you read this far!) I'm off to find you some Simon's Cat on You Tube to release a few endorphins with a good chuckle!