Wednesday 4 April 2007

Stubbornness or common sense?

After Monday's excess of physical activity I'm now paying for it. I knew I would..... but I still hope that one day it won't happen. The pain is draining....physically and mentally.....I can't sit or lie comfortably for more than a few minutes. Walking is like having metal limbs that have long ago seized up and now need some sort of lubricant to make movement possible. Going through my mind is the fact that my pain is not all down to the M.E. My family has a history of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. My older sister (by 15 months) is already severely crippled by both of these conditions and my younger sister (by 13 months ) is also on the same path. They both started to feel the effects of these crippling conditions at the age of 48...the same age as my mother started. I thought that I had escaped this fate....but I'm beginning to wonder now. The swelling that accompanies the pain in my hands, knees and shoulders is not usually present with M.E. My stubbornness tells me that this is not happening....I'll be OK in a couple of days when I've had more rest......my common sense is telling me to go to my GP and get this checked out. At the back of my mind is the memory of my mother's suffering, that lasted for 20 years with these conditions....and would have suffered longer except for the lung cancer which took here life 16 years ago....just as it did her father....a grandfather that I never knew.

No comments: