Winter is coming! (Should be renamed ‘REALLY LONG INTRO!)

GlencroftMama

And that usually means comfort food and lots of seasonal parties.

However... given my appetite is poor hopefully that won’t be a problem!

I’m a 42 year old house/bed/wheelchair bound mum to twins and wife to my soulmate and best friend. I’ve went from being a total fitness junkie to struggling to move without excruciating pain. For the past 9 years or so I’ve been coping with ever increasing CRPS, SIJ, osteoarthritis (e vertebrae, pelvis, both knees/elbows/wrists/hands/fingers/feet and toes! (I’m sure there’s a song there ). I also have severe OSA and am on a non invasive ventilator at night. I’m awaiting bilateral nerve compressions in feet, ankles & calves and the bilateral knee replacements. I’m desperately trying to reduce the amount of medication I’m on because I just feel fogged and if I needed pain relief in an emergency there is pretty much nothing they can give me because a) there seems to be a high tolerance to analgesics in our family & b) I’m on such high doses I’m pretty much tolerant to anything they give me! (If the average person took my daily meds’ they would go into respiratory failure, heart failure and most likely die )

Due to developing stage 3 respiratory sarcoidosis several years ago after my mobility was curtailed (still no idea what set it off other than a possible near fall when rock climbing!) I was placed on a very high dose of steroids for nearly a year. The great news is that the sarcoidosis is in remission but the bad news is I put on a HUGE amount of weight whilst on the steroids. In Feb 2015 after my first remission from sarcoidosis I started t tying to lose the weight, knowing it would be a long hard fight. Not only had the weight gone on over a year and through medication and enforced bed rest, I was now suffering from severe Chronic Pain, had went from crutches to a wheelchair and was more frequently bed bound. If I ever had a weight gain in my pre pain days I just exercised to lose it. I’m more of a ‘happy in my body weight’ than ‘need to be a certain weight’ type of person so I really have no idea what my target weight is because I never really weighed myself before.

I have already lost over 4st but after a recent stay of 4 weeks in hospital I’ve put on 6lbs! (What can I say... our hospital has amazing food!)

But I must get back on track. I had kind of hit that plateaux before the hospital admission and previously the weight was just coming off mostly due to lack of appetite and my body burning the extra reserves for energy. I have recently been doing a Chronic Pain Management Course run by the Pain Team at our local hospital and I have found a few ways that will hopefully kickstart my weight loss again.

I’d be really interested in hearing from anyone who has had similar problems with the plateau and very restricted movement and poor appetite and how they managed to get the weight loss/fitness started again.

Also I’ve never really been concerned with my body image as long as I felt happy in it, however since I started to lose the weight I now have a wonderful (not) ‘apron’ of folds of skin on my stomach, my upper arms have gone from lovely feminine defined muscles to ‘bingo wings’ my granny would have been proud of and my thighs are heading the same direction. I know I have to live with it, it’s all part of the losing weight process and it can be resolved by surgery etc but has anyone discovered a way to at least help reduce the effects the weight loss has in creating this excess skin?

So... umm.... that’s me really. My hobbies when I have energy are spending time with the munchkins, reading, crafting (all sorts!) & enjoying the company of our French Spaniel Douki.

Look forward to sharing our journeys together!

GC Mama

If you made it to the end and are looking for a journey friend, feel free to add me xx