Being re-referred to hospital

Hello Mrs O

When I had PMR the last time I was on 1mg for a year but then of course i was 20mg to 1mg in a year !! So different this time

I am really enjoying the Nordic walking We did 3 miles yesterday and I decided I would take it easy in the afternoon as i think I did too much with my horses before the same day I have already enrolled for the next one and they have a long list of people wanting to do it

The age UK centre I went to do it (about 20 mins across the forest from me is the most amazing place Very large day centre only 2 years old They do so many classes all the Tai Chi a kind of Yoga ( I cant remember which ) and they are getting great results People able to walk much further without walking frames Some people have come out of the Yoga classes crying as they have felt more relaxed mentally after painful ilnesses than they have in years A lot of the classes do seem to be evenings which I dont do but it is a very uplifting place We always have coffee afterwards and seeing all the work they do Age Uk will be moving up the list of charities I support !! They managed to get a very upmarket care home group fees £2000 a week !! to buy the poles They are about £45 a pair

So perhaps people on here who are struggling a bit mentally should think about exercise which is more relaxiing than physical ?? I think its Green Granny who likes her Tai Chi ??

Best wishes to all

Mrs G

Hi Mrs G

It's me that loves my Tai Chi and I have probably bored you all at times with my postings about it! :zen:

Even yesterday when I felt so down after my GP saying he was referring me to hospital for my gland investigation and telling me not to reduce the Pred further, my afternoon Tai Chi class at the local Day Centre really lifted my spirits. I so agree with your suggestion that others could benefit from it mentally especially when they're at a level with their PMR where more physical exercise may not be an option which is what took me to Tai Chi in the first place. At the time my muscles were very weak and my balance was bad after those early months pre-diagnosis spent in bed.

If I remember rightly, I thought Green Granny would like to do Tai Chi but possibly couldn't find a good class - I'm sure she will remind us.

Your Centre sounds excellent too and I agree that Age UK does a wonderful job (my hour-long Tai Chi session is only £3.50) and I do hope they don't suffer in the cuts but much as they all tug at your heart strings it's difficult to support them all - I support Guide Dogs and the British Heart Foundation, sadly having felt it necessary to drop a couple of the others when I retired.

I was very lucky with my Nordic Walking course as the 8-week programme was free but it was the last such course in our area (and maybe other areas) and future ones are very expensive. Also most of the advanced ones are 5 miles at least and I feel that would be a step too far for me even on 1mg! I'm so glad you're enjoying it too.

Have a good day one and all!

MrsO

:oops: Please, what is Nordic Walking ? It is mentioned so many times, it makes me feel I may be missing something GOOD ! :wow: :zoom: Love to all ! Granny Moss :wink:

Mrs O and Mrs G.

Yes, I did a year's Tai Chi a while back, pre PMR and would certainly love to try it again. But as you say Mrs O the only classes round here are in the evening which I can't cope with :cry:

Even sadder is that the two Age UK places in the centre of `Guildford have both had their local Gov't grants withdrawn and have had to close, leaving only one, really on the outskirts, with hardly any public transport, just one erratic bus. :cry: :cry: Actually when I enquired there was very little in the way of any sort of exercise put on. Meals and singalongs mostly.

We had a rather hilarious correspondance about Nordic walking about 18 months ago, which as I remember got rather naughty about suggestions as to what one could do with the poles, Mrs O will tell you, Granny Moss.

[u:3fba025807]However, [/u:3fba025807]this afternoon the sun has been shining and I have been doing a little bit of gardening and even started sawing up a log for the fire I expect I shall pay for it tomorrow but it has made me feel good at the moment :D :D

Green granny

Hello Granny Moss

I thought you were such a computer wizz you would have found out about Nordic walking

You walk with poles but normal walking poles With normal poles they go in front of you and really I suppose help to push you along

With Nordic poles they are slightly longer thinner lighter and made of steel of some sort They have to be adjusted to a correct height for you and they always stay behind you and when you walk you push off them (like skis I suppose ) and when they come forward they never go past your side and you musnt bend your elbows or really lift the poles off the ground As you are pushing off them all the times it is supposed to be really good upper body exercise and you use 40% more calories than when you walk normally It is quite hard work but i am enjoying it but definately couldnt have managed it this time last year !!

Yes Mrs O this is a great centre ( not really my local !! ) but the person who does my muscle class on a Monday is one of the instructors there and she suggested I went there She also teaches fitness at a Local Authority recreation/fitness centre near this place so they are very well served for rehabilitation classes around there

Apparantly it was the dream of an Age Uk worker and he fund raised tirelessly for this centre ( its named after him ) for at least 20 years and he was still around for the opening and now has the MBE They have a Beauty salon Hairdresser Do trips out .lunches So many events and they let the local community use it also and do a Sunday lunch there for the elderly which is most unusual as most things are on weekdays Im not sure who is permanant staff or just volunteers but its a very happy place

They know Im not that local but they are quite happy with me going there so I really hope to go to the next course also

Best wishes

Mrs G

Granny Moss

Mrs O wrote a piece on Nordic Walking and its on our website under Health and Wellbeing.

Its worth a read.

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Nordic Walking me ? NAHHHH..... But I have great admiration for those that are able to do it ! At present, I would not refuse a padded wheelbarrow.....and a Handsome Toyboy to wheel me around in style..... :oops: :P

Granny Moss

I got to the stage where a supermarket wheelchair was sheer heaven.

Pity I missed the toyboy to push.

But I can now walk half way round the medium sized one - now biggies for me.

Hmmm - obviously a few rheumatologists didn't do the lecture on PMR! It was the rheumatologist I was sent to who gave me the 2 weeks each of 15/10/5 as I was about to go away to the USA for a few weeks. No \"don't drop the dose like that if you respond the way you should if it is PMR\" and when I returned after 6 weeks not only had he no intention of seeing me himself to decide on a diagnosis but, when fetched by the GP with a special interest I did see who hadn't a clue, he informed me that, despite the 6-hour response to the 15mg of steroids we are now all told is absolutely typical for PMR, he didn't think it was PMR at all and did not want to give me steroids. It was the GP who said \"well, we were told by the rheumatologists that that is pretty much diagnostic in cases of doubt\" - I'll prescribe it for you. The symptoms had been back worse than before in the 2 days I'd been totally off steroids and the pain didn't go in the same way the second time round.

You have to feel a certain sympathy for the GP being confused by atypical signs and symptoms - but I don't know that it is unreasonable to expect a consultant to know his stuff and be polite about it!

EileenH

Granny Moss...am loving the image of you in your wheelbarrow with the toyboy pushing....can I have one too please? :lol:

Eileen and all....I once worked with a cardiac surgeon in the NHS who had all the bed-side manner of \"Dr Crippen\".

I remember one morning \"rounds\" when a patient he had operated on the previous day complained of being in a lot of pain and discomfort, he responded by telling the man \"He was lucky,as the other two cases on the same day had not survived\". The poor man was so dumbstruck that he would have signed himself out had he been able to get out of bed :cry: .

Sadly, that type of arrogance and total lack of empathy for patients is all too common....yet when THEY end up as the patient they expect everyone to dance around tending to their every little whim :roll: ....I know from experience as I've nursed my fair share of them.

I bet if salaries were dependant on how their patients rated all of the care given by consultants, including their bedside manners they would all make an effort to be a lot better :wink:

Best wishes to all, Pauline

Pauline - is it the wheelbarrow or the toyboy you want? :lol: :wink:

Mrs G. How lucky you are ! I have no help at all around here in Norwich. No muscle classes or anything else. I feel totally isolated, and wonder ( I am serious) if going up and down stairs and on the bus to the City centre, and walk around in and out of shops and up and down escalators, for about 2 or 3 hours, is enough exercise ? I do not want to loose muscle power. I am eating spinach. Is this OK ? :roll: Will be so grateful of a reassuring reply. Granny Moss.

Granny Moss, you are a delight and a wonder!

If I could manage 'going up and down stairs and round the shops for two or three hours' I'd be estatic!

I'm 20 years younger than you and the best I can manage is round the shops for an hour or so.........two hours is pushing it! We moved house last year into a flat quite deliberately partly because I was finding the stairs too much for me.

Although we have moved into what is known as a 'retirement' area on the south coast, there is precious little in the way of support or courses which would be useful.

Admittedly PMR and I have been enemies for a long time now and I have other problems........but I wish I could shop for two hours or more!

Nefret

Have been giggling like crazy at the image of Granny Moss being pushed in a wheelbarrow by a toyboy :lol: :lol: :lol:

And as for the going up and down the stairs and the shopping :roll: :roll: where do you get your energy from GM???????

I managed a little 'toddle' locally this week and that was it :roll: :roll:

Think 20mg kicking in as although was awoken with horrendous pain in hips and hands, have felt much more upbeat today and have laughed over the phone with my sis and daughter.... pain def diminishing although by no means under control... fingers crossed in a day or two will be pain free :lol: :lol:

Seeing my nutritionist friend tomorrow am so will report back to you all if she has any pearls of wisdom to help :D

Going to be taken to see my 10 month old grandaughter tomorrow and cannot wait.... have been having withdrawal symptoms :roll:

Whatever you are all doing and wherever you are, have a good and painfree week-end girls

Dear Hefret, You and PMR are enemies. I know how and why you feel like that. I was stunned when I realized after a couples of weeks, what had hit me ! I cryed a LOT....I am not ashamed of it. I was so active and enjoying my hobbies etc. Suddendly, for unknown reasons, I was an invalid. It was a shock, which I believe, each one of PMR patients, have experienced. Now, I am going throughthe phase of trying to come to terms with it. OK, my way of life has now changed. I am going to think hard about the new priorities in my life from now. First, I have a lady to do the housework that I cannot do. Then, I do most of shopping online. Amazon is a good place to find lots of items. They are very good for books, on all subjects. All at discounted prices, with free and very prompt delivery. I have bought from carpet cleaners to electric bulbs. I buy DVDs, and all inks for my printing. So, it is a great help. I spend time looking at the Universe on Google, looking at lots of paintings, and get to know about the artist. All this, I never did before PMR because I was much too busy with other things. So, my life has changed it is NOT what I wanted, but it is what I have, and I am trying to adjust to it.) Apart from having to take the steroids, :evil: which I truly dislike having to do, I get woolly headed, wobbly legs, short tempered with my one and only....and very crossed with the all ******THING ! :shock: Do I feel better now ! :P You bet I DON'T :cry: If you feel like telling me of, please do, but only if it makes YOU feel BETTER ! :steam: :love: Granny Moss