classical EDS – Page 2 – Dystonia and Me

Archive, February 2022

One day, one minute, one breath.

Posted on February 24, 2022February 24, 2022 by dystoniaandme

Each passing minute, moment, breath, feels like a drawn out hour at this time of writing. By Botox was due at the end of January. It was scheduled for April. Thank Lord it was moved to mid March. My medication routine had kept me healthier for longer than I had dared hoped for, but now my little Dystonia alien is kicking my ass with vengeance.

My jaw has been dislocated for a full 24 hours straight now. It has been coming previously on and off before that. The aches in the joint and the building spasms told me all I needed to know. I’d adjusted my food intake to make sure I wasn’t aggreviating it, I was regularly applying heat packs, and doing basic physio stretches. On Tuesdays I sneezed and dislocated the jaw, and it came out again hours later while I was enjoy a nice brew.

I’m extremely lucky that while I was pregnant with Evie at around 9 weeks I got admitted to the gyny ward due to suspect Hyperemesis Gravidarum and kidney infection. The maxfax team came and taught my fiancé how to relocate my jaw to save me living in the A&E department trying to educate the staff. Them taking the time to teach Damon had a life changing impact as it’s dramatically cut down the amount of time I spend in A&E have it manipulated back in place.

The shear strenth of the spasms shock and terrify me. Despite muscle relaxants Dame has struggled to relocate my jaw today. Normally this would mean I need to take a trip up the hospital before it becomes worse. But honestly I don’t want to go. I know the drill, they’try twice, when it fails they send me by ambulance to Aintrree, the med students try and fail, I get scheduled for surgery, and then Dr. Godcomplex cancel the surgery because he doesn’t believe in Dystonia or EDS.

If you’ve made it this far through my foggy ramblings! Congrats 👏

Left on Sunday where spasms were ok. Right is today

Archive, COVID-19, January 2022

Covid Round Two

Posted on January 26, 2022 by dystoniaandme

Whenever I get ill with something like a cold/your more normal bugs, or as I prefer to call it muggle sick, my body always protests. Sunday I was feeling off and presumed I was having an ocular migrane, I get them often so didn’t really dwell on it. Alarm bells started going yesterday when I woke up with a temperature, sore throat, ringing ears and eye pain still. The lateral flow was negative so chalked it all up to an awful cold. After all I’d had covid a few months back and I am fully vaccinated.

It was a bad night of neck, jaw and back spasms. Upon opening my eyes this morning all I wanted to do was put pressure on them both. I recognized the pain. I had the same issue for almost six weeks following contracting covid last autumn. Sure enough this mornings lateral flows came back positive straight away. Which explains why my spasms have been playing up. My body is doing its usual protest, a way of saying it’s overwhelmed.

I’m feeling pretty run down but greatful to be vaccinatinated.

Meme depicting the a squishy monster covid monster clinging to a cartoon person whose trying to escape

Archive, August 2021

Pacing; Using A Wig

Posted on August 26, 2021 by dystoniaandme

Moments ago I quickly signed off a Facebook live as my partner walked through the front door, home from his evening gym session. Normally during my lives I’m very good at opening up and sharing my concerns but tonight I struggled. They are superficial to say the least.

Yet as Damon sat down I burst into tears. This seems to have become an evening routine. I’m physically struggling at the moment so I’m cutting corners where I can to save energy and reduce pain. This is starting to really bother me. Things like washing my hair is something I do as little as possible as it’s painful, energy drainage, and often leads to a flare in pots, eds and dystonic symptoms. Yet I don’t want to look unclean. The solution I have in mind I’m not to sure of. I don’t know whether to go for a drastic buzz cut and wig wearing while it grows back; the difference being I would follow the no poo method which would result in less physical stress on my body, or just to try to wig wear on days when I’m struggling.

Trying a wig for the first time to explore the idea

I’m still exploring my options. I’m not reaching for the razor on the back of feeling emotional no matter how tempting it may seem. The plan currently is to reach out to hairdresser’s first for advice on the above idea but also on the issue of hair loss which I currently have in certain patches which gets me down. I’d love to hear from anyone whose done similar.

Archive, July 2021

Acceptable Collaterable Damage for Freedom Day

Posted on July 7, 2021 by dystoniaandme

With Freedom Day ear marked for July 19th and the majority of restrictions being casually tossed away one would have thought we were turning a corner where the public as a whole could breath a sigh of a relief. But with herd immunity being discussed again, talks of case numbers reaching 100,000 daily, it has to be asked are we offering up our disabled, our elderly and our unvaccinated under 18s as collateral?! Its worth remembering that six in ten people who have died of covid in the UK were disabled. The disabled community have been hard hit throughout this pandemic and failed by our government.

As a household two of us were classed as clinically extremely vulnerable and had to shield, perhaps it’s unsurprising that I’m not celebrating freedom day. I am double jabbed and have a degree of protection, but my four year old son who also had to shield, whose school seems to constantly have new cases, he has no protection from a vaccine yet the government suggest classes will no longer have to isolate?! Madness!

The term Freedom Day keeps being tossed around but what freedom is there truly when there is also talks of introducing shielding again for the clinically vulnerable this winter. I’ve spent 14 months shielding already. I understand why people are clammering for to get their normality back, yet surly little and gradual is better than throwing fuel on the fire?

We know so little about Covid-19 and indeed long covid. Can our primary school children/younger generation develop long covid? How will this impact in the long term?

Personally for me I’ll still be wearing a mask in crowded areas/public indoor areas, and keeps a distance from other people. I know people will think I’m over reacting however this is what I believe is best for my family and myself and until covid cases etc are much lower or a vaccine is introduced for children I feel it’s necessary.

Archive, July 2021

Injection Day and referral thoughts

Posted on July 6, 2021 by dystoniaandme

Picture of Rebecca wearing a facemask and holding a takeaway coffee cup sitting in a hospital waiting room waiting for an appointment. Wearing a brown cardigan, black white spotty top, blue disposal facemask, — Waiting to see my neurologist

Today was botox day up in London with my lovely neurologist. He’s happy that the medication we started on a few months back is keeping me far more stable, which is amazing, so we are keeping that in my treatment plan. I’m currently on a medium dose so we have room to play with should we need to come winter when I typically go down hill due to the cold.

I’ve finally gotten the date for my video fleursoscopy which is the middle of next week. I’m a little nervous but it will be good to shed some light on what’s been going on internally and if there is anything specific that we can do/change to tackle it. This is to tackle the chronic aspiration.

Then it’s on to blood tests. Whilst I don’t mind these particularly, my veins are world class players at hide and seek. No matter how much I drink before hand they like to hide or better yet collapse. I often leave blood tests looking somewhat like a pin cushion. These are being done just to double check there’s nothing being missed and causing any issues whilst we wait for Gyny to see me. They were meant to see me almost a year ago. However they keep rearranging and cancelling my appointments, which my lovely GP is chasing. In the meantime I’m left with regular pain flares that leave me doubled up in pain.

I’m hoping now that more people are vaccinated that appointments/refferals may start going back to normal. Specially orthotics is one appointment I’m looking forward to, my knees and wrists need new splints. It’s not an urgent appointment in anyway but it would make day to day life a bit easier and reduce pain a little more.

In the meantime I’m ticking along. I’m looking forward to the schools breaking up and making the most of the summer holidays before my eldest starts primary school full time.