STRONG KITTY IS STRONG!

Remember how a few months ago I was all upset because I’d been diagnosed with Hypermobility Syndrome? Well, turns out (as per usual with me) that doc was full of crap and liked to make his own thing up as he went along. We got a letter in the mail from him about my condition, and he got SO MANY things wrong in my medical history that both Master Pravus and me were pissed. AND, after seeing other docs it looks like I’m subluxing both my toe and my wrist on a frequent basis (at least a few time per week, each). I’ve been sort of “upgraded” (and I use that term in a silly, sarcastic manner) to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility Type. In a lot of ways it is the same thing, but EDS is an illness which covers the entire body, whereas Hypermobility Syndrome largely ignores some other symptoms I’ve been having. Oh well. With me, I generally have to see more than one doc before I get the correct diagnosis. When I was a kid, I was diagnosed with “sore throats” by three doctors before someone did further testing and figured out I was having GERD. ::Sigh:: Such is life.

Regardless, there are some treatment differences between EDS and HMS, but they are largely the same. I’ve had the HMS diagnosis for a couple of months, and it has been hard to work around. A lot of the things I was doing were wrong. I guess stretching is OK, to a point, but I shouldn’t be putting my joints in a hypermobile position. I get that. That is good and for the most part easy to avoid. (Sometimes it’s unavoidable though in daily living. I try my best.)

I think the most important change I’ve made recently is that I’ve switched my workouts from every day to every other day. This has been hard for me because I’ve always been somewhat obsessed with workouts. Even I had to agree though that I was getting hurt too easily under my old regimen, which really doesn’t help anything because it just puts me in a position where I’m spending more time resting injuries than working out. It is very hard for me to rest on my rest days, but Master and me aren’t counting regular walks as a “workout”. We’re only counting things like dancing, cardio, hula hoop, swimming, etc. Regular walking at a slow pace has been fine on my rest days, and keeps me from getting too bored or sedentary, which I like.

I’ve noticed that I am recovering from my workouts faster, and with luck I’ll be able to slowly (in future) increase my workout days from three days a week to four, and so on, until I get back up to six days per week with one rest day.

It is really, really important to me to not be physically weak or injured so much. I know a lot of that is unavoidable, especially with EDS, but I want this very badly. It hasn’t been a problem until about a year after we moved to Colorado, and I understand that’s how a lot of people with EDS progress (many don’t get symptoms until they are in their mid twenties.), and that’s pretty much where I started going downhill. I don’t want to go downhill anymore. I am doing my absolute best, and I am noticing progress. I just really hope that this year is less injury-laden, and more fun-laden than the last couple. I don’t want to live with EDS, but as I don’t have a choice, I’ll just have to conquer it.

::Super kitty arm pump::