The (not so old) Crocks Cafe -Part 2

A question about : The (not so old) Crocks Cafe -Part 2

With thanks to zzzLazyDaisy for the original thread, this is part 2:

Part 1 can be found here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=1224675

*Raises the shutters*

*puts out tables and chairs outside to take advantage of the October sunshine*

*Puts out sign saying 'open for business'*

Anyone for afternoon tea and a chat?

Members of the Crocks Club

Best answers:

• Damn. Couldn't have let it hit 150 pages? My OCD is making me twitch like hell rn from it ending up on 148! =P
  Anyway *subscribes*
  Oh, any chance of linking to the old thread in your first post for those of us who wish to follow discussions through to this one? Thanks.
• Your wish is my command, link to part 1 now added
• Corrrr blimey - good job i am not having one of my paranoid days - otherwise i would be convinced that as soon as i joined the crocks cafe you all bogged off to a new thread ....haha x
• My heart almost stopped on seeing the old thread locked!
  Thanks Soolin.
• Absolutely Morag!
• Hi all - Can I catch up with a couple of bits from the old thread.
  SH1305 - I used the neck cushion to ease the pressure on my sholders after a nasty flare up - my glands were really swollen as well so I was miserable and not sleeping. Our ones were from Vegas and really plump. The beads got quite warm as well. I haven't used it for a while - all my pain is in my legs and feet boo hoo!
  Which brings me to Tralia - I had fentanyl for the first time last week - OMG - amazing instant pain relief without the fuzzy morphine feeling. Felt a bit silly sucking the lollipop . .
  Its only a quick 'Hi' tonight as I'm supervising DD packing for pony camp.
  Little does she know I'm gutting her room tomorrow and retrieving all my make up, hair stuff, clothes etc!!!
• *gingerly sets foot in cafe*
  *wonders where the past couple of months have gone* (tis still July here, not October)
  *has Very Large Coffee and Even Larger Piece Of Cake*
• Forgotten to take bedtime meds (that I take at 6..!) will be waving hello to 3am I expect!
  Has anyone seen OscarTheGrouch (or similar name.. Can't remember exactly!) around recently?! x
• Hi, can I join pretty pretty please? *smiles sweetly*
  I've been a member of MSE for a shortwhile but have never posted on this thread.
  I've just read back a few pages on the old (closed) thread & you all seem lovely & supportive.
• Ash - I have a diary that I did for my DLA. (won't be of use to you because I have completly different problems to you) All I wrote was what activity I was trying to do and why / how someone can help me. For example:
  It is now time to get dressed. Due to my poor vision, I need some helping picking out suitable clothes (suitable for the weather and what I'm planning to do today - for example, if it's cold out, I may need trousers, t-shirt, jumper and coat) and my mum to tell me that they match and that they're clean. I also need help getting dressed, because I may put my socks on upside down (coloured heel & toe doesn't help that much) or put my trousers or t-shirt on inside out.
• Ahh we doing proper introductions?
  Ok here we go....I'm 40, recovered/recovering from severe depression which was on and off from 1993 until around 18 months ago, endometriosis diagnosed at age 21ish which I had a hysterectomy for at age 31, hypermobile with wrist and hand arthritis diagnosed in late teens, lower spinal arthritis finally diagnosed (after them refusing to check it for over 10 years) at age 30 and since then, arthritis in my hips, knees, feet and goodness knows where else....seems a new day brings a new joint being affected.
  I have had asthma in the past, originally as background asthma which gave no problems but which then turned into quite bad asthma after pneumonia at age 23..this was also the time my kidneys decided they weren't too happy and were starting to fail (long story, pregnancy and endometriosis related). They didn't completely fail in the end but it has left me with the legacy of my right kidney being damaged and the resultant frequent kidney infections, the asthma nows seems to have gone back to very mild background type again.
  I am also a little OCD.
  But, I am not disabled, I may now have to walk with a stick at times but I prefer to think as my body being a little tired rather than having a disability. I have never claimed any disability benefits for myself etc, I don't think I am bad enough.
  My primary reason for coming to this section was as a carer to what was originally two of my sons who have various problems (youngest - severe asthma, complex autism, gross food intolerances, multiple food allergies, hypermobility syndrome, bowel disorder, possible Ehlers Danlos syndrome. Middle son - Aspergers, partial deafness, brain damage affecting aggression and memory, bowel disorder and possible Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) and also because we were going through the diagnostic procedure for eldest son who was finally diagnosed with HMS and then Ehlers Danlos.
  I'm generally a get on and deal with it kind of person and will adapt quite quickly to different circumstances...I see it as a challenge to beat and accepting my limitations as a failure or giving in to it (something my physio tells me off about, apparently I should now accept the limitations because my actions are apparently making things worse), I however, refuse to be beaten.
  I'm also divorced after being with my ex hubby for almost 20 years, he was a rather unstable diabetic with addisons disease and in my time with him, learnt virtually every ward and corridor in the big hospital up the road from our town...I'm now doing something similar with the childrens wards with the boys.
  So there you have it, a condensed version of my hang ups over admitting my body is letting me down and why I can be pretty complex at times but even though I may not see myself as being disabled, it doesn't mean I will judge people with similar problems to myself negatively..I'm just a stubborn begger who doesn't like to give in!
• *g* I'm pretty stubborn m'self, Sue. I just have learned when to accept the trade-off between activity and being able to do further activity after, if that makes any sense. If I overdo it, I pay for it fourfold.
  Idk if you knew this already, but secondary wear-and-tear early-onset arthritis is a very common feature of EDS, and EDS being so often hereditary and so clearly that way in your family too, it may be due to that. Hypermobility syndrome and EDS hypermobility being more or less the exact same thing.
  I refuse to be beaten, but I've learned I do have to accept some limitations because if I don't, it will make things so much worse that I will be beaten down a lot more, and more easily too. It took a while to get to that point, though.
• It is the overdoing it and then paying for it that is becoming the major problem right now, it used to be that I could bounce back much quicker but now, overdoing it for one afternoon and I pay for the rest of the week and am barely able to move without pain.
  The early onset arthritis I have only learnt about since eldest sons diagnostic procedure, before that, I (and the doctor 10 years ago) put it down to all the dancing I did in my childhood and teen years (I used to train a minimum of 6 hours a day) and it is why I keep telling eldest to take it easier now or end up like me...only sooner than me as his problems are that slight bit worse than what mine were at his age.
  I'm still at the stubborn, not accepting stage of my limitations though although I have taken on board the physio's advice to use the stick before things get really bad, so I do but then do more than I should do because I can a bit easier for a short while before I have to stop as it has got too painful!
  It will get into my thick skull eventually though....it will just take time, a lot of time.
• Overdoing it. Hmmmmm.
  I've never learned the art of pacing myself and still have trouble with the evil sitting on my shoulder whispering in my ear "you're just being lazy, get up and do something and you'll be fine".
  I've had to learn it a bit more having just had Glandular Fever and energy levels are still incredibly low so that most days just sitting and breathing is enough activity for me.
  tbh, if I have several things to do out and about, I try to get them all done in one day and then take the rest of the week to recover rather than stringing them out during the week.