"Does it count if you exercise one leg?"

I know that this is perhaps one of the strangest questions I have ever asked, but it is what came out of my mouth this morning. There is a reasonable explanation for asking this question, so just bare with me a little. Among my health issues I have Hypermobility syndrome, which sounds more fun than it is. It always conjures up images of people folding themselves into tiny boxes or bending into strange shapes; fun stuff that you might see in a modern day circus.

The vast majority of people who have hypermobility are unlikely to have any adverse side effects. Then there are those whose joints have a tendency to dislocate. I fall in the middle; I do have hip and shoulder subluxation on the left hand side, but it isn't something that happens all the time. This week, just to piss me off, both joints tried to make a break for freedom. They failed, but that doesn't mean I'm not in a lot of pain.

You have probably seen people with hypermobility syndrome on television or among your friends, maybe you have it. Many people can go through life without ever having a diagnosis because they never have cause to visit a physiotherapist or to say to their doctor "Hey, look how far back I can bend my fingers/knees/elbow etc". By the way, if you talk to your doctor like that I am going to worry about you a little.

The one part of my body that I definitely do not have hypermobility in is my elbows. Wrists, fingers, knees, hips, ankles, toes (yes, weird) and my lower spine all have hypermobility and bend in strange ways. I am more conscious of it now that I am hitting my 40s than I was in my 20s; back then I would have joints in strange positions without realising I had, until someone commented. Well, I say commented, it was often more like a half-yell followed by "Oh, God, why is your thumb on the back of your hand like that? That's gross" (thanks for that, thinks I). When I say on the back of my hand, I don't mean that my thumb is growing out of the back of my hand (that would be weird), what I mean is this (photo).






I did used to bend my thumb further around the back of my hand without realising I had, but like I said, I try to be more careful these days so have only moved it a little. Even so, I still get told off when I inadvertently do that. It's far less entertaining and exciting than someone standing on their own head (I wonder if they worry about foot odor when they do that?)



Anyway, while I was lying in bed in the early hours I had the great idea of at least exercising one leg by doing leg raises. Okay, yes, if I was a healthy person it may be classed as cheating to use a resistance band to assist a little, but I'm not a healthy person and I need the extra help. I could only do this using my right leg and could not hold the resistance band with my left hand because of my shoulder so, again, just used my right hand. I did sets of side and front leg lifts and did a little triceps work on my right arm, no resistance other than gravity.

I took my time and did the movement very slowly, which adds to the exercise, and also spaced things out. It may not sound an awful lot to many people and back before the pain conditions crept up on me I would have thought the same. Nowadays though, trust me when I say that even that small amount of exercise caused an increase in pain that made me feel quite sick for a while. Despite that I am pleased that I did it. I miss being able to weight train, which I always loved, but something is always better than nothing.

Weather plus a cold equals fibro hell and a postponed trip

I was supposed to have travelled to Wales last week for a fortnight's respite. Unfortunately my immune system decided against that and instead decided that a cold would be a really fun thing to have. I would rather have had my trip to Wales. Still, I do believe that things happen for a reason and in this case perhaps the reason was that it has barely stopped raining all week, according to my mom, who has been about 15 miles away from where I go, since Wednesday.

Because I wasn't in Wales I could, in theory, have gone to Weight Watchers on Wednesday instead. I say 'in theory' because what happened was that I slept all day. As you may already know, one of the primary symptoms of fibromyalgia is fatigue. The cold has made things worse; I haven't had the strength or energy to wash my hair, meaning it feels disgusting. Greasy hair is my pet hate, so the very first thing I am going to do the moment I have enough energy is to wash my hair.

My hair, currently blue, is one of my 'things'. We all have things that we insist has to be okay before we leave the house and for me, it is my hair. That tells you straight away that I haven't been out of the flat all week. The main reason for this (apart from my hair!) is that I don't have the energy to get down the stairs let alone back up them.

However, as I've said before, just because I have struggled to get out of bed, even with assistance, it doesn't mean that I can't do movement of some description. This week, movement has consisted of very gently using my resistance band to help raise each leg off the bed in repetitions of five. I am then repeating that later in the day. I am using a combination of thigh, stomach and arm muscles to do that. Believe me that while I am aware that doesn't sound like a lot - and for most people it wouldn't me - but for me, it is. Energy-wise even just that amount of movement feels as though someone has stuck a needle in me and sucked all the energy out. My muscles are drained like flat batteries!

So, that is as much as I have been up to this week, apart from entering competitions on the internet which, unfortunately for me, doesn't count as exercise. I hope that it has been a better week for you this week, despite the weather.