Effects of detoxing on my MS

​First time I’ve ever detoxed & I didn’t expect to feel so shite! 

I know doing this is kinda against what @iammelwells stands for but I’m doing it as a kick start to get back to that healthy living we once had not to long ago! 
Yes, I’m going to blame Ollie’s πŸ• illness for our straying from good real green food! Now when I say straying, what i mean is, sometimes it really is far to easy to grab a takeaway. Ran out of time to cook, grab a McDonald’s, etc etc! 

What I’m trying to say is that crap food is too easy! And it gets you, you want more! 
So what myself, my girly & our good friend Adam are doing is having a complete change. We say we are detoxing, but what we’re really doing is cutting the sugar, processed, fatty food and a whole lot more! 
NO to milk 🍼 & any dairy 🍦, no eggs🐣, no meat πŸ–, no junk food πŸ—πŸ”πŸŸπŸ•πŸŒ­, no sugar πŸ©πŸŽ‚πŸ°πŸ«πŸ¬πŸ­ 
YES to vegetables πŸ†πŸŒ½πŸŒΆπŸ„πŸŒ°, fruit πŸ‡πŸˆπŸ‰πŸŠπŸŒπŸπŸŽπŸπŸπŸ’πŸ“, water, juice, good healthy unprocessed green food! 
The only thing I’m having trouble with is NO coffee! I used to be caffeine free for a long time but with the exercise I’ve been doing, I started sneaking the hard core caffeine in! Just the odd one here and there! So with not having coffee, I have noticed the difference! No sugar, no sweetener! 
I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself, quite the opposite, I feel empowered for doing a good thing for my body but I do feel rough, headache, sluggish, trouble concentrating! I know that describes me & one of my worst symptoms of my MS… FATIGUE but its worse! I’m sure it won’t last for too long and it will definitely be worth it! 
We got this guys! πŸ‘ŠπŸ’₯

Get on a Power Plate to help ease your pain!

When your in too much pain and all you want to do is exercise what do you do?

Get on a power plate of course! This machine vibrates at different frequencies chosen by the user and different time settings as well! 

I use it to help tone my muscles, aid my balance but mainly to help with my chronic pain from my MS! 

Yes it helps, just enough for me to be able to do exercise classes! It’s like thousands of tiny hands massaging my muscles! Ah, bliss! 

Try it! You’ll never look back!

Leg day vs MS pain

Shit man! My legs today after Thursday’s Body Pump (weights) Just crazy man, hurt so much but it feels so good! I’d rather the pain of leg day than MS! Although it has kicked off the MS burn! Hey ho, can’t have it every way! 

Breathe Vix, just breathe! You got this girl! I’ve just cancelled all my exercise classes at Everyone Active leisure centre for the rest of the week!

Seems standing for more than a few minutes is out of the question for a bit! 

I’ve got this & I know just what to do!…

See if this liquid chalk will stop me face planting my mat when doing ‘Downward Dog’ πŸ˜³πŸ˜…πŸ‘

One day I would love to say “I used to have Multiple Sclerosis”

Who’d have thought you can get so much pain in your legs and it starting from the back! 
That’s why I start the day rolling round on the floor with an inflatable ball under my back!
That’s why I go to so many Pilates classes and do yoga! 
Then there’s all the other exercise classes I try to attend! Just so I can get that chemical reaction going on in my body to get me some happy! 
It’s so hard to stay positive all the time especially when chronic pain try’s to rule your life! 
As you can tell by this post, I am in pain! So many people don’t realise how painful MS actually is and it never stops! We can take all the medication thrown at us & I do, but it’s still there, every second of every day!

With MS pain comes so many other symptoms that don’t bear talking about right now!
This is NOT a sympathy blog! We just need you to know, if we are grumpy it’s nothing you have done. If we are quiet it’s not because we are bored. If we cry it’s not because you hurt us.
This is MS & one day I’d like to say “I used to have MS”

Denervation Recovery Day Four

A lovely relaxing day!

I’ve had Deb at home as it’s Monday, her day off. The Only class I didn’t attend was the MS exercise class. Like I said in yesterday’s blog, even though it’s all seated exercise it would still be too much for me to do!
Because Deb was home that was a good distraction for me to not keep checking the time, although I did have a few cheeky time checks. No comments on facebook about it either, I can’t help but think I wasn’t missed. Silly of me right! I just don’t like to miss out on anything! Right or wrong, that’s who I am!
We had some visitors this afternoon, another good distraction from the pain!
My Dad and Stepmum popped round with their 2 sight hounds, Ava the Saluki & Finly the Lurcher.
They have only had Finly for 6 weeks so him and ours are still getting to know each other. All fun and games! A great distraction from the pain I’m still getting in my legs and spine when I’m standing.

This Evening

A boring hour and half whilst Deb and Adam went off to Fight Klub! I’m not a happy bunny, I’ve got my new boxing gloves and can’t try them out! Humph!

image

Tomorrow

I have to be prepared for my mood tomorrow! I’ll be missing Pilates with Hannah Bailey and then Body Combat in the evening with Gill Cathcart!
What on earth did I used to do before exercise took over my/our life!
I know I wasn’t as happy when I didn’t go to the gym or all these classes!

Think about this,

If we all just did a little bit more to look after ourselves would we be living in a happier world?

Denervation recovery day three

The third day of recovery after having my back procedure. It’s Sunday, the first day of our weekend. The day that our alarm clocks are redundant, I do love my sleep! It also means that because I’m not on my own my mood is good even though my pain is bad!

I did have to cancel a class today, we don’t normally go to exercise classes on a Sunday but Deb and I had decided we would try a different class, one that we had both wanted to do for a while called ‘Body Pump’ A weight-based group-fitness program created and distributed globally by Les Mills International.
I was really disappointed that I had to cancel but there was really no way that I could do it! I didn’t think there would be any chance I would be able do the class after having my back done!

I didn’t stay disappointed for too long after I cancelled the class yesterday, the reason for this was because Deb told me she would also cancel as it would be better if we did our first class together!

We didn’t stay in mopping! I’d been given a HMV gift card for my birthday and I knew exactly what I wanted to get. I told Deb that I wanted to go and get the film called ‘Lady in the Van’

image

I was so excited to be going out, I know it was only 2 days, 3 if you include the day of the procedure. I felt as though I had been stuck inside for too long, I mean I’m normally out every day even If just for a short time like visiting my GP to renew my medication!

I updated my social media status to something like:
“Breaking news!… I’m going out! The Vixter has left the Manor! (Fear not sofa, I will return!)”

This was short lived though and soon updated to:
“I’ve returned! I forgot that I could only stand for about 5 minutes yesterday! The pain is horrendous when I’m walking and standing! Better off staying on the sofa a little longer me thinks!”

It’s so easy for me to forget the things I can and can’t do, especially when my pain is just about bearable when I’m sitting in one place! I’d forgotten the awful pain in my thighs when I walk, the pain shooting down the backs of my legs emanating from my butt and finishing at my feet. I’d forgotten how every step was more and more painful and I’d even forgotten how I would need help lifting my legs in and out of the car! Even if I had used my wheelchair I would have still been in too much pain getting in and out of the car and also whilst in the wheelchair because of twisting to look at different things.
Still, all this said, I managed to get my dvd and we watched it tonight. A lovely film, very different to what you might expect but still a good film.

My trip out today has made me realise one thing for sure, I definitely won’t be able to attend the MS exercise class that I normally go to and being covered by Hannah Bailey. It’s scheduled for tomorrow (Monday). Even though it’s seated exercise it’s far too much for me to handle yet!
This also means that I won’t be going to Monday evenings Fight Klub! This isn’t good news! One of my favourite classes! I’m going to have to try extremely hard to stay positive tomorrow because of this! Wish me luck!

image

Denervation Recovery Day One and Two

Understanding

It’s hard to remember the days when I first had to take time off work because of my MS. I have come such a long way from that person that used to sit feeling sorry for herself, not doing anything to change the way she felt, just feeling more and more depressed!

Those days are real, they did exist, I was that person! So easily I could become her again! This procedure I have had done on my lower spine is to help ease my pain I feel, to gain this relief I have to endure a multitude of pains. The physical pain which comes in so many different ways, from moving incorrectly to even just standing. Then there is the emotional pain, some of this pain I feel may be hard for you to understand.Β Although you can’t see the physical pain itself, you can in fact see the physical effect of it in my face, in my eyes. The emotional pain will at times be so much easier to know when I feel it, you see I suffer from terrible mood swings. Almost like a teenager unable to get their own way, when I can’t do something that I have been used to doing its painful!

Β image

Yesterday

It was an easier day than I expect yesterday! The first day of recovery, unable to take part in my usual Pilates class at 11am. Even though I missed it, I was ok with it, that made me feel proud. The rest of the day I slept on and off.

The evening wasn’t too bad either. Deb came home from work, she sorted the dinner, homemade spaghetti bolognase that I had lifted out of the freezer and some pasta to go with. This made it easier for me as I wasn’t able to stand for more than a few minutes and therefore unable to cook the evening meal.

The exercise class I couldn’t attend last night was ‘Clubbercise’ I have only been to this class twice and, if I’m honest it’s a bit fast for me with a lot of side ways moving, which I have a major issue with. The class has also changed rooms, it used to be in an area that had direct access to outside, which was ideal for me to cool down quickly. The class is now in the ‘Dance studio’ the same room that I do Pilates in. Excellent because it has air-conditioning which means I keep cooler whilst exercising, the downside is that when I walk out of the room the temperature difference is too extreme for me, especially if my core temperature is high from cardio exercises.

This is a constraint of my MS, I can’t adjust to differences in temperature like my partner does. I can’t cool down quick enough when needed and vice versa, I don’t warm up quick enough! For these reasons I am apprehensive about going to Clubbercise again and didn’t mind that I couldn’t go!

 

Today

A harder day today, missed out on a class called ‘PiYo’ a mix of Pilates and Yoga. A class that I wanted to try from the moment I heard about it and also a class that I was very nervous about trying! When my friend told me he had been to a class a few weeks ago, I was really sad that I hadn’t gone with him. He came around to my home to tell me all about the class and how hard it was, when he told me he thought it would be to hard for me, I booked in for the next available class straight away.

I wasn’t well enough to go to the class last week because of my MS. It hadn’t occurred to me then that I wouldn’t be able to go today, but I have to be good especially after all the work I had done on Thursday.

After my first PiYo class I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I practised some of the harder moves that I could remember, until I could no longer remember the easier option that the instructor ‘Hannah Bailey’ had showed me. That’s the thing with my MS, I forget things easily and quickly!

I was so looking forward to going again! I guess I just have to wait a little bit longer. Hopefully I’ll be so much better and stronger when I go to my second class!

 

The evening,

Saturday evenings are my favourite! As much as I love going to all the exercise classes with Deb and our friends, I do miss the us time that we rarely get now. Saturday evening there aren’t any classes so we get to chill together snuggled on the sofa with our 2 dogs ‘our kids’

As far as pain goes and how my back is after the procedure, today I can stand for a little longer, around five minutes. Enough time to wash half of the pots in the bowl, the pain was starting to increase by then so I had to sit down and rest.

Baby steps! I’ll soon be fighting fit again!

image

Denervation day!

Myles came to support me yesterday for my ‘Denervation & sacroiliac joint facet steroid injections’ at University hospital Coventry but was feeling a little nervous about going into day surgery & wouldn’t get out of my bag!…

image

Whilst I was getting settled in my hospital bed for the day Myles was checking out his surroundings…

image

It can get very boring waiting for your turn in theatre so we had a look at what we could do to pass the time…

image

After having a little read of the book Myles then decided to have a go at a sudoku puzzle!…

image

Myles wasn’t very happy because he wasn’t allowed in theatre with me but was over the moon when I came out and took the opportunity for some selfies!…

image

I always try and stay positive & with as ManySmiles as I can! How could I not smile with a cup of tea in my hand and a bear on my arm!…

image

I had a few things done yesterday, one procidure called denervation (pronounced De-Nerve-Ation) the consultant puts needles deep into my lower spine and attatches a machine that litterally burns the nerves at 80Β°c! This procedure stops the pain messages travelling from the nerve to the brain!

During the other procedure the consultant injects steroids into both of my sacroiliac joints (where the hips join the spine)

image
Image courtesy of cooldesign at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This time he did denervation higher up my spine as well because the pain was stopping me from being backwards!
Phew!
The procedures took just over an hour & I was awake for all of it!

Last 2 times I had it done, I could only stand him doing one side so had to go back another day for the other side to be done!
This time i managed to bare the painful procedures and the consultant did it all in one go!

image
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net