Monday 31 October 2016

Pregnancy Got Rid of My Mobility Problems

You may remember I used to have a problem with my right foot. It was heel pain that I mistakenly self diagnosed as gout, simply because it was so incredibly responsive to diet, namely acidity. In fact I was so convinced it was gout I wrote a poem about my pending diagnosis with the good doctor. Coffee = pain. Half a packet of Digestives = pain (I know I know) and alcohol was off the scale pain!!!! What didn't help was I was no longer eating my yogic diet of bygone years (yeah that showed) and acidity in my diet featured heavily. Ironically the pain would make me reach for harmful things. This about summed it up:
goutɡaʊt/noun
1.
a disease in which defective metabolism of uric acid causes arthritis, especially in the smaller bones of the feet, deposition of chalk-stones, and episodes of acute pain.



I had EVERY reason to believe it was gout but I had the blood test for it and it wasn't. The GP and several other people including my lovely (old business colleague and wonderful lady) Podiatrist Beverley Ashdown, diagnosed it as Plantar Fasciitis. Beverley's tip of my wearing heels worked WONDERS so I bought these beauties.

A photo posted by Liska (@newmumonline) on

Followed by these for the Winter again with a heel:

Plantar fasciitis 
(PLAN-tur fas-e-I-tis) is one of the most common causes of heel pain. It involves pain and inflammation of a thick band of tissue, called the plantar fascia, that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes.
Hmmmm! And it seems there is a type of Plantar Fasciitis that is responsive to dietary acidity. So it CAN be that and do that!

Funnily enough when I used to watch my reactions to things I became a pro at it. I'll never forget going to a Nespresso event that Autumn and they said their coffees are really pure - I knew it was totally true based on my body's reaction to what I was drinking. It is ideal if we listen to our bodies and eat what is good for us. So many conditions would be eliminated if we could only as a society do this.

You'll remember that in Reception Aaron and I used to both cycle to and from school everyday. So often in fact, I used to regularly use the hashtag #SchoolPedal (my take on the "school run") on Twitter. The actual reason we did this was I couldn't cope with the walk there and back twice a day. Although when he went through a phase of wanting to be on the scooter after months on the bike I had to, but gosh it made me irritable and so snappy. Pain is a horrid horrid creature, it really is.

Luckily he started school September 2014 and by April 2015 I was pregnant. Two things happened. Firstly the hubby banned me from cycling whilst pregnant as he was convinced I'd have some sort of accident and secondly the relaxants that the body releases to deal with growing ligaments etc during pregnancy (female hormone progesterone, which acts as a muscle relaxant), eliminated my plantar fasciitis. It was so much of a miracle and so welcomed that I really ought to have blogged about it. Instead what I did was tell anyone that would listen, that I walk up to 30 miles a week. I should have given this context by saying, given my recent history, what a huge and amazing thing this was!

Given my lack of mobility it is a surprise to me in hindsight that I was trying to conceive at all, but Lottie was in my energy space and I had to make her a reality. Forgive me if you don't believe in that sort of thing, but Lottie's been a reality in my mind for decades before she was a person in physical form. Souls choose who they incarnate to and I am so very glad she chose us!

I visited the GP shortly after Lottie arrived and he said that the pain would come back once she was 6 weeks' old. In fact, it took till she was 9 weeks' old and lingered fleetingly for a couple of days and hasn't been seen since. I don't know if this is because I dropped the combination feeding bottles months ago and now exclusively breastfeed. Does breastfeeding produce any hormones that provide pain relief? I really honestly do not know! I hope not as I don't want that pain back the days or weeks after we stop breastfeeding........ I'll have to ask him again. Either that or I will breastfeed her until she's an adult *joking* ha!

But I do have a *new* problem now. Well two actually. One, I regularly sit cross legged on the floor and when I get up, my hips hurt way more than they should. In fact until I've been walking around for a few steps I walk stooped like when I get out of a vehicle after a long journey. I think I may just require Glucosamine or something!

Yikes Doctor Google is brutal!
Glucosamine is a naturally occurring substance found in the fluid around our joints. It is naturally present in animal bones, bone marrow, shellfish and fungi. Glucosamine plays a vital role in building cartilage and is commonly consumed as a supplement by people with arthritis, especially osteoarthritis.
The second problem is I find it nearly impossible now to open jars, so I keep being a drama queen and telling myself that I am going to have some kind of muscle wasting disease. Can't believe I am sharing that with you as I don't normally say it out loud. But I want to be an active elderly person, like one of the Teachers on my Yoga Teacher Training was (she was in her 80s and could still do a crab). I wish I could remember her name! Yikes I have memory loss too, I really am a gonner! But given I've not done yoga since 2010 this is looking less likely unless I sort my life out. She did sun salutations daily for about 40+ years. Yes, like I have blogged many times I need consistency and self discipline and self control. Despite being a hard worker in all of my career jobs I don't seem to possess these things in my personal life, which is why the idea of my working from home is kind of hilarious to say the least!

So given my stiffness and achy limbs and unwillingness to change my diet, I do tend to look at mobility aids a little too long, wondering if I will need them one day. Don't get the violins out just yet I am not talking mobility scooters I am talking about things like walk in showers and walk in baths from Premier Bathrooms. The sort of thing that provide comfort and reduce the amount of mobility involved. I've been thinking about age a lot recently. For example, say I live to 100, surely that means I am only 43% of the way there... so why do I feel like I am starting to pack up? The postpartum hair loss has stopped and the hair that is growing back in its place is riddled with greys. I'd say 20% of them are grey. I've always been PROUD that I do NOT dye my hair and I don't want this to become part of my routine, or my budget - like what budget!?!?!? I've had a packet of Henna I bought in Lush like 3 years ago. Putting that finally in my hair is about the furthest I would go.

Anyway, age means I am finding writing this at 00:47 quite challenging so this ole woman best go to bed. I could have done this way earlier given Aaron was asleep by 21:35 but alas Madam couldn't get the late nights out of her system quite as easily so I literally only got her to sleep at midnight. I posted Instagram stories of her earlier showing that she was still up way passed her bedtime. Funny if you'd have asked me this afternoon who would go to sleep first I would have said her. Funnily enough she did, at 2000hrs but was awake by 2100 acting like a crazy loon both waving and clapping. My old age meets her youthfulness! Boom! Yep I need to get fitter for her sake really don't I. Well for both of them. For all of us. Life is what you make it.

Good night people. xxx
 

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