Kevin, I am sending this to the list and not to your email address as I want the entire list to know how proud I am of you for sending in this email. It is so wise of you to listen to your body, and get the aids that will help you to live your life in as full a manner as possible. Like you, I have had to purchase my own Hugo, but am so glad that I did as I use it everyday. After having TM for eight years, I have learned many things, and still have trouble with some. There are so many things available to us to help us with our everyday lives. If we use them, we can go out of our homes and enjoy our lives as much as possible. This is true for some of us more than others, but we owe it to ourselves to make use of these aids. I'm one of the walking wounded, and still have many aids. I have 2 wheelchairs, one for inside and one for outside. I have 2 sets of canadian crutches, a scooter, 3 canes, a Hugo and a walking stick. I rotate between the manual wheelchair and scooter for shopping malls, traveling, warehouse stores, fairs, anything that requires more than 1/2 block of walking or standing for more than 10 minutes. I use the crutches or cane in the house, the Hugo if I need to carry anything or tired, and the sometimes the walking stick when my brother's around since he made it for me. I use the wheelchair in the house when I've really overdone it and need to give my body a rest or I'm sick and not functioning at all. I have one of the canes in each car at all times, since I've gone out without one a few times and gotten myself stuck being too tired to walk without one a few years ago. And, it's easier to put a cane in a shopping cart than crutches. But, I still haven't been able to agree to have a lift installed on the back of my vehicle for my scooter. I don't want to drive around town with it dangling back there saying "here I come, disabled on board"! I don't drive aro und town with my disabled placard dangling from the mirror either, although many do. You really aren't supposed to since it obstructs your view, but I've forgotten to display it a few times. I don't "tell all" when people ask how I am doing. Actually, I don't think most want to really hear about all the aches and pains that we have. If I'm having a really bad night, my husband knows that it may follow with a bad day. He doesn't know all that I go through, but does hear my crying in the middle of the night sometimes in pain when the spasms get really bad. He knows most of what is going on with me, but most don't. I have very bad pain in my left leg on some days due to 2 DVT's that have caused poor circulation. All I can do for that is take some pain medication. I manage my nerve pain during the day pretty well with Neurontin, but during the night it's a different story. I'd say that most nights I am awake at 3am with the heebie jeebies in my legs, where the skin is so irritable that I cannot allow the other leg to touch or any fabric either. So, sleep is impossible at that time. There are many nights that I do not get to sleep, but fall asleep around 6am out of exhaustion or due to a Vicodin. I take 20mg Baclofen for spasms. I take the Neurontin and Baclofen at about 11:30 pm in an attempt to keep the legs "quiet" during the night. This used to work, but hasn't recently. Sometimes I take another 1/2 tablet (I have 10mg tablets) after a few hrs if it doesn't seem to be working. Sometimes the spasms start around 8-9pm, so I'll take it then, and then I won't take again unless it gets bad. Does anyone have any ideas of a better way to take care of these problems, other than the mj? I'm really not wanting to use it if I can find another way.
Hugs to all, Barbara A in Auburn, CA ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
