The Devils Tic Tac's.....my journey

Over 5 years ago I became ill with Polymyagia Rhumatica... something that as a rule affects much older people, though after some research it appears to be getting more and more common in younger people-even in their 30's and 40's..             It all started  after having Swine flu at Christmas 2010 , I gradually,over the coming months got stiffer,and stiffer in my arms,legs,back and neck..   The pain was horrendous--I couldn't get off the sofa, off the loo, turn over in bed or get out of the bed,washing my hair was impossible to do on my own. Bill had to pull me up off the sofa and out of bed and dress me..I couldn't even hold my glass of wine!!   At the age of 50 that wasn't good.. I couldn't walk or drive..It was a very scary experience. I was having the max dose of Paracetomol,  Ibrufen etc plus extras at times--but nothing touched the awful pain. How I got through the painting workshops on a Saturday I really don't know---  I was then prescribed a drug called Naproxen to try and help. I took one tablet and within an hour had a high pitched whistling in my right ear,, when I took a second tablet the next morning the noise increased to an unbearable level --I couldn't hear the TV or hear anyone speaking to me..as if the pain hadn't been enough to cope with!   Turns out that tinnitus is a rare side effect of that drug--and it didn't even kill the pain for me.        I have been left with the awful noise in my head ever since, and it drives me mad at times.               Anyway, eventually in Sept 2011 a lovely young doctor decided that I might have Polymyalgia-although I was ''much too young'' and gave me some tablets called Prednisolone--her words to me were " if it is Polymyalgia, these tablets will seem like a miracle--take 4 tomorrow and 4 on Sunday and ring me on Monday and let me know how how you are"  Well she wasn't joking, by Saturday lunchtime I could get off the sofa without help, I enjoyed a glass or 3 of wine in the evening with no pain in my hands and arms and on Sunday morning I leapt out of bed and proceeded to shampoo all the carpets in the house, that I had watched getting grubbier and grubbier while I had been unable to do anything much..    A miracle indeed!!!                                                                                                               And so began my journey with the Devils Tic Tacs as I call them..    I started on 20mg a day,  and it was wonderful to be pain free after what seemed like forever..  however when I tried to reduce to 17.5 after a week as the GP had said I was back to square one within a few hours..by the end of the day I couldn't move again... I cried..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     It seems like it wasn't going to be an easy job to reduce the steroids quickly. Very quickly I got the huge 'Moon Face''.one of the most horrible things about the steroids--      I used to look in the mirror to do my makeup and as fast as I was applying it I was crying it off as I just didn't recognise the person looking back at me..           My weight  went up by over 3 st very quickly, and my hair started to fall out, yet my face sprouted more hair than my Bill it seemed at times..      I saw a lovely specialist who explained that I needed to cut down the steroids very,very slowly-- 1/2 mg a month..             Sounds easy doesn't it?      My body didn't take kindly to even that tiny drop in steroids and I had to go back to the previous dose where I was comfortable many times and wait to drop again.        Then to add to it I started getting very bad bursitis in my heel, causing me to have to use crutches at times..it seems the drop in steroids causes it to flare up..       Eventually last May I managed to get down to 5mg steroids--how happy was I? My moon face had gone, I had lost over 2 st in weight.my hair had grown back--curly -after me taking some amazing supplements called Biotin.... and when I went to see my specialist last May he asked me to keep dropping by 1/2mg a month...so I dropped to 4.5 mg the next day--and wham--I was back to square one again--       I couldn't move in bed that night, couldn't get out of bed in the morning.     My body had said enough is  enough!   My GP told me to go back onto 20 mg of steroids as I was so poorly,, As if that wasn't enough to be going on with ,I had started to get very bad pain in my neck and throat for which I saw a few different specialists at several hospitals..          Then I started to get numbness, electric shocks and pins and needles in both arms and down my legs..I had tests of all descriptions including an MRI scan.        This showed that my spine has got osteoporosis and has crumbled so bad the spinal cord is being  touched by the discs--it is a lovely S shape from the neck down...and what I thought was a fatty lump on the top of my back is in fact where my spine which has curved badly.  The steroids have eaten away at my bones over the years and now am left with this problem as well.                  All very depressing I can tell you..      I had  really bad episode late last year and I realised with a heavy heart  that I was no longer able to run my popular workshops any more and announced my early retirement due to my health.                 We were quite over whelmed at the response, so many messages, phone calls, letters, cards and presents  and everyone wants me to carry on..     That would be impossible to do in the previous format in the hall,     as I just can't walk.    Hopefully after resting, resting and more resting I am hoping to continue to teach small groups of up to 4 people from middle of May,  just once or twice a month if I am lucky..  I am taking my time to do as little as possible and fingers crossed, be able to cut down the steroids a little easier than I could when working..
I am hoping to be able to cut back on the strong painkillers --Tramadol,paracetamol and at times Oramorph a little too..but the main thing is getting down the Devils Tic Tacs as they are doing me the most damage .I am having a bad time of it at the moment with bursitis in my right foot,, thought I had cracked it when I bought some special compression socks,, it helped for a while but is back with a vengance today grrrr... anyway you now have the background  behind whats caused such a big change in our lives....  blimey that turned into a bloody epic didnt it? 

.

A Few New Changes!

As you will have noticed there are a few changes to the blog--Ive changed the colours around,,,,not sure if it will stay this way or be changed again yet!
I'm able to get bigger photos on here now as well, so that is good.

The other major change is what this little tiny gadget has made to me.Ive had my hearing aid for a month now and its really helping my tinnitus, it hasn't cleared it up completely but I'm getting more time 'quiet' now than I have in 16 months.I can also hear the TV and people talking better so good all round..its a tiny little thing--it can hardly be seen..fingers crossed it will help get rid of the tinnitus altogether!    Im also down to just 8mg steroids a day for the polymyalgia,,so am really pleased about that as well..It has been a bit up and down over the Christmas period but has settled down nicely again and with luck I will be cutting down to 7.5mg which is classed as a low dose very soon.  I only put on 1.5lb over Christmas when I went to weigh in at Slimming World--and when I went to weigh in last week I had lost that so its all going the right way...

 

Getiing There....Slowly But Surely...

I haven't updated on here about the health matters that have been going on for some time.....I went for my Dexa scan at Hereford Hospital yesterday...first shock was finding cost of car parking had risen again! £3 a hour, what a bloody rip off...anyway the scan -which checks out my bone density,didn't take long and we were out of there inside the hour..I'm still on quite a high dose of steroids still and they can make your bones brittle when taken long term-hence the scan.  
I have to take high doses of calcium  and vit D to try and prevent damage to my bones.
 The steroids are working well re the Polymyalgia -I generally don't have any pain in my body at all--until I try and cut down on the steroids--I started on 20mg back in Sept and have managed to get down to 10mg once in Nov-but all the symtoms came back and I had to increase again...Ive since been on 12.5mg until last Sunday when I cut down to 12mg.It looks like the way forward for me is to cut back just 1/2 mg every 2 weeks.  
The specialist said it would be a long process to cut down and it looks like he was correct.It look like I just have to be more patient than Ive been! The only side effect I get at the moment is some weakness in my body first thing in the morning before I have my tablets and towards evening when it can be a problem to lift my arms for long, but it hasnt caused any problems re everyday life .

The tinnitus that has been a real pain in the arse (well my head to be more precise LOL) is comiing and going---it still gets really bad at times..but recently it has been going away almost alltogether for a day or two-before returning with a vengence!
But there seems to be a bit of a pattern, Im marking it down in my diary--giving it marks out of 10 for loudness each day so I can show the doc--not that Im sure it will make any difference lol.   
Nothing I do seems to make any difference to the sound or loudness so dont think there is much they can do.Maybe one day it will go away.  
Im having some huge hot sweats as well--I dont know if its the menopause (or mental-pause as Bill cheekily calls it) or the steroids--both can cause the sweats..certainly dont need the central heating on lately!

Other than that Im fine!

Bills been on insulin injections  for his diabetes since before Christmas , that seems to be working well and his count is coming down nicely now his cold has cleared up at last--its been hanging on since Christmas, maybe because he has been on insulin?

Anyway-its all coming right-if a little slower than Id like, but at least Im still able to cope ok with the everyday life and my workshops as normal..I rest when I feel I need to rest instead of pushing myself like I used to, and Im organising  things a bit different to before, but on the whole its all getting better and with careful managment will continue to keep getting better..

Poor Sparky -Again!

Poor Sparky is in the wars AGAIN!  This time he has been fighting with another cat and has 6 yes 6 scratches on his eyeball. So He was down to the vets yesterday who put some dye into his eyes which showed up the scratches. So we have to put cream into his eye 3 times a day and he has to go back tomorrow for the vet to see if its helping. Thank goodness we didn't cancel his pet insurance as we were tempted to do when it came up for renewal....they upped the excess to £100 as he has turned 10 years old now...but its looking like a good job we didn't cancel it , the vet said eyes can be hard work to get right,,so fingers crossed the cream does the job!

Christmas and Stuff....

We are way behind getting everything ready for Christmas in the house....I washed the curtains last week out of the front room and found after they had dryed that one curtain out of each pair had shrunk......how the hell did that happen? Very annoying! Couldn't leave them like that so off we went today to but some new ones---I joked with Bill that we needed some 'parrot dust' coloured ones as the birds seem to produce so much of the bloody stuff its unreal sometimes! It doesn't matter how often I hoover and polish there is always a thing layer of dust on everything! Anyway I decided on some lovely cream ones with a ''Paddy-- amazon  parrot'' green leaf on them in the end! And of course had to get some cushions to match them as well..Got them ironed and hung tonight,.just got to shampoo the carpets tomorrow and we can get the tree up...I will be packing away all my cat ornaments so the Santa's and snowmen can come out and then maybe I will be feeling a bit more festive...I'm off to see the specialist again on Monday, had a kidney scan last week and a letter came through the door on Monday saying I  needed to see the specialist again ---at 2.30pm on  that Monday!!! It had been posted 4 days before but sent 2nd class---and we had to be at Bridgnorth hospital at 2pm for Bill to see the diabetic nurse as he has had to start insulin injections so we could go to Hereford...so I'm now going next Monday to see him and see whats going on re my Polymylagia .kidney problems..looks like I have 2 different things happening at the moment. The steroids are working really well as regards the pain and stiffness in my body but they do have a side effect of making my arms and legs feel weak sometimes, and the tinnitus is also still with me on and off which can be a real bugger...at the moment its quiet, but tomorrow it could be ringing away like mad..luckily I'm able to ignore it when I'm busy and it just bugs me when I sit down quiet..

I'm going to have to tie the rubber plant back in the morning--it obviously loves it where it is as its grown and grown--and as we put the Christmas tree down in the bottom end of the front room it will be in the way! I got the dusting and polishing done down that end tonight ready for the tree,,and am quite looking forward to getting it all up now...have bought some lovely new decorations for it as well as the old faithfuls that come out year after year.Well bed is calling me now...nite nite everyone !

Busy Week Ahead...Bits And Pieces...

We are on the market tomorrow -I hope the rain has stopped by the time we go down in the morning..We will finish a bit earlier than usual because I have another demo tomorrow night at Yockleton which is quite  a way from home.One of my students Caroline has organised it for the Flower Club..should be a busy evening as there are quite a lot of members..but it will be a long day for me!
I managed to drop another 2.5 mg of my steroids in the past week with no ill effects as well which is VERY good as its recommended that you choose a quiet period in your life in which to do to minimise the effects of taking less.
LOL ...Its turning out to be one of the busiest weeks Ive had  for ages....on Thursday I have got our 2 little granddaughters Hollie and Lucie coming from Sunderland to stay until Sunday with their mum and dad so Ive been busy getting their bedroom sorted out--it was full of the Christmas pressies Ive been getting throughout the year,,,so they Ave all been sorted out into the various Christmas  sacks for all the grandchildren, children, friends, family etc ready to wrap ! It also means I know what I have already bought for everyone now as I found loads of stuff I had forgotten about!
So it will be a busy few day with the girls, have found their favorite games and will be having a look through the Wii games to see what we will be playing--am quite looking forward to that now I'm feeling so much better than I was! I have a workshop on Saturday as well so it will be a tiring time for us all...but its been months since we have seen them and cant wait to see how much they have grown!
Then Sunday we are off for a short break--we need it after the busy times...we are off to Warwick to stay at a pub/inn for 2 nights to refresh our batteries,,another KGB deal that was too much of a bargain to resist! I will cut back on the steroids by another 2,5mg on Sunday morning before we go and fingers crossed will drop with no more side effects...the quicker I can get down to 10 mg the better! My diabetic count is getting better as the steroids come down so again,,,fingers crossed I can get down quickly!
We had a visit to Bills diabetic specialist at Shrewsbury hospital this morning and he has had the news we have been expecting for a while--he will have to start a small dose of insulin as well as the other injection he has daily along with various tablets, looks like his pancreas has stopped producing insulin altogether..he has been on insulin before when he had his heart attack so he knows what to expect with it...

Alveley Ladies Guild Demo

We were at Alveley Ladies Guild last night to give a Painting My Way Demo...it wasn't the biggest audience Ive ever had but that didn't make it any less fun to do ! It was a lovely cosy room and I was able to set up my paintings around the room and the smaller ones on the table by me..

The Summer Day painting is always a popular one with people..

I did the 2 paintings in an hours as usual....lots of interesting questions from the ladies while I was painting as well...

Lynn won the Summer Day painting and Beryl The Waterfall..I hope they managed to get them out to the cars OK without getting them wet!  It was pouring down when we left...called at a great chippy in Bridgnorth called the Seagull on the way home---the fish and chips were to die for!

Watercolours On Holiday part 2

Ive bought lots of bits and pieces of arty stuff while we have been away..yesterday I got some charcoal and some watercolour boards...along with some new acrylic silver paint--a different brand to my normal one....I started the scene above with some soft pastels and oil pastels-followed by charcoal....very interesting to work with..

after using the soft pastels,oil pastels and charcoal I decided to add another medium--watercolours....and I quite liked the end result....

I then tryed watercolours on a tryed and tested scene---using the silver acrylic paint to add detail....it worked well-though doesn't show up well in this photo...

this one is pure watercolour..and I'm quite happy with it...done on the watercolour board, will be mounting it ready for my stall on market on Sunday..

another one done on watercolour board--I have used  the silver acrylic paint to add detail to the sky and water--it doesn't show up in the photo..

Aberystwyth Holidays-day 4

After a nice lazy morning watching TV we set off for a ride round the coast to Cardigan...what a lovely little town,,we always end up there when we come to this area. After a mooch around the charity shops we headed back and stopped at Newquay.....

parts of the beach is covered in shells--couldn't resist picking some to use in my next huge seascape I have planned for when I get home..

some very interesting rock formations there as well

some beautiful waves crashing n the rocks

then on the way back there was some stunning skies...

can feel a painting coming on....

just crying out to be painted this one ! I will be getting the watercolour paints out again in the morning..have been and bought some other bits and pieces today---including charcoal which Ive never used before...have also bought along my soft pastels and oil pastels as well...will see what the weather is like..will stay in the caravan and paint if the weather isn't great--otherwise we will be out and about in the area getting more inspirational photos!

Stormy Seas

After the calm mill pond sea when we arrived on Saturday it was lovely to see the wind whipping up the waves yesterday....

Bill admiring the view...

mind you don't get wet Bill!

and watch that giant seagull doesn't carry you off!!!!

I just love it when the sea is rough--will have a wander down there today -its been really windy so it will be looking even rougher today!

after all that fresh air we had worked up quite an appetite,,,,,ribeye steak with all the trimmings...the mushrooms were topped with garlic butter and dolchette cheese and was to die for!

Watercolours On Holiday

I bought along my watercolours on holiday just in case we had some days when we ddint go out because of the weather.....Ive not touched them in around 4 years so Im well out of practise..I couldnt find my big watercolour mop brush at home so picked up a blusher brush from the local £ shop and it worked a treat!  So I spent an enjoyable evening having a play with them and was quite pleased with the end results! I will be mounting them and sticking them on my website when I get home!

Great fun using salt and tissue to create the different effects..

a touch of pink warmed this one up..

this is my favorite one--really pleased with the crashing waves on the beach..

a bit more work required on this one but am pleased with the way its coming on..

Aberystwyth Holidays

We arrived in Abber yesterday to find the  bright sunshine had followed us there! We quickly unpacked the car--good job we don't have kids to bring with us--there was no room for them....everything bar the kitchen sink is us when we go away! We went for a lovely walk down the seafront---it was really busy with people making the most of the lovely weather!

as usual, lots of photos to use as inspiration when I get home--I have bought along my watercolours for a change-haven't used them in ages-so might have a go with them tomorrow if the weather changes!

One of the nicest war memorials Ive ever seen stands on a hill over looking the sea...

beautiful....

one thing I always do before we go away is to check out places to eat/stay on Trip advisor--one place that came up with great reviews was The Druid Inn just outside Abber---on our way in actually.Sunday dinner to die for most of the reviews said.So We stopped on the way yesterday and booked us in for 1pm today. So just cereal for breakfast for us before heading there for lunch...to be honest its the sort of place you wouldn't stop at when driving by----it looks quite ordinary .....but its a hidden gem.....

waiting patiently for food.....

and boy was it worth waiting for....roast beef,Yorkshires pud and roast potato  and horse radish sauce came out on the plates--followed by 2 huge dishes of veg,carrots,broccoli,cauliflower,cabbage,mash potato,boiled new potatoes and a gravy boat full of delicious gravy...it really was good and loads of it...

how could we resist? Home made bakewell pudding and apple pie .....the bakewell was the best Ive had..though it really was struggle to eat it...at £9.95 each for 2 courses you cant go wrong...and we will be going back there again for sure!

After all that we needed to have a walk and we headed for Borth and we found the loveliest little gallery there along with the artist Eve Smith.  After we got talking and she knew we were from Ludlow she asked if I knew a lady called Kay --it turned out I did --she had been to some of my classes in the past! Isn't it  a small world? Kay used to stay nearby on holiday and used to call in and see Eve... I was able to let Eve know that Kays hubby isn't very well and that was proberly why she hasn't seen her recently!  Eves work is just beautiful--she works in oils and has paintings in every size and colour there--she hasn't got a website yet and so I pointed her in the right direction of Affordable British Art that is run by my dear friend Ros---its an easy to use website that I have many sales off, and I'm sure Ros will be having Eve on board soon....

some more of Eve's work,--I love her use of colour--very dramatic!

this lovely bench has been made by a local man from one piece of cedar....isn't it wonderful?

lots of changes going on in Borth,, a new sea defence is being built there--£13,000,000 is being spent to help protect the beautiful town from the sea.

I love the scenery in the area--we always took the kids there for a holiday when they were little--

I will be painting this scene tomorrow I think..

We went on to Clarach Bay  after Borth and had a little mooch..picked up some drift wood that I will be using in my paintings when I get home.

I love the way the sun is catching the sea on the horizon

Eve's gallery--The Art House--if you are in the area call by and have a look...