CHRONIC TONIC posts on Thursdays at 9 EST, it is a place to share stories, advice, and information and to connect with others with chronic health conditions and those who care for them. Our diarists will report on research, alternative treatments, clinical trials, and health insurance issues through personal stories. You are invited to share in comments (and note if you'd like to be a future diarist).
Good evening CTers. I gotta admit, I haven't been that into the CT diaries. They post a little late for me, with my chronic insomnia. I fall asleep very early, and wake up way too early; but if I go to sleep later, I still wake up early.
And I somehow had the idea that CT was more for illnesses and less for conditions, but when we got started with KosAbility, I found out that was wrong.
Chronic conditions that I have:
- Insomnia (see above)
- Learning disabilities, but I've talked about this a lot on dkos.
- Blind in one eye - or, at least, only one eye works at a time. Left eye for distance, right eye for near. It's like built-in bifocals! But I don't see 3-D at all. And, combined with some of my perceptual issues, it means I can't drive a car.
and
- Really bad feet and knees.
a) My metatarsals (the long bones in the foot) hyperpronate. That is, I walk on the edge of my foot. If I sit in a chair, I usually have just the outer edge of my foot is on the ground.
b) My arches are too high. If I put my foot flat, I can stick a pencil under my foot, no problem. I therefore have lots of thick callus on the balls and heels of my feet.
c) My patellas are misaligned. Instead of being parallel, the outer part of my patella is too far back, and the inner part too far forward. I had surgery on both knees, which helped some, but it's still a problem.
d) There's some degenerative thing going on in the ligaments and stuff - I forgot the name, but something like arthritis. I think this is what leads to a tendency for
e) My knees to swell a lot
So, if I run - even across the street - my knees will hurt for days. Almost any aerobic activity hurts my knees. Even swimming hurts them a bit, but mostly the kick used in breast stroke. Walking long distances (say, more than a couple miles in a day) causes pain in both feet and knees, and, being a non-driving person living in NYC, I like to walk.
Nothing life threatening, nothing horrid, but a lot of chronic crap.
I guess the tonic is in the comments
Upcoming Diarists
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