Philip (Phil) England

Bad Knee Had an awful week with painful right knee on Tuesday, then thanks to painkillers and gabapentin the next day the pain had subsided and my knee was just very weak. I decided to put on a knee support and that helped. I managed the stairs on Thursday, and also decided to give driving a go, as was unsure if my knee was ok for doing this or not, glad to say it was. Friday, and thought my kneee was ok, stupidly decided not to put on my knee support. Drat - thought my knee was getting better, and had improved, had to pop to Morrisons for few bits and it gave way - I may have to decide if I should chance going to do my show or not tomorrow, will have a think and see how it goes, maybe I should have worn my knee support?  In Review: My bad knee this week, and looking how my hips and kness are on a regular basis, along with my back and other health issues really make the need for a ground floor flat or bungallow an urgency. I do not want to be stuck in an upstairs flat and trapped ...

Continuing struggle with Fibromyalgia As I have said before, it is a bit like an amplifier, turning up the volume on my pain and other issues. Just because I've not written about it, don't mean to say I'm not living it. My pain level most days is around 4 to 6 out of 10. The last few days, however, things have not been too good, as my Facebook posts show! THURSDAY 29th FEB Well, as you may know, I am always in pain to some degree and do push myself on a regular basis.  Well in the last few hours been getting twinges which point to one thing, a fibro flare up. It's been a while since I've had one, but here it comes, wonder what time it will show up? FRIDAY 1st MARCH Well I've been awake since about 2am, in agony, pain at about 9 out of 10, am all tingly and feels like bad pins and needles, with horrendous aches - it's one hell of a fibro flare up. Off to bed, still not right after flare up, feels different to past ones in a way. SATURDAY 2nd MARCH Didn't ...

I have been trying to raise awareness about Fibromyalgia for ages, and also have a car sticker in my car. In any health blog I try to include Fibromyalgia and how is it affecting how I am feeling. I have been a sufferer of Fibromyalgia for a number of years, it coupled with Ankylosing Spondylitis makes my life a living hell.  I think of Fibro as an amplifier for pain, seems to double or triple the pain I suffer with. Plus I've been getting more forgetful forgetting simple things like words and what I am doing. It also makes my body tingle and go itchy.  If I forget to take my gabapentin it's like asking for my body to be attacked. Why does Fibro do this to me? It's really affecting my life, I just hate it. My GP doesn't seem to know. Fibromyalgia seems to be shroud in mystery! If you suffer with Fibromyalgia , share your experiences here so others could benefit from anything we post. Useful websites to help: NHS https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/fibromyalgia/...

  April 2023, and it started of with great pain.  Saturday 1st April 2023: Started off the new month with pain at about 5 out of 10, this increased to about 8 out of 10 as the day went on. Early to bed, pain killers had, lower back is in terrible agony, hurts to sit and stand - heating pad on, which is helping. Sunday 2 nd April 2023: Still very achy but less than I was yesterday when I went to bed, pain at about 6 out of 10. Seem to have a runny nose too. Saturday 8th April: So there are Semaglutide supply issues again. People seem to be getting hold of it somehow and selling it on the black market, the Semaglutide helps people lose weight it's been discovered, and people are using that and buying it. It's annoying because I need it to control my blood sugar, it's taken me ages to get to where I am, I'm off the insulin now, only having to inject once a week for my diabetes instead of every day, don't have to worry about constant testing (pricking my fingers to g...

So, in the middle of the night my body decided I didn't need any more sleep and woke me up. A tingly type of pain, which develops in to a constant aching pain which seems to then spread from my mid to lower back and then moves up the back to also cover the top part of my body. Sometimes I get one pain in the mid to lower part of my back and my neck and shoulders at the same time, then the two seem to join up. I am really not liking trying to live my life with pain, it really gets me down. Seems my medication isn't really doing much to counteract it, it eases a little, but that's about all. Think of it as the sound on a hifi. The pain I wake up with and live with on a daily basis is at 9 or 10 - full volume, which gets reduced to 6 or 7. I am ALWAYS in pain and that makes my life horrid.

As well as having Ankylosing Spondylitis and carpal tunnel syndrome - which are both bad enough to have to live with! Yesterday I had a telephone consultation with a spinal specialist at Morriston Hospital (due to the COVID-19 lock down this seems to be the new normal), he said I have problems with bone wear and disc problem which is causing a trapped nerve which is causing the pain and problems I am having, along with bone growths. Reading the letter he sent me it says; "The MRI scan from 18 months ago shows a degree of cervical spondylosis at C6/7 with some impingement of the C7 nerve roots which is probably transiently causing these nurological symptoms" In the information leaflet that was sent with it, it says; " Numbness, clumsiness and weakness in arms and legs are likely due to pressure on the spinal cord in the neck. If there is severe cord compression on your MRI, then further damage is likely ", it goes on to say " Once spinal cord damag...