Olympic Trip

Yesterday at the Olympic park seems to have whizzed by in a flash.  It was a long day but all seemed a bit rushed.  Travel was good, no problems.  We saw 2 games of men's handball, my favourite being Spain vs Serbia which was very close all the way through.  There was a lot of walking involved in the whole day and in general I think I held out pretty well, just some pains in my right thigh and heavy legs.
We had a bit of a rush to get back to Paddington station at the end of the day and the girls do this wonderful thing now when they can see I am flagging where they each loop an arm through one of mine and pull me along, it really helps.  
When I woke up on Monday I felt like I'd been run over by a bus, my leg and back muscles ached. Part of the problem now is deconditioning, my legs aren't used to walking that sort of distance.  
I needed a day doing nothing and that's what we did.  The kids and I spent the day on the sofa watching the Olympics on television.
Today will be telling as this is the day any delayed fatigue from Sunday will hit me if it's going to.  If I don't get any delayed fatigue today I will definitely put that down to my Perrin treatments.

Perrin technique 10th treatment

I,m struggling to know what to write about my recovery from treatment this week. Immediate recovery from this weeks treatment on Tuesday seemed good again, faster than last week. Then I found I had to rest more during the week. I've done more driving this week than normal taking and collecting DS1 from summer school, so that could have taken it's toll. I've been to bed four afternoons out of five this week which is more than normal. DS1 being at summer school has meant that I have been able to do this and it hasn't been a problem. It is obviously harder (though not impossible) to do when he is at home. Today I have been mostly horizontal. It was a late night last night, staying up to watch the Olympic opening ceremony. I stayed in bed until 5 pm trying to recover from last night, but also conserving all my energy for a big day out at the Olympic park tomorrow. I am very nervous about the amount of walking I might have to do tomorrow to and from the tube stations and around the Olympic park. Fingers crossed, the excitement will see me through. Reading stories to DS1 tonight I noticed some suspicious looking spots on his right arm. I'm hoping it might be some kind of heat rash and not anything contagious that might prevent him travelling to London tomorrow. Fortunately he was in good spirits and seems well so hopefully it won't be a problem. Due to her holidays and mine, I,ve now got a three week break with no trips to my therapist. It's a shame as I want to keep going with it, but she thinks it will be a good opportunity to see how things are going. I will continue with my daily self treatments. On Monday I'm going to try introducing a bit of yoga again to see how my body copes.

Quicker Recovery

Happy to report that I seem to have recovered from this week's Perrin treatment a little more quickly than previously. My sleep was badly disrupted for two nights and Wednesday I felt rough. I was due to go and watch DD1 in a concert Wednesday evening, but didn't have the energy to drive there. Ant kindly said that he would take us and pick us up and all i had to do was sit there, so I did get to see her play. Pains in my left knee and thigh again in the days following the treatment and also a rash down from the bridge of my nose and under my left eye. Yesterday I was quite active. I walked down to the village. It's the first time i've done that for quite some time - maybe a couple of months and I was nervous about it, but I was feeling good and had nothing else planned for the day so if it wiped me out it wouldn't matter. It went pretty well, pace was very slow, but I made it without having to sit and rest. I even did a small bit of weeding, harvested some gooseberries and a game of hide and seek afterwards, but then by mid morning I had reached my limit and had to sit down. I rested for the rest of the day until we went out for a barbque dinner in the evening. I feel positive that recovery from this weeks treatment has definitely been easier than previous weeks.

Perrin technique - 9th treatment

So, I moved my treatment from a Friday to Tuesday as we had plans for the weekend and the last two weekends I have had to go to bed both days following treatment. The weekend went relatively well considering I had only 3 and a half hours sleep on Friday night. On Saturday morning I was upset, knowing that I could not stay and have another night like the last for that risked a big relapse. I was frustrated that yet again I was having to opt out of something fun with friends, but I did do the sensible thing and on Saturday night I drove home so that I could sleep somewhere quiet and not be disturbed. My head hit the pillow at midnight and I slept through to 8am Sunday morning before driving back to rejoin my friends. On Monday I was fatigued and didn't make it out to a monthly musical ensemble I play with. I feel like I am letting people down by not turning up, but I am getting better at putting my own needs first. The treatment this week seemed a little more gentle than some of the previous. Again, not so much work on the thoracic area, normal effleurage, cranial work and some time on my left ribcage around the area of my fall. Afterwards I always seem to feel the same, a period of cold shivery ness which passes quickly then I'm fine for about an hour and then fatigue sets in and also a sense of disorientation as if I'm not quite all with it, then the next day nausea and fatigue. Today I made sure I did everything I needed to do early, drove DD1 to singing lesson, school work with DS1 knowing that I would probably run out of energy and sure enough I was asleep by 2pm for an hour. I am waiting now for a time when the fatigue which, since i started this treatment always sits just under the surface, lessens and I actually start to feel better as a result of the treatment and not worse.

Perrin technique - the after effects

Today I'm feeling a bit more human and some energy has returned.  I spent Friday afternoon on the sofa with the tennis and went to bed at 7.30pm feeling mentally and physically "vacant".  On Saturday when I woke I had a headache and didn't feel too good, but I did get up and decided to go with Ant to the supermarket.  It started well, but just a short time into the shopping I felt bad, my legs just went so weak I thought they weren't going to support me, I had a headache, bad nausea and that horrible feeling of malaise.  I went back to the car to lye down whilst Ant finished the shopping.  When we got home I went straight to bed and just laid there until 4pm, just feeling very, very weak, like it was an effort to move any limb.  I had pains in my thigh muscles.  Strangely as my therapist did less physical work on my spine on Friday and more cranial work, the area between my shoulder blades has been more uncomfortable this week.
When I got up I felt a little better and then just continued to improve as the evening went on, which was fortunate as we were going out to dinner.  We went out early at 7pm and were back by 11.30pm - very wise as it would have been easy to have stayed out much longer as we were having such a nice time with friends.
This morning I feel sooo much better, I've cooked fresh waffles, had a FIR sauna and done a little ironing and although i'm starting to feel a little fatigued, it's manageable.  My brain fog has lifted and I feel so  much better than i did this time yesterday.  How can these changes be so marked and happen so quickly?  It often happens like this, it's like walking around in a suit of armour for a couple of days and then having it removed and feeling like the physical weight has been taken from your body and you can move more freely again.

Wiped out

Not sure what my therapist did at my Perrin appointment today, but I'm feeling really wiped out (in a sort of nice sort of way I think).  Fortunately the Andy Murry tennis game gave me the perfect excuse to spend the whole afternoon on the sofa.  Had to dip out of planned evening out, heading off to bed.  Will blog when I have more energy - tomorrow hopefully.

Being Positive about Perrin technique

So, I'm begining to think that the effects of Perrin technique on the body are cummulative.  I've had 5 or 6 treatment sessions now and have been feeling pretty much progressively worse.  From a Perrin perspective I think this has to be seen as a good thing, a positive thing, that changes are taking place in my body which is what you want.  When I went to my appointment on Friday my practitioner was pleased with my spots, said they were in the right place and all the cold sores and mouth ulcers were good signs too that changes are happening in my system.  The knock on effect of all these"positive" changes is  that I feel rubbish and had to go to bed Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon I went to bed at 4pm and didn't get up again.   My body was completly drained  - no energy, the idea of eating just seemed like too much effort.  I'm guessing it was largely a response to recent activity, theatre trip on Thursday, spontaneous bounce on life size inflatable Stonehenge on Friday, drive to watch the 13year old play football on Sunday morning.  The fatigue has been sitting just under the surface and is brought on by just the smallest exertion.  Today I feel fatigued and weak before I even do anything.  I can see how easy it would be to give up on the Perrin technique at this point.  It's just making you feel worse and it would be easy to step away from it.  BUT, I must persevere.  Reading other people's blogs about the treatment it seems that many don't start to feel any better until about week 14.  Sounds a long way away at the moment.
Yesterday I stopped taking betablockers completly.  This is a significant step, but I can't get excited about it at the moment because my heart rate is up.  I'm sure that my heart rate is only up due to my current fatigue which is what normally happens, but it's difficult not to think it might be related to not taking the medication.  I need to forget about it, because if i stress about it my heart rate will be up!
So, the fact that I'm feeling bad is a good thing, I need to be positive and keep telling myself this to get through this little tricky patch.