Sleep

Good morning tinkabel, it’s always a big mistake to fall asleep on the sofa, but very tempting ! !  I always end up with a cricked neck. I managed to sleep through till 4.30am  which is a lay in for me L.O.L. As soon as I have had my evening meal Im unconscious within 30 minutes and can’t stay awake no matter what, apparently it’s called postprandial somnolence.

Oh I love a nap. Preferably on the sofa with radio 4 on quietly in the background, at around 2-3pm. I can nap for as little as 10 minutes or as long as an hour. If I have only 10 minutes then I put the timer on my phone for ten minutes and simply shut my eyes. If I sleep, I sleep. If not, it’s a rest anyway. It makes no difference to my night time sleep but does make a difference to how well I feel through the afternoon and evening. 

it seems to me you’re doing fine with the site. It’s a bit old and clunky and prone to doing random things. You’ve worked out how to reply to a post and how to start a discussion which is pretty much all you need. If you want to tag someone like I’ve tagged you then type the @ symbol followed by that person’s user name. Once you have their name in a blue box, hit the return button. It’s like magic. The name will be highlighted and the person will get an email notification that they have been mentioned. 

A blood clot in the neck? That sounds uncomfortable. I have one in my pelvis and it’s been vile, causing oedema and simply bringing me to a halt after 50m of walking. It’s improved vastly since I was put on blood thinning injections two and a half weeks ago. I do get breathless quickly when I exert myself and it’s frustrating. I break down tasks into small chunks that I can manage rather than looking at the whole job. I can manage 5 minutes of sweeping up the autumn leaves so I sweep under one shrub everyday at the moment. It’s surprising how the gardening somehow gets done like this. I use my PIP to pay for a cleaner and someone to cut the grass. 

xx

Dear daloni, I have this vision of you now laying on a chaise longue while the archers is playing in the background. It’s something my dog  and I used to enjoy doing back in the day ! He was a very bad influence as he liked to snuggle right up next to me and could sleep for England !

Hi Lass, Doesn't it seem silly your Blue Badge renewal is before your PIP renewal! Especially when they want a PIP letter from you to renew your badge. Did you know that your GP can authorise a BB whether you get PIP or not? Next time you receive a PIP letter, file it away in a safe place, so you can use it for reference,

Tink, I get quite a lot of bloating due to diverticulitis. Regards your housework, list of things to do etc. I used to worry about them too but not any more! One of the nurses at the local Marie Curie Hospice told me when I brought up the subject that the dust will be there long after I'm gone, so not to let it bother me! I use some of my PIP money to pay for someone to do my housework once a week for two hours and also for someone to cut the grass every two weeks. It just keeps things tidy and then I potter a bit when I feel like it. I notice Daloni said she does this also!

The one thing I've never been able to do is sleep anywhere but my bed! I even have to get right in under the covers! So naps on the sofa, chair, train, etc are out for me! I wish I could!

Dear Annette, when I’m trying to convince myself that it’s doesn’t matter about the housework, I like to quote the late Quentin Crisp

“ There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse”

Its probably not a practical solution but it certainly puts the need to do things in a hurry into perspective ! ! !

Hi all

For most of my working life I slept at night from around 21.30-00.30.  Off to work then home between 10.00 and breakfast then into bed around 11.00 and up at 14.00-14.30. I did that for approximately 30 yesrs.

Now when I'm not working I wake up with pain like now and maybe I'll be awake for a couple of hours which I'm kinda used to. However, through the day I can nap until 14.00 and because of the morphine I could doze off 30 or 40 times until nighttime, unless I'm trying to do some gardening. I've just finished a course run by ArthritisNI and before I started I had no idea what was going to happen. Their idea was to write an activity timetable for the next week, we would aim to do something for every day which was aimed at taking your mind off the pain. I can't say that it's helped my pain but certainly creating small targets/steps is the best way to achieve a goal. Don't look at something as a whole, split it up into small fractions. It works.

Sorry, I got carried away with a different topic. I was going to talk about PIP but in another post.

Tvman

I have diverticulitis also as they found during one of my sigmoidoscopies. The bloating seemed to come with the steroids though. I take azathioprine as well as I have Ulcerative Colitis so that does not help. Do you take anything to relieve the bloating? I use a windeze at the moment but they are not brilliant.

Hi again

On the subject of DLA to PIP, I received my application and 3-4 weeks after a face to face interview a letter detailing the results arrived. Care and mobility were the same as they had been. Also, it explains that I won't be reassessed for at least 4 years, but I wish it were 7, as it is with Annette's I think.

That letter, along with my passport is in the drawer of my bedside table along with other letters of similar importance. For the Motability car, the car salesman needs to see said letter, and on occasion  I need to produce it for reduced fees for a leisure centre or whatever. I suppose if I couldn't find it then I'd have to contact the PIP people for a replacement, although I can imagine that my need may not be as important as their need to send another one so I'd be prepared for a long wait!

Tvman

Yes, I have DVT too... Windeze is not much good really, but I expect suppose it is better than nothing. 

Nowadays, I just try to ignore the bloating and belching, and eat what I like, within reason. 

Today, I am cooking sow baked lamb shank, with mashed potatoes. One of my favourites. 

If I can start the day with a B. M. I it helps with my mood. Just had a success!

Hi

I hope we all know tvman is joking - but actually there’s no such thing as TMI here. This is the place you can discuss the things you just can’t talk about elsewhere. Celebrate the successes

Have you tried concentrated peppermint oil capsules for bloating? My sister has had some success with these after her GP prescribed them for her 

xxx