And bouncing back

Today's been a better day.

Not fixed, not by a long shot. But improved.

Maybe.

But I think drinking loads of water yesterday has started setting me right. I have to admit, one reason for the extreme cramping problems I was having last night was my dinner ... Yep. I raided the chippie between getting off the bus and reaching home.

Something I've always been susceptible to is having extreme cramp from mineral imbalance. My system has to have :

Lots of water
Not much salt

I believe that's related to the neurotransmitter chemistry (I gave up biology before getting that far) but as far as I know, your nerves work off a balance of Potassium and Sodium. And salt is Sodium Chloride. So by having chips which have lots of salt on and combining that with a lack of hydration, I effectively salt bomb myself and get that massive cramping due to confusing the nerves with an imbalance of that Potassium and Sodium.

This week, I've been out of office a lot and away from drinking as much as I try to. Add that to the skin problems causing my body to pull in all the fluids to help repair and ... lots of cramp. Hence me experiencing lots of pain ...

I don't believe that's an arthritis pain. Let's see actually :

Muscles - is that salt bomb dehydration effect making them cramp.
Wrist - is genuine RSI and is possibly getting worse through arthritis attacking it
Hip - I think my problem here is a ligament (needs checking out)
I think the wrist and possibly my ankles are the only areas I have genuine arthritis building up, although I've never regained full use of my shoulder and my knees and back/neck are as creaky as ever.

Yep. Yesterday was a really low point.

Today has been better. I don't really know why today's been better, possibly it's going a little while without doing too much more damage to myself. Perhaps I got a decent night's sleep last night.

I still have my bad ear though. I didn't mention that yesterday ... I have like 90% hearing out of my left ear but my right ear is pretty bad. It's down to maybe 10% (and I'm trying not to fiddle with it and make it worse) but I have tinnitus from it which is jamming the good ear. (That's jamming as in presenting a stronger signal than what I want to hear).

I'm getting by with it, I've been able to function with my hearing at work without missing much and it doesn't affect my balance like some ear problems can.

I know what would brighten me up - hugs from good people. Let's see :

I sat on the bus next to a very old friend last night. She's amazing. And always great to talk to. I think that chat helped more than I thought and although I didn't get the benefit last night, that slow burning chat-hug might be what's got me pointing back in the right direction.

People are digging the scarf. Their comments let me explain where it came from - the playoff final last year where I took my dad to see his team win.

Smile ! There we go.

Having the mental strength to not be fixated on one particular little lady. I still very occasionally watch her videos but when I do, I see the divergence between what she says and how she acts. She's very closed in. Perhaps I'd say something different if I was in her little circle ... but I tried to break into that and abandoned it after numerous attempts over a significant period of time. She still makes good videos but isn't making anything I'm interested in watching at the moment. She was worth chasing though.

Looking forward to text messages from another little lady. There's lots of films on at the moment and I hope she'll let me take her to at least one of them. This one is definitely worth chasing !

(Films are one aspect where I want the ear problem to go away - films are about the soundtrack as much as they are about the visuals).

Oh and having a few key friends who I know have their eye on me and want me to be ok.

Yep. Better day than yesterday. Hopefully that'll continue tomorrow and then I'll have a really chilled out weekend to come and I'll be looking to stay healthy over that weekend.

Perhaps I'm feeling the benefit of the kindness of those around me ? The people who return the smiles, the people who keep an eye on me. The people who give me that metaphorical pat on the shoulder. The people who give me hugs.

I'm missing hugs. I may have to go hunting people to give me hugs tomorrow at work.

So if you see me at work - run !

Haha - kidding.

Cya !