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Hugs and cuddles are not the same

Regular readers may have missed my weekly weigh-in yesterday but I promise it was for a very good, or actually very bad reason.  If you’ve read the About Me page you’ll know that I have recurring remitting MS (and if you haven’t well then I guess you know now) and towards the end of last week I was struck by something rather cheerfully referred to as MS hug.

Don’t let the name fool you.  It isn’t nice.  It isn’t cuddly.  And it isn’t in anyway nice.  Like everything with MS the symptoms vary from person to person.  It usually effects the chest or ribs but in some cases can effect the leg, arm or head.  In my case it’s usually around the ribs and upper abdomen and it can only be described as sheer hell.

The best way to describe it is like someone has wrapped a metal band around you and they’re gradually tightening it and tightening it until you can’t breath.  At the same time you suffer a burning feeling from the inside out.  And I can tell you the combination is excruciating.  And the only treatment in my case, except pain killers, is a warm bath.

It started on Friday but didn’t seem to bad so I just kept going.  By Saturday I thought it was going away so got on with the usual things including inviting my family round for Sunday lunch (well it was Mother’s Day).  But as the day got later the pain got worse.  And I’m not exaggerating when I say I had a bath at least every two hours throughout the night.  That’s a lot of water, a lot of energy and not a lot of sleep.

Sunday dawned bright and early.  Well it wasn’t really bright at 5am but it was certainly early when I decided I could take no more and got up and dressed.  Three baths later and dressed again I picked my sister up at 11am to go visit my Mam’s grave.  Then it was back home to cook lunch.  Only there was no way I could boil an egg never mind cook Sunday lunch.

Fortunately my wonderful sister and nephew cooked lunch.  And I’m told the family enjoyed it.  By this time I’d taken so many different painkillers I was barely coherent.  I’d also spent so much time immersed in warm water I was beginning to resemble a jelly fish but I really didn’t care.

Sunday night was just as bad.  And although by Monday morning the pain was beginning to subside slightly I didn’t even think about getting on the scales.  In fact I didn’t think about anything but sleep.  So for about 14 hours I veered between warm baths and my bed until at about 2am this morning I finally fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up at about 7am something felt different.  I could breathe relatively easily.  I could move without wanting to scream in pain.  And my first thought wasn’t that I needed to get in the bath.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I still don’t feel 100% but hopefully another day and I should be back to my usual self – whatever that is.

So when I go up I thought I’d get weighed – even if it is a day late.  I know I haven’t eaten a lot for a few days but what I have had has been comfort food.  Mashed potato, tinned spaghetti Bolognese and custard probably aren’t the best diet food so I had no idea what the scales were going to say.

And the result is………………

                          1 stone 1 pound lost

Another 3 pound off. And another £3 for the Charlie Cookson Foundation.  That’s a total weight loss of 15 pound or 1 stone 1 pound.  While I’m really pleased to have lost that first stone my tip of the week is………..

MS hug isn’t a good way to lose weight!!!

If you’re impressed with my success, or just feel sorry for me you can add to my £’s for pounds at www.justgiving.com/5iftyby5ifty