"It was miraculous"
I am sixty years old and a rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis sufferer. Three and a half years ago, the pain of arthritis was in all my joints, my back, my toes, just everywhere. This meant I was taking the strongest painkillers available, but I was still in pain, just zombie-like. Every month I filled up to 10 prescriptions for depression (obviously); for pain; for high blood pressure for the arthritis etc. I was stooped and hunched up, my legs would give way, and often I could not walk at all. Trying to sleep was a nightmare as my legs screamed in pain and if I got to sleep, I'd often wake up unable to move due to my body being locked in a spasm.
During the day, my hands would spasm into claws. I found my specialist particularly unsympathetic: I was old, I was overweight and I had lost the genetic lottery. I should just shut up and accept it. One day, as I struggled to dress and was in tears about the fact that going to the lavatory unaided was not going to be a reality for too much longer, as well as the promised wheel chair was in the wings, I realised that I didn't want to live any more. I didn't want to keep putting the poisons into my body that medicine dictated and I didn't want any more injections into my joints. I wanted to be able to walk upright and be able to just walk every day. I hated being in pain. I hated being old. And strangely I got angry. Really angry.
That anger motivated me to do some research into alternative ways of treating arthritis. The thing I kept coming up against was exercise, but how could I do that? I couldn't even walk some days. I discovered the local hospital had aqua aerobics for people with my condition. I was assessed and began going. Things slowly improved. Then I discovered that
