A bit of my HMS history.

Hi all!

I thought today i'd tell you about my HMS history, because as the fellow HMS suffers will know it affects everyone differently, at different times in their lives.

I have always known i was flexible, up to about age 10 or so i did karate weekly, and i loved showing off my flexibility... everyone was so jealous of the lack of effort needed to do splits, and being able to kick so very high targets for a small child. On to high school i was as i like to put it myself a bit of a freak show. I PE i used to show off a little with my flexibility, obviously back then not thinking anything of it.

Until i was 16. My knee's went, and i was referred to physio. This was the first i heard i was hypermobile, whilst bending my knees and ankles around he said i was very hypermobile in those joints. But that was it, he diagnosed me with tendinitis and sent me on my way. nothing of HMS was mentioned again by any other doctors and of course i had no idea what that meant, i just knew it meant i was flexible which of course i already knew. My knee's got slightly better, but they are still a bit iffy some times.

When i was 19, i started going to the university gym. after only my second session on the treadmills i started getting back pains. I took paracetamol and they went away, but i daren't go to the gym again after that! Eventually after 3months of constant back pains i went to see my university doctor (Huddersfield). He diagnosed me with inflamation of the Sacroiliacs joints. Whilst seeing a consultant (not for HMS) i mentioned what the uni doctor had said and he seemed confused. Apparently you cannot be diagnosed with sacroilitus without an xray, which i had not had. So anyway i transfered back to my home doctors and just traveled back to see them. By this point the pain was so unbareable i sat in the doctors room and just cried my heart out before i even managed to say hello. The doctor immediatly sent me for an xray and referred me to physio. The Xray showed nothing, so i was sent for an MRI scan. mean while the pain was almost crippling, i missed 50% of my lectures, and the ones i went to i had to leave and go cry in the toilets because the pain sitting for so long was horrible. The xrays came back and the showed my L5-L3 disks were bulging and hitting my spinal cord. This physio referred me to a core stability course to try and strengthen me up.

I went to these classes, but really struggled with some of the exercises, especially ones involving my shoulders, and after i dislocated my left shoulder the physios decided to have a look at me. One of them said she had observed me doing exercises and asked if i had heard of a condition called Hypermobility and gave me a leaflet.

And that is where my journey with HMS started!!

One by one, each of my joints have decided to fail me. My hips and shoulders sublux daily, i have fibromyagia in my neck and shoulders. Inflamed nerves in shoulder due to repeated subluxing, i have lordosis of the spin (a front to back curve), i really struggle to hand write things because my fingers hurt so much, my elbows get stuck at about 120degrees and my feet are completely flat when i stand on them :( there is probably more to add to this list, but that'll do for now lol!

I really don't want to moan on about having this condition, and i don't want people out there to feel sorry for me. All i want is for people to have a general idea of the problems i have, and hopefully as i add to this blog, i will go into more detail about my little niggles and wobbles. :)

I hope i haven't bored you so far!

Thank for reading. Sam