Re: Hi ,

[Guest guest]

;

Welcome and glad you joined a group; Support is very

important with any chronic illness. We are here to

support others as well as receieve support;

Continue to be as active as your ability allows,

without hurting yourself; the moment of pain, fatigue

or feeling stressed, is a body's way to say slow down,

change or stop the activity; mild exercise and

movement can be the best for your over all well being.

That is accessed daily, by how restful your sleep was,

whether you nourished your body with proper food or

not etc.

In my younger years, I too have been excessivley

active for the fact of having CMT, but I didn't know

until I was 40 yrs old about my CMT and it being the

reason why I seemed to have to " work extra hard " to do

the most simple things. ( it is thought a CMT'r exerts

or works three to four times harder to do same

activity as a normal person and can't regenerate or

recuperate from it; we USE ourselves up eventually)

Had I known I would have continued to do, and find

ways to do but wouldn't have " abused " (pushed my body

even with pain) my body so! I would have learned

quickly the word PACE (Practice or Performing Activity

Conserving Energy)

Now, I'm forced to use a power chair for most

household tasks, to keep from injuring my weak body,

use a manual chair when out of my home because I can't

walk very far without fatiguing and being proned to

falling more(rely on soemone to push me because of my

hand weakness)I do have and use AFO's so I can walk

some but don't get to " exercise " anymore though I do

get up and move about often!

I've learned and still learning ways to work smarter

rather than harder! One HUGE improvement for me and my

family, is when I finally accepted I had " disability "

I bacame more able by allowing myself to USE the

TOOLS( wheelchairs, forearm crutches, AFO's

etc.)Instead of staying away from doing an activity (

not go shopping at the mall with my oldest daughter

because too much walking) or not going places, I now

conserve energy and feel like going to be with them to

watch my son play soccer or going to have lunch with

my kids! It used to take me three hours to walk

through the grocer to ge tthe family groceries and

then Id' be useless the rest of dday; nwo I use a

scooter in those stores and get done in thrity

minutes;and let others load and unload them for em

where I was stubborn before! I used to think " if I

CAN, then I HAVE to " but now I realize " just because

you CAN don't mean you SHOULD! "

Treat yourself well, and take care of YOU, so YOU can

take care of others! " BEING GOOD TO YOURSELF, LET " S

YOU BE GOOD TO OTHERS! "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hugsssssssssssss Libby

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" I THANK GOD FOR MY HANDICAPS, FOR, THROUGH THEM, I HAVE FOUND MYSELF, MY WORK,

AND MY GOD. " - Helen Keller

" A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to

you when you have forgotten the words. "

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