willows

Your dad was somewhat surprised by me , I think because I keep my condition so well hidden and I look almost normal when dressed up most people think 'she's OK' but when I rolled up my sleeves and let your step-mum and dad see my arms ..............well they were shocked ! I would have liked to have stayed longer but I was getting so tired by then, hopefully when they come up to see us we can natter more. We were able to go out a bit , we went to the gold place , I bought a belt and Mike my mothers day present. We went to the zoo and I adopted 'Oscar ' an american long eared owl , he's so large sitting all alone in his cage , I'd love to bring him home with me , but then what a row he's make and mess around the house ! We tried to go out every morning from about 10am until 1 pm but I was getting tireder and tireder as the week went on and by Friday morning when we had to travel home I was asleep all the way here , then asleep all afternoon and all night until about 3 am then the pain set in again . My eye's are playing up a bit now , which is hardly surprising as according to Mark I was squinting rather Mike had another rough time when we were way , he went surfing one afternoon and the next day his face and neck was covered in a bright red raised itchy rash poor boy all he kept wanting to do was scratch all the time , then he started to feel a bit ..........as he calls it 'naff' I dosed him with a 24 our antihistamine every day , but here we are home and he's still got the face rash , most strange , there must have been something in the water that day . Mark is working on the photo's at the minute , but if you send me your email address I will send you a selection of the ones to your home and also if you dont mind I'll post the one of your dad+ step-mum and myself on my photo place that Mark sticks all my daft and almost normal photo's on for all to see . Anyhow hope your not to bad today , I'm now off to have a lay down as the old ticker is playing games with me and telling me 'rest you fool or else ' Bye for now AMI.

Crumbs this is so worrying , I've started to have problems recalling what things are when I speak to people. Like for instance , I was talking to my son yesterday and I wanted him to bring me the black shopping bag with all the toiletry items in .............but I could'nt remember what the bag was , the colour or the size ,all I kept saying was 'the thing with the stuff in ' which had my son saying what thing , what stuff? But how ever much I tried I couldnt name the bag or contents , I could see it in my mind but not name it . I've been noticing this for the past two weeks now , I can see what I want to say , I can see the item , but I cannot remember what its called at all and it takes me 10 or 12 more attempts to get anywhere close to what it is , sometime's I just cannot get the name at all . I've never had this before , Ive always been able to think and to say what I mean , so this is quite worrying and somewhat frightening for me to experience . I've racked my brains for anything different I've taken , done or eaten in the past few weeks , but nothing has changed. I'm now resorting to have to write things down when I think of ideas etc in case I forget them again ,which is another things I've always been so good at , I've always had a really wonderful memory for faces, names, places etc , but this to seems to be being effected as well . I'm going to make an appointment with my own GP for next week to discuss this problem before it gets out of hand, out of all the problems I have this is the most concerning so far , because of the implications it has for me , I know what this could be the start of and at 50 + no way do I want to 'lose it all' I have to much of my life left to spend with my family and with my charity. A very worried Ami.

Corina , your step-mum and Dad are such lovely people , you are so lucky to have such wonderful , welcoming , kind and friendly parents. My hubby , both the boys and I went to find Corina's parents while we were away in Cornwall this week , but just as we arrived the local council decided to tarmac the whole of their road , we drove up and down and around all the roads near to their house but just couldnt get within 10 feet of the front door on the first attempt. Two days later and the road was clear ............. so I quietly walked into Corina's Dad little garden shop and said 'Hello' are you...............and he beamed at me , yep he knew exactly who I was . SO .................Corina , I didn't know you couldnt stand up for more than a few seconds your dad was surprised that I could stand /walk , but I think he did find it rather strange that I 'rocked ' from foot to foot all the time ( to stop me falling down ) My hubby was nattering away to your dad , being an ex boat builder when he saw all the wonderful boats your dad owned /had in the past he was in his element and your parents wonderful home , a beautiful cottage , all wooden beams, wonderful pictures of your family ..........yep I saw you all !!!!! and your wedding photo to . I have invited them to come up to see us then they next come to Yealmpton to get plants , which is the next village to us , do you know we must have passed them on the road so many times when they have come this way , so strange I gave your step-mum a big box of Terry's old gold ( milk ) by the way , so I hope she eats chocolates ..........or your dad if he's anything like my hubby they wont touch the sides and he will swear blind it 'wasnt him' !!!!! So in all we had a lovely time with your parents and have taken some photo's of them in their back garden and yes, one of me with them just to prove it !!!! Mark ( hubby) is going to log on to your dad's garden page to see if there is any plants for our garden , I cannot believe that my hubby and your dad have so much in common , Mark trained in horticulture after his accident so he was able to natter away about this as well ................so both boys were nattering away most of the time , and they say us woman are the worst ( only kidding ) I now look forward to your parents coming to see us soon and hopefully I can feed them some of my special cakes and things . It really was so nice to be able to call in and speak to them and I do look forward to seeing them again . Bye for now AMI.

Came home from a much needed few days away in Cornwall only to find a large heavy box waiting at my neighbours for me , having been on the net a few days before asking companys for all sorts of things for the October event this box could contain anything from more feathers to a crystal ball or costumes ...............mmmmmm very heavy indeed ????? OMG inside was the sweetest, cutest most adorable baby owls I've seen in a long time and all beautifully painted by hand in the most wonderful-est details................you could have knocked me down with a feather ( and I have a few of them here ) they are between 12-13 inches tall and the faces are just adorable. I've decided I'm going to make them a special nursery nest in a bread delivery tray , cover this inside and out with brown fabric , make 3 nests out of sticks and twigs with added feathers ( I will bind them together with fishing line so that you cant see how they are held in lace ) then add these to the box , then add more twigs, feathers and leaves around them. As the owls come on little bases I will cover these when they sit in there nests with further twigs and feathers ............'Hey presto' baby owls sitting in thier nursery nests! ...........I suppose being an ancient magician ( cannot call myself witch /wizard or sorceress until the actual event ) I should have said 'abracadabra ' I've also come home with a super witches dress in black lace /net with long sleeves and a v insert of purple silk fabric at the front with black lace -up detail and embroidery . A minute dragon ( like one of the ones drawn out of the bag at the dragon tournament in Harry Potter 4 film ) this I will repaint as the artwork is appalling to say the least , I will have him in a small bag hung from my waist and bring him out to show the children .............thats after I've made out he's nipped me on the leg and wants to say hello to them ...........some dragons cant take them anywhere. I also picked up a blue glass ball about 5-6 inches round .............well....... I thought if I spoke to someone who does metal work they could make me a 5 foot long pole ( in black) with a Small 2 inch plate on the top to sit the ball , add around this long thin pieces of metal that twist into a point over the top of the ball ( a bit like one of those Mr. Whippy ice-cream cones that come out of an ice cream machine ) decorate this with metal star's and small round balls ( that I will paint up) and 'once again ' Hey presto' I will have a rather nice 'wizards staff' I tell you being down in Cornwall has made my mind do overtime and I'm having to write things down all the time or I will forget my ideas . Topaz is on her way to being almost feathered now and she looks so sweet ...........all fluffy ...........me ............all gluey with loads of little cuts on the end of my fingers from using the crafting knives Well as you will see I've been up again in the night , so stiff , so sore and so tired, but unable to lay flat at this time , so I'm pottering about . Bye all for now as I'm about to post about Corrina's step-mum and dad and also a little problem I'm having . Its so nice to be back ...............AMI

Well this must be my year for using the old brain to raise money for my children's hospice, as I've come up with this money making idea which should net me a cool ?300 before October to add to the event funds. I was looking for an owl to go into this emporium that I run on the stage , so when my husband found one he went wild and suddenly 'popping up' from nowhere owl over his head shouting 'owl ami, owl' at the top of his voice like it was a gold bar he's been digging for not a badly painted big brown plastic owl . This certainly worried all the Oaps who's come for a quiet lunch at the garden centre , who looked startled , then to have me dancing about hugging the plastic thing must have got them thinking we were both either completely mad or on something ! And so Topaz was born , now painted white with her base a wonderful array of gold and diamonds ( instead of browm mud) she's about 1/2 way finished . Her breast feathers are now in place , but body feathers and wings are on there way having talked a Cornish feather supplier into helping me on the understanding that they had one named after them , and so 'Jaffe' is to be born soon all painted and done up to the 9's ..................so I'm thinking fast now and wondering if 'others' would pay to have a owl in an 'owlery' like the one in the Harry Potter 4 film but without the owl poo and the cold ( very bad for my Raynard's that ) and by heck they will !!!!!! Yesterday I sold one on Valentines day to a man who's a photographer called Valentine so his owl is going to be called ............................yes! 'Valentine' dont know what colour yet but I've now ordered 10 owls in all OMG what have I let myself in for the paint, the glue , the feathers ...........the fun. So here below is a look at the 1/2 finished Topaz my owl ...................and for your great amusement a 'mother and son' moment .........just couldnt resist this one . http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i318/ban.../miscellaneous/ Stop laughing ........................AMI. ( who just cant help it )

Happy birthday to you , have a wonderful day . AMI

This old dear ( ) thanks you for your kind words Corina Had a bit of a bad night so was up painting Topaz .................he or is it she ???? now has nice black claws and beak and the bit of plastic which was supposed to look like a green patch of turf 'it' ( thats better) was sitting on is now a wonderful piece of gold encrusted with jewels . well after all Topaz is the owl of a mystic so what else would he ( yep , its got to be a he ) would sit on and guard ! Off to garden centre now to get some white/beige and cream paint to sort out the rest of my baby . Have a nice week end guys and rest well. AMI P.S. my wand now shoots bright blue sparks out of the end ...............roll on October .

Hello, I had a hysterectomy over 15 years ago now and have never looked back. I was in the awful position of having had 3 live children out of a total of 7 pregnancies ( 9 children as 2 sets twins) after my Mike things went terribly wrong and the whole lot fell away from me when he was just 2 months old , I was asked if they could take the lot and I just agreed there and then . I've never looked back , no monthly problems, no PMT of any kind at all, no hormone imbalances . I am on HRT ( 1 Mg) but thats only because they want to protect my bones and help with my sweats , but my sweats are not related to my hormones as I've been OK for years and years . After the operation ( cut along the front) I was convalescing for about 3 moths , but it was plain sailing after this , unfortunately even though they built me a new cervix and other bits I never got to try them out at the time as my now ex ran off with an older woman My pots didn't improve or worsen at the time or now , so for me it was just a case of this problem was taken away . If you need anymore info give me an email. Ami.

Hello Liz and from one Scot to another ' welcome ' I see you get very low blood pressure, well join the club mine is always nearly in my boots which is why I see stars all the time , or may be its flies around my head and I need to wash more Hope you haven't got to much snow up there , we have none down here in Devon ( boarder of Devon/Cornwall) which is a shame and I do miss the wonderful weather/countryside and mountains. My hubby is an ex mountaineer and he's climbed just about every mountain in Scotland , now retired he's photographing them instead. Hope your pots isn't giving you to much trouble, bye for now , so nice to have another UK pots online . Love AMI ( willows)

I'm back ..............had to go to another little pretty smallish town /village to get my new wand , only problem is it doesn't shoot blue sparks like it should at this time so hubby's playing around with it and a large knife, assorted glues and a welding torch OMG hope he doesn't set light to the place . I was given the wand by a little fairy shop in Totnes and its for my October event . OMG, OMG OMG SSSSSSSSSO excited I've got an owl !!!!!!!he's far from pretty at the minute as the art work is really 'naff' but he's 21 inches tall and at his widest 28 inches round , he's got huge yellow eyes and black sharp beak and I'm going to call him ' Topaz' because his eye's are a bight yellow colour. I've been searching and searching the net /shops/ charity shops for ages and ages longing to find one .............then , your never going to believe this , went to out local garden centre for coffee yesterday and hubby suddenly 'sprung up' like some sort of jack -in -a -box from picking something off the floor shouting ' AMI, OWL, OWL' holding the thing above his head the other people in the centre must have thought we were both stark staring of our trolleys when we both got so excited about finding a large plastic owl the best thing of it was as they know me ( for my sins) at the centre I get discount for my children's charity , so in all 'Topaz' cost me just ?13....................wait until you see her when I've finish painting and peered her . Well as promised the silly birthday photo .............laugh while ye may all of you who are of younger years , it will be you one day http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i318/ban.../miscellaneous/ I;m off to paint Topaz now Bye , bye all AMI.

As you may or may not remember I've been try out those 'bugs in a capsule' thingies to help my poor old digestion on its way ( if you get my drift) well they work OK but I've had to increase the amount I take each day and my goodness they are not cheap ( understatement) I've worked out that a 30 day bottle now only lasts me on average 10-12 days , and all in all when you add up the daily cost its getting stupid .............it would be cheaper for me to down a whole bottle of syrup of figs a day as long as I could have a loo on wheels attached to a rope around my waist to take everywhere I went ............mind you elastic could add a certain excitment SO ............any way son ( love of my life and heir to my fairy collection , poor lad ) bought me one of theses yogurt makers. The idea is you put cold water in the tub provided add this packet of yogurt mix , complete with billions of happy little dried out bugs all waiting to swim around in the water and make whoopie , shake them up a bit , add more water , then place this in what I can only describe as a HUGE white capsule ( like a paracetamol but 100 time bigger ) which you have half filled with boiling water . screw down the top and leave in a quite cool place for the little bugs to have a whale of a time together ...............hey presto ( sound of trumpets here guys) thick creamy bug laden yogurt , a whole litre of the stuff I've done the maths on this ............................ A pack of ten mixes cost ?20 to buy , each mix makes a litre or 10 potions . I can eat 3 potions a day , so a mix will last me 3.1 days x 10 mixes = 31 days There's 365 days in a year so thats 12 boxes of mix which = ?240 for the year in total . OR A bottle of tablets cost me ?25.00 to buy , each bottle holds 30 tablets . I have up to 3 tablets a day , so the bottle will last me between 10 -12 days . There's 365 days in a year so thats 30 bottle of tablets which = ?750 for the year in total . NEED I SAY MORE The mixes come in some wonderful flavours like Mango , Nectarine, Vanilla Caramel and all potions are about 80 cals each , some lower if you go for the reduced fat ones , as well as this they do drinking yogurt milk shakes mixes and ice cream mixes all with my little friends the 'all alive and dancing Acidophilus' (and other long unpronounceable bugs ) having read all the jargon on the yogurt , it is OK for diabetics ( non -sweetened mixes 6 types ) and of course you can cook with it and use it like any other yogurt you would buy from the shops . It keeps for about a week in the fridge and the vanilla one ( just made today ) tastes like ice cream . So if any of you want the name and contact for this wonderful 'all dancing , all singing ,bottom buster ' leave me a line or to here and I'll email you back with any other details you need . Now ................. what am I going to do with the ?510.00 I save this year AMI

Tomorrow for your delight and amusement my official photographer ( me hubby) will post the official birthday photo for you to all laugh at Note sons standy-uppy hair and his readiness to jump out and save mother from all 5 candles as me here couldnt blow them out all at once in fact it took 3 attempts , which when all my laughter subsides just proves how bad my old lungs are getting , also note the vast array of fairies in the wall unit ( I'm a sad collector of this type of thing ) . So hopefully tomorrow ( if I haven't already emailed one to all who's address I've got on file ) you to can log onto this post and see what its like to be in your 50's ,old , decrepit , but not yet senile ..............but there's hope !!!! Love AMI

Thank you SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOO much guys for your kind word and silly pictures. Well I've had a strange day and a half to say the least Hubby was supposed to take me into town to have a 'spend up' then lunch by the water and home for tea with Mike and his mate ( Jake ) and a birthday cake for tea. NOPE..............didn't go like that at all! I got up to find hubby pale and white 'dying on the settee' another night of his head pain and unable to walk at this time so undeterred by this I opened my card and pressies .........OHHHHH a yogurt maker from the son and a 10 packs of mix , very nice thank you , more jewellery from hubby and a load of cash , ahhhh, now I know what this 'spend up 'was .....so off I set on my own to spend, spend, and jolly well spend................. it was a case of being in the right place at the right time in the end ................'9 'yes ................ 9 huge bags of stuff for the spring /summer what a morning I had .......................BUT as we all know ..........what comes around , goes around ............and by 11 am I was staring to feel .............how can I put it .................order my coffin now guys !!!! I managed to get home and by then my sight was 'iffy' so it was a case of shoes off, and fall into bed , I wanted to watch by new DVD about the fashion house by couldnt see the bedclothes let alone the telly. I'm awake ( obviously ) now and feeling better , I was this huge pile of shoes, boots, coats, trousers, t shirts , jumpers , jewellery and bags to find a home for OMG were I just dont know ..............This I think calls for a 'good old clear out ' needed and to sifted though all my clothes in the wardrobes and all the stuff I dont wear 'will soon be ' out to the charity shops . So whats this seasons colour for me ????? mint green , cream and bright red ........ NO not all together thank you . So its tea now ( missed the wonderful lunch by the water ) hubby's alive again and a red rose birthday cake arrived on the table from son ............such a nice boy ! Yogurt should be made by 8 pm tonight ( vanilla one ) so that a late dessert ...................... all in all not a bad day for an old dear like me ...............soon be drawing the pension and walking with a stick .................re-phase that .......walking with a stick and soon be drawing the pension . Kisses , hugs and waves to all ( feeling very generous today guys ) AMI .............or willows if you must !

I'm glad you liked my ' cant be this ' incident , I tell you when these doctors come to the end of my bed saying that its this , that and the other ..............just to cover there own backs because they honestly dont know what they are taking about , in fact I can run rings around most of the doctors at our local hospital because there so called knowledge of POTS is ' oh , yer you pass out with it dont you ' oh ....... does this make me mad I must admit it took a bit of courage to speak out with such a lot of doctors there , but seeing the look on the lady doctors face when I said it , made it worth while. In the end she turned the most intelligent one there and came up with something no one had thought of. Unfortunately it probably was what she was thinking of and no one had thought to ask me certain questions at the time , which is sad but Mike and I have put all concerning this behind us both now and dont think or talk about , but it will never happen again, and Mike is now safe. Well I've posted off my brothers 40th present and he should get it tomorrow how I wish we could all be there to see him open it and see his face , I also wrote him a 'slushy poem ' about choosing him as a brother ' well I mean not many people have the privilege or honor of choosing a member of your own family , do you , and we all think the world of him , he's my hubby's mate , my sons uncle and my best male friend and brother .Well I'm off as I've just seen something I want to buy on the shopping channels ............oooooowwww thats a pretty ring................... AMI

Well Mikes' well and truly 'back to normal ' again guys. Its still a mystery what went wrong with him , yesterday I got a letter from his consultant telling us that the biopsies they took from his stomach were all OK , thank goodness . We go next week to have a natter with him at the hospital and discuss what we can do to ensure this sort of thing doesn't happen again, trouble is , if you dont know what the trigger is to Mike being so unwell how on earth are we going to know what to do or not to do to prevent it again I suppose its a bit like our condition a case of 'trail and error' I dont know if I told you guys this but when Mike was 4 years old I nearly lost him, it was one of the worst years of my whole life . Mike suddenly for no reason started to wee blood, they tested him for infections and all sorts of things , but nothing other than blood in his urine. This carried on for about 4 or 5 months on and off , then one day I was on the way back from town and I go a call from my housekeeper , she said that Mike had been in the front garden with the gardener and he was sitting on his toy pedal car when he had stood up called out 'John I dont feel.........' and collapsed onto the grass . John had grabbed him up ( he was so small and all blond and cute then ) and rushed into the house and called an ambulance , when I got home Mike was as pale as snow and going from stiff as a board to all limp and sweaty . He was rushed into hospital when he stayed in a coma for three days , attached to drips and monitors they really couldn't find out what on earth had happened to him ,then he just woke up as if nothing had happened, it took him about 2 weeks to get back to normal , he was just weak and tired all the time. Mike did this about 3 or 4 times that year , the last one being 2 days before christmas , this time he was running a temperature , passing blood and was delirious with it ! yet they could find NOTHING , once again he woke up , was pale , tired and weak but other than this he was fine . He was seen by professors from Addenbrooke's ( a specialist hospital ) and we had a huge conference about him to which about a dozen doctors, consultants and experts sat in so that somehow we could find a reason for all this. Everything in my house was tested , food, bedlinen, washing stuff, paint even the air. The garden was looked at , the dog , our staff , cars, his school ..............Nothing . So these incredibly wise doctors ( mostly male I might add ) sat there and decided that as he was 4 years old it must be because he had 'discovered himself ' ( if you get my meaning ) and that he was somehow giving himself an infection by 'playing with himself' and they came to the conclusion that Mike would have to have a low dosage of antibiotic for about a year or more until all the problems had cleared or he 'stopped ' what he was doing . NOW ..............I think by now you have some idea of the sort of person I am and I will not listen to any stupid ideas from anyone or put up with stupidity in any shape or form , so when these 'eminent doctors' came up with this wonderful diagnosis I stood up ( all 5feet 3 inches of me ) turned to the nearest male doctor and pointed to him , then continued to point all the way around the room at every doctor saying ....... ' Right , then you, you, you and you' pointing at every single male in the room including the great professor ' all need to go onto antibiotics , because if your implying that anyone who plays with themselves will get bleeding from the kidneys , coma's and infections , then boys dont forget to order yourself a high dosage for the rest of your lives ' and sat down the room went silent , when the only female doctor in the room burst into hysterical laughter , which set of a number of her male colleges and it was decided from a lot of rather red faced doctors that this was one of the most stupidest ideas they had in a long time and it was dismissed . So my son has had some strange events in his life , soon after christmas his health improved again and he's not had one bleed since , I do make sure he drinks and drinks all day though especially in the summer months. I'll let you all know what happens at the hospital this week , bye for now AMI.

Sorry I'm a bit late , but happy birthday Dizzy and I do hope your day was wonderful . Ami.

Well thats proved something at long last , which is .............that other sufferers have these 'red dots' which in a way helps me ( and you others who have it ) because you and I can now go along to the jolly old doctors and say ' look , these red spots/dots that I have , others with this condition have them as well , its not just me ' I'm hoping that every time I find something that isn't 'just me' a strong picture of whats happening to my body inside and out can be formed and it does help to hear that others like me are having such strange and varied conditions , and in a way it makes me feel less of an 'odd ball' and more of part of a community of sufferers who have strange 'bits ' here and there on the body , but who like me will probably never find out or be told by a professional just what is going on and why ! I'm as stiff as a surf board today ( two fingered typing here ) and its rather amusing to shuffle along around the house , mind you I moved a bit faster just now when hubby brought me a cup of much needed coffee took a nice long gulp of it and ..............BLAH milk off ...yuck, yuck, yuck ............that got the old bod working as I galloped to the sink to get rid of it May be coffee isn't the nectar of life today , water seems to be the best option at the minute . AMI

Still painting dragons on my second one now, when I've finished him I'll get hubby to take a photo and stick him on my ever growing site of stuff, quite a collection of strange and interesting bits on there now. I've just had a call from the area manger of the children's hospice I do charity work for , so there I am nattering away to her about all the bits and pieces I've been given so far , and she decided that she's also going to put out an SOS to her other area's for strange items ( birdcages, books, dragons, wizards, you know the sort of thing I keep in my shop) so I'm nattering away like mad to her ...............then my voice squeaks...........goes very high ............and then hoarse. OMG not again Every few months I loose my voice , I've been doing this for about 20 years now and its so annoying , sometimes it starts with a sore throat , and other times it just sort of grumbles and squeaks then waves me bye, bye for a few weeks. Hubby and son are used to me doing it , but my boss thought I was messing about ( I'm known for my silly voices , walks and clothes ! ) and it took me ages of squeaks and squawks to get her to believe I wasn't just being daft . Never mind all adds to the great book of life and makes my day interesting and amusing ( well thats what I'm telling people in a voice that sounds like my knickers are 5 sizes to small ) Willows.................blah humbug..............soon be christmas !

Hi guys, sorry I haven't been back to you before now but I've just had another really bad session and been stuck flat on my back in bed for a few days, at one point I couldnt even hold a cup I was in so much pain ...........I HATE THAT I to get my red spots more in hot weather and in very cold weather my arms seem to swell more ??? I haven't had a chance to look up the names you suggested either , but now I'm up and about ( well ,just about to have another lay down now ) I will have a nose about and see if anything matches. I'm doing a bit of painting at this time , only dragons that I was given for my Halloween event later in the year , they were in a right state , chipped, badly painted and rather dirty . I've repainted one so far and have two more to go , so that will keep me out of trouble for a while . Oh , dear , better go as my clothes are now sticking to me in some rather 'not to nice ' places and I can feel sweat trickling down my back again....yuck ! Bye for now ..............must repeat to myself ' I will not panic if I cannot get out of my clothes ' ' I will not panic if ...........

Hi ....guys, night sweats, day sweats 24/7 sweats for me I'm afraid. I've given up sleeping in PJ's as I sweat so much I literally stick to the fabric and OMG when I have a BIG sweat on in the daytime .............well PANIC sometimes , its awful . But I'm not panicking with the sweat , its getting out of the clothes when I'm like this , I dont know if you have the same problem , but if not take note. During the day when I'm having a ' heat up ' I've gotten used to wearing a Kaftan...........with nothing underneath at all I've cotton , velvet, chiffon ones about a dozen in all ( full length by the way ) and one of these and a pair of slippers is just about all I can manege if I'm in the house , trouble is when i go for one of my soaking sessions............and I do mean soaking , as it runs down my back and drips of the checks of my bottom onto the floor ................'no , I'm not peeing myself dear' well you try pulling one of these things over your head , yourself ( zipped neck whole only) I've got stuck so many times in them half in and half out of the things with my head inside the upside down dress ............panic, ha! ever seen a half naked woman with a Kaftan stuck to her body banging into furniture screaming she cant get air............hubby's now getting used to it ! So , I take a 2mg of HRT every night ( started the old menopause about a year ago now ) but I've been taking CLONIDINE 4 x2 every day for years now as I started this sweating thing in 2000 , and my hormones were absolutely normal until 2006 This sweating is awful, I was up again last night with it , take a look at my photo site ( look in chit-chat forum under wrists swollen ) and you will see a photo of me taken a couple of days ago when I was staring to have a sweat ............my whole body goes like my face and its the pits. My doctor has said she doesn't know why and she's been trying for 7 years to understand it , I sweat when I see food, or eat, drink , loud noises , when I lay down ( after 30 mins ) if I get upset, angry , just about any normal thing sets it off and there's nothing worse than getting yourself ready to go out only to have to tear all your clothes off because your soaked ! Night times are something I dread , sleep is something I get in bits and Bob's , like today , I'm off for a snooze now as i was up from 2 am until 4 .30 am dripping and leaving puddles. As for feeling like you have weight on you , snap , sometimes I struggle to move in bed as I feel so heavy , its so strange , it is worse when I lay on my back ??? what about you ??? Some tips I use ............try sleeping on a beach towel , it soaks up some of the sweat and you can change this ( I have four for this ) Cover yourself with talc from neck to toes every night before you go to bed. Keep a pack of those migraine cool head patches by your bed and when you start to ' brew up ' stick one of these on the back of your neck and your forehead............ooooooh ..........lovely . Drink plenty , because I find I get dehydrated , so I keep water by the bed every night. DONT rush into a cold shower as this will , once you've dried off just bring it on again faster. Good luck and may be ask your doctor about this drug I use , it helps no end 80% of the time.........AMI

Just sent you a message Corina ..............blimey cant believe we are so near yet so far from each other , strange that . I've enclosed in the message some info about where we stay and prices if this helps............you can log into the site on the net under the name I gave you . Ta, Ta for now a very furry , spotty armed AMI.

Ha................hubby's stuck me onto the site , OMG please excuse the flabby side of the face , blimey cant I see how old I'm getting now must do some facial exercises or use my face machine ( electrical thingy that sends sort of sparks into the face to tone it ) also hubby noticed that I was so furry ...............mmm thank you for that dear made me feel every so better NOT he asked me if I'd ever been bulimic in my 50 + years.............not dam likely was my reply , foods to nice to waste like that , but very strange the furriness's all over my face ...........hope I'm not turning into a gerbil . Click on the link below to gaze in wonderment ..............and enjoy the laugh well we all need something to bring a smile to our lips each day , so it might as well be me ..........AMI http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i318/ban.../miscellaneous/

Oh ........April love you little babies! Well Mike is a bit better now, sleeping , thank goodness and eating well again , but he's on three meds still , we are of to see his consultant in Feb before we go to Newquay for a weeks rest. I do get fluid retention in my ankles and face and take meds for this every day, without them I can't get my shoes on and I look like a hamster having been eating oats all day ............if you get my meaning My blood pressure is always low because I take clonidine to keep it down , without this its sky hi and I'd feel the pits, my doctor hasn't any idea why my wrists are swollen and up until I met this other lady she thought it was 'just me' so now she knows I'm not such an individual at all. Marks going to post a picture of my left wrist after lunch ( a are both having a rest as we went for a walk in the cold ) also a picture of the coat/hat he bought me for christmas so that I could go out in the cold ( Raynaud's normally prevents this ) my goodness it's like being in an oven ! Also today I've had a really bad sweat day , Mark took a picture of me first thing while I was trying to get dressed .............and having to strip off again as i soaked the clothes , I get this 24/7 and its the bane of my life , no its not menopause as I've been sweating for 7 years !!!!!! and still sweating each and very day .............crumbs I wonder how many litres of fluid |I've lost in those years ???? Well better go as I need to rest , so tired from a 15 minute walk by the sea . Lots of love to all AMI.........watch out for the link to the pictures at about 6 pm tonight.

While I was at the hospital with my son last week ( children's ward) I happen to be talking to another mum who had her son rushed in with strange pains , like Mike . Anyhow we got talking and she asked me why I had a stick , as she had one too, I started talking to her about POTS .............. and she was gobsmacked as she had it as well we both nearly fell over in the ward with the shock . This is the first person I have ever actually met face to face with it in my country , so you know what its like we started comparing parts of the body she had this and that and I had the other I think between us we covered ever sign of the condition. BUT ................what was really interesting was that she had the same arms/wrists as mine 'EXACTLY' the same it was like looking in a mirror, she also has it on the front of her thighs and her knees are twice the size at times when she is very bad ( exactly like me as well ) So having nattered to this lady for some two hours while our sons were having tests done I decided that I would get my hubby to take some photo's of my wrists and post them here with the lead in to my photo site which he now tells me he will do tomorrow as he's to tired to do them now ( excuse all other photo's on the site by the way ) So anyone out there got this ????? In the morning after I've laid down all night the wrists are quite flat , almost normal, but within half an hour of being on my feet 'wham' they swell up and look most peculiar. They have these red dots on them and if you push down on the swelling it leaves a white finger or thumb mark which disappears in time . They are not sore, but I do have loss of strength in them , and this is not because of constant use of wrist supports as I try not to use them in the house , only when I'm out in case I fall ( not a good idea) So guys , have you got this on any part of your body ???? Photo's on this page tomorrow . Willows.

Thanks for your replies guys, I'm sitting here typing with one finger now , OH .............silly me ! Last night was up with one of those nights when your whole body's going to explode , so wandering about downstairs I thought I'd clean the oven door ( no I'm not going mental) So there I was at 3 am trying to shift a bit of burnt on stuff , ah ............I know I'll do I'll cut the stuff off with the edge of one of my super-duper-extra -sharp as a samurai sword knives ............it slipped somewhat and decided to cut into a section of my index finger , but as this section was below the main joint , it sliced a one and a half inch section into the fleshy bit instead ..................OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ..........so I spent the next few minutes trying not to run blood over the kitchen units, sink, floor or medical chest . Poor old finger is not wrapped up in a bandage and is SO sore , never again , no, no , never again. Mikes feeling a bit better now, the third lot of tablets he's now on seem to be helping , he's going to see the consultant again the second week in February , just before we go away for a week , so hopefully things should be even better by then. We did have bad winds here , but we had no damage , next door lost its fence and my friend in Suffolk lost half of her tiles of her main roof and a gable end, this took off and crashed down into her lawn , so hard that they cannot get it out ! So things are getting back to normal here now , thank goodness . I'm starting to think about my next Halloween event in October , I have just heard that the last one raised just over ?600 , I'm a bit annoyed as I didn't put in one expense for all of the time, items and petrol we used , yet the other group who I worked with put all there's in , even down to cups of coffee and food , what a cheek I wouldnt dare do that . So I'm now putting out as SOS in the city for things I need again , all sorts of strange stuff so I can add to my collect on and make this one even better than last years. I'm hoping to be able to talk a local college into painting me backdrops for the shop instead of using just plain black fabric which is boring , so keep fingers crossed foe me ( well I cant cross mine with all my bandage on can I ) Well by for now all ..............sore finger and I will be back later AMI.