I thought I was late, by posting the meme 2 days ago :P

I'll be arriving on Friday, in the early afternoon. Looking forward to seeing you two again!

Looking forward to seeing you again, must remember to nab my badge

Sadly I'm not going, and curious what you mean by HMS exactly o.o

Hypermobility Syndrome, though I am unsure if I have Joint Hypermobility Syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos Type III (Hypermobility) which is also referred to as EDS. They both can manifest in similar ways, and doctors often have little knowledge of what is an uncommon disease, but treatment is p much the same so it doesn't matter. To make things more complicated, they may soon be re-classified as the same thing and just called EDS. Anyway, HMS/EDS is where someone has abnormal flexibility of the joints, due to issues with the connective tissues and collagen over-production. Because everything is too stretchy/flexible, everything wears out faster, resulting in a lot of pain and tiredness, as well as dislocations of the joints or partial dislocations. Not everyone who is hypermobile develops problems from it, some do from childhood or some from later in life, and severity varies from the occasional ache to forcing the person to become wheelchair bound. That's the basics of what it is, you can find more on it at http://hypermobility.org/ It's EDS/HMS awareness month, so a decent time for me to tell people about it, I guess. :P

I know I was checking :3 I have HMS too =s Just I'm sure iv heard it be a term for a different medical condition too. :P Yeah, I get tired and pain quick, main mostly in the evenings but usualy painkillers and a heated blanket works (If you dont YOU MUST get yourself the silent night heated blanket, works wonders for foot,leg and hip pains I get) I'm lucky I don't have any dislocation issues but pains are a daily basis thing now.
Also dentists.... lidakane or whatever its called is useless on me T-T
I went private to get diagnosed and all they could pretty much tell me to do was take pain killers do aerobics and muscle building exercises coz our muscles have to work harder to keep us up due to the ligerment flexability (went to nuffield in newcastle)
I've had the problems all my life =/ it wasnt till I was 16 that the doctors finally took notice and decided it wasnt growing pains -_-.
How is your HMS and any tips on how to handle it better?

For me, I was 24 when I had an incident where I hurt my back. For some reason that triggered the flare up (in the beginning I found this weird, but a lot of people on the HMSA forums cite a similar experience). At the time I had no idea why I had went from physically normal to being unable to walk for 10 minutes without excrutiating agony. A physiotherapist told me I had hypermobility but due to screwups - and the fact I live in a country where I don't speak the language, and not reknowned for a good health system - it wasn't associated with the back pain. I just knew the hypermobility explained some of my weird joint quirks. I got more problems with my back and lots of other issues with joints etc and only when later looking at the hypermobility thing again out of curiosity did I find it explained all my seemingly unexplainable, sudden ailments when till that point I had rarely ever seen a doctor. When I brought it to the doctor, he just went "oh ok, seems you have it". That's been it. Pain relief is hard to get in this country so I am prescribed nothing to help, physiotherapy costs money and I cannot afford it (though have paid about 3k euro for it in the past, wasn't much help). I am seeing an occupational therapist who may at some point give me a brace for my knee, as recommended by my GP - so far she veto'd it as I am "too young" (28). My subluxatons started getting bad from about 9 months ago, I am not sure why, and I was informed a few weeks back that my arches in my feet are falling. :/

As for what makes it better, I have yet to find out. I do need to keep warm, as you mention, particularly my hands and wrists get bad if not kept warm. We are lucky to have good central heating and I sit around with blankets a lot. :P Otherwise I try to keep at my daily activities but so far as the HMSA advise, and I think helps, don't push yourself too hard for the sake of doing something. You do hurt yourself more. It felt "lazy" at first to me not to do things I used to be able to do, but I am learning to accept it. It's kinda hard. I'm still not 100% mentally adjusted to it.

Swimming is something I really should get to, I hear it's so good for us (and was also the only sport I was ever good at as a kid, now know because of my knees bending backwards and to the sides, and my ankles having weird flexibility, is why I always had trouble running) but...self-confidence issues with being seen in a bathing suit. D:

Anyway sorry to go on so long, but yeah, I hope you have more success in getting treatment. I wish I was back in the UK for it tbh.

Yeah ifs sadly a case of simply buying over the counter pain meds. For me it's primarily a leg issue. I switched my footwear to barefoot walking trainers a month ago and the pains have lessened because I'm walking more naturally rather than the heel of my foot hitting first.

I was advised to do more exercise than average person gets, build up the muscle more which supports you more it sucks a bit at first but you gotta slowly build . It hurts after but I was recommended it and I have to agree, when I do less for ages the pains are much more frequent... Lol I need to get back in shape, a few years back my pains were a once week at most, now it's nearly daily depending on what I do (not a lot with uni final year)
best advice I can give build up your muscles and try barefoot walking shoes if you are having the back pains. Most back pains are caused by shoes o.o we are not naturally designed to walk heel toe.

Can I touch you?
Creeper no creeping!

....ssssssSSSSS!

Wish I was goingggggg! Have fun for me though :)