My achilles tendonitis has flared up again, I’m so worried I’ll end up housebound for months again. Whenever people talk about strokes they never talk about this - how you can end up with one side so weak that even the simplest everyday activities can give you literal sports injuries that keep flaring up and never go away. An inflamed achilles tendon probably doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I’ve already spent months this year housebound because of it, gone through shockwave therapy and physiotherapy, it keeps coming back and as I don’t really have anyone to help me it means being unable to do basic things for myself for god knows how long. Being trapped indoors like a prisoner.
And to add even more stress I’ve had a letter from the DWP - they have a huge backlog of appeals and assessments so I’ve been told my appeal will take longer than originally estimated. It won’t be sorted by January. And I don’t know how I will manage as I have no family to fall back on and mutual aid seems to be dead now.
This is on top of all my usual stress and problems, I’m having a flare up of side effects from my thyroid cancer treatment, my eczema is infected again and I’m covered in oozing, itchy sores. I thought I’d be getting a hysterectomy to solve my bladder issues but that’s looking unlikely now. Bank charges that can’t be paid off piling up on my maxxed out overdraft, struggling to keep up with my medical appointments and absolutely nothing to look forward to whatsoever. It’s my shitty 42nd birthday this month and what have I got to show for 42 years on this earth? A wrecked body, no money or property, not a single friend in real life, no family and no hope. Can’t even do anything for xmas or my birthday, my landlady is going away and I’ll just be alone with nothing to do and no company. I wish I had some shrooms or acid at least, but that’s a distant dream.
Right but what I mean is that when you feel that initial stage of pain or a flare up, immediate elevation for a few minutes brings it down. Ice is a waste of time IMHO. Unless you see vast improvements using ice, I wouldn’t bother. Same with shockwave (unless it’s free! 🤑)
Physios tend to just give a routine. Multiple exercise sessions a day seems a bit much. How many people can afford the time to do that?
IMHO you have to listen to your body: reduce any pain to manageable levels with the elevation, then exercise intensely enough to stimulate the tendon to strengthen. If it’s a more of an endurance exercise, it’s not going to stimulate the tendon to strengthen. Better to have high load for a short period. A lot of physios use these weak-ass resistance bands that barely resist. Your ankle is regularly used to lift your weight, yet they use a band that is well under that amount of load. Way too low. You haven’t torn your tendon. It’s never going to strengthen unless you load it up.
You should exercise infrequently to allow your tendon enough time to recover from the exercise. If your strength is regressing, you are exercising too frequently. 2-3 times a week is plenty. And it’s way less mental stress than multiple times a day.
I haven’t been keeping up with the exercises lately anyway, I’m getting worn out. But I will try and elevate it more and see if that helps, thanks.