Up & Down

 

Up & down.  Up & down.  One must be describing the New York Stock Exchange, right?  (No, that would be mostly down.)  How about a public opinion poll?  Or maybe gas prices?  (No, that would be mostly up!)

 

Specifically, what I am trying to explain is my activity level.

You see, I can’t sit still.  Ants in the pants.  Hyper.  (Yeah, I WISH that was the reason!)

 

I get up and move a lot.  Because if I don’t—spasticity hits me like a semi-truck.

And you may be just the same!

 

 

Fifteen to twenty minutes–maybe a half-hour, is all it takes before “stiffness” locks us on target with the accuracy of a fighter plane’s gunsight.

 

 

 

Sit far too long and when you rise…be slapped back to reality with a full-body spasm that forces you to stand there like a mannequin at Macy’s!

 

Spasticity’s timer makes it difficult to attend things like school assembly’s, sporting events, movies, church services and AA meetings.

 

 

Yes, I have worn those pants…and it is not fun!

 

 

 

 

So I am up & down as often as a Duncan yo-yo.

Family members tell me to sit down and relax.  But you know how that goes—we have MS, so we are always twitching, moving & fidgeting as though we sat on our car keys!

 

 

 

In fact, at My Odd Sock Labs, researchers have conducted a study of my “up & down” activity as represented by the graph to the right.

I go like this (a hamster on a wheel) until I can’t go anymore…

 

 

 

 

…and I crash.  Falling into a chair.  Or onto the couch.  Or just plain falling.

 

 

 

 

 

“A body at rest, stays at rest.”

 

I think about that phrase quite often.  And so I move.  And I encourage you to do the same.

Move what you can—when you can—for as far as you can.  It’s as simple as that.

 

Do you have the “up & down” feeling?  How do you handle the urge to move when MS makes it difficult to do so?

 

Well, I’ll end this discussion as I have been sitting here for 90 minutes now, and I am NOT looking forward to the impending spasm which will greet me like the family dog as I fumble to my feet.

But, I suppose it is better than the opposite!