Friday 15th April

A selection of shitty days since my last post. Depression is still a problem, feeling very down most of the time.

Work still have done nothing to acknowledge the Fibro, seriously contemplating suing the pants off them for disability discrimination but I think I'd have to give up my job to do that and who pays the mortgage then? At least the Staff Council rep. and I have managed to go around it another way to start the process of getting me a chair that will adequately support my back and neck, we have gone through health and safety instead and hopefully someone will come and actually measure me up for a chair so it fits exactly soon. I have also spoken to the 'Access to Work' scheme and registered for that as I have had no luck getting back in touch with the Disability Employment Advisor at the job centre, even after leaving several messages for her to call back.

Been in lots of pain lately. I had to stand up on the first train on my journey home last Friday. It's only a 15-20 minute journey but I was in absolute agony by the time I got to Manchester in my ankle, knees, hips and back. My ankle has not recovered since, I think I may have damaged the ligaments again. I was advised to get a walking stick to use on the train by others on the UKFibromyalgia forum so that I would have a physical thing to show my disability, thus encouraging people to give up their seat for me. So I bought one at the weekend. managed to get a metallic bright blue one too so at least I don't feel like such an old granny! The rest of the pain had started to ease by Sunday and we went out for a bit of a walk but overdid it a bit which made things worse again. Then Wednesday night I could barely move and had to use my walking stick to get up the stairs to bed. Ever since then I have been in quite a lot of pain. It isn't so bad in the mornings but by afternoon/evening I want to cry with it. I've put it down to it being near 'that time of the month' and that always having a bad effect on my pain levels. It's not like the flare I had as that made my limbs heavy and my skin burn, this is just extreme pain, but you have to just work through and go to work no matter what as bills need paying and work will complain if I start taking more sick leave again and as they haven't acknowledged that this is a disability yet it still gets counted in my sick leave that is analysed for disciplinary proceedures.

The good news is that I have seen the Podiatrist now and he says the pain in my ankle is actually something called sinus tarsi syndrome and can be cured. He has given me shaped insoles for the flat foot on the right and says the left is quite flat too and has given me an insole for that and in the hope that the insole will solve the sinus tarsi. If it doesn't they will send me for a hydrocortisone injection into my ankle joint which should cure it.