Profile: Christine Hawthorne - living with hypermobility syndrome, arthritis and a wonderful family
I expect you have read the title of my blog and thought: "Well, we have a right nutter here!" I must admit, it has been said, although mostly by my children, but at least they don't call me a right misery!
For those of you who have never heard of hypermobility syndrome, it is to do with faulty collagen in the body, and as most of the body contains collagen, I'm in trouble! It affects people in different ways, it can affect the joints, as it does with me - my joints are very loose and my knees bend backwards! I'm not as supple as I once was, but I can still touch the floor with the palms of my hands flat and my legs straight, though I'm not always sure nowadays if I will be able to get up again! I can bend my thumb down to touch my wrist which freaks a few people out! I used to be able to do the splits, tie my legs around my neck, and do back bends, but I can't manage those moves anymore! I am 59 after all!
That's another thing, hypermobile people often have soft, velvety skin which makes you look younger than you are. I shall leave you to judge for yourself! When I was 45 I was visiting my mum, who at the time was 80 and living in sheltered housing, and one of the other residents was convinced I was the granddaughter, rather than the daughter, and even disagreed with mum about it, insisting I was younger than I was!
People with hypermobility syndrome can also have problems with internal organs, I have problems with bowel and bladder, but we won't go into that .......
The problem with joints being hypermobile is that you can get early onset arthritis, and I have had arthritis and degenerative disc disease in my spine since I was in my thirties. I also have arthritis in both knees and now my fingers have started giving me problems too. My shoulders have also started to cause me pain, and my spine is unstable, so all in all I'm a bit of a wreck. Hence the mobility scooter, walking is now too painful for me, I was reluctant to use wheels but it gets me out of the house, gives me independence, and I can take the dogs for a walk with my hubby so it's not all bad. I can get to the shops and use the library, an essential for me, I always have to have a book to read.
Hypermobile joints can also dislocate or sublux (a partial dislocation), I have dislocated my finger before now just by accidentally banging it on the door frame while trying to open the door in the dark. I'm lucky though as I don't normally dislocate, but I do sublux, which means the joint partially goes out then pops back in again! As a child my hip would pop out while I walked home from school, often causing me to drop like a stone to the floor. Luckily the lollipop lady was often nearby to pick me up and I would sit on the stone bollard until I could move, then carry on my way! Sometimes I can feel my hip slipping about when I'm in bed! It can be a bit disconcerting to turn over and realise your hip is about to pop, so I take evasive action and turn over again. It's normally my right hip that causes most problems so I'm usually facing the wardrobe!
Hypermobility syndrome is a type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). EDS is a collection of inherited conditions that fit into a larger group, known as heritable disorders of connective tissue.
Confused? I know I am!
