as most of you know ie been diagnosed with hypermobility syndrome. the hypermobility syndrome association (hmsa)are an organisation that help support people with this condition by providing information and emotinoal support. they also work so hard to tackle the ignorance to the condition in the medical profession that leaves many people like myself suffering for years being told its in their head or they are attention seeking.
to finally recieve a diagnosis is such a relief to know its real and you werent imagnig the symptoms but when reality hits its another emotinal snowball filled with the what ifs (what if id not exercised as much and pushed my body, what if id been stronger with the doctors, what if i hadnt done all those things that have made my mody much worse than it should be.), the reality that this is real and for you for life etc.

hypermbility syndrome is a gentic condition. its something your born with but often doesnt get diagnosed till adult hood due to gps and consultants not knowing about the condtion. its cuased by a dfect in collagen. collagen gives the body its toughness while allowing the body to move. in hypermobiltiy syndrome the toughness isnt there so the joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and even the skin and organ tissue in some people are affected and so move more than they should. you can have hypermobility in any joint. i have it in all my joints including all my my spinal joints. this means each of the affected joints is prone to injury and later on osteoarthritus.
symptoms include

Pain

Arthralgia (neuralgic pain in a joint or joints), particularly in knees, hips, elbows and fingers
Pain that start or increases after strenuous activity or exercise
Pain that improves as the day progress and after rest
Low back pain due to hypermobility of the lumbar spine
Neck and shoulder pain due to hypermobility of the cervical spine
Foot ache and fatigue when standing for longer periods of time

Other Symptoms

Chronic Fatigue
Bruise easily and bruising is more pronounced with even minor incidents
Tense, stiff joints that improves as the day progress
Frequent injuries, particularly sprains and dislocated joints
Poor proprioception due to overstretching as a lack of awareness due to joint laxity
Complications with surgical wounds - stitches may tear out or healing may be incomplete
Slow wound healing followed
Easy, prominent scarring even from small cuts
Stretch marks due to skin fragility
Greater risk and incidence of dislocations and sprains
Neurally mediated hypotention
Postural orthostatic tachycardia

Hypermobility can also lead to:

Hernias, particularly hiatus hernia
Varicose veins
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Functional gastritis
Scoliosis (curvature of the spine)
Tendonitis and bursitis
Early onset osteoarthritis
Rectal or uterine prolapse
Mitral valve prolapse
Premature artherosclerosis
Raynaud's phenomenon
Increased risk to develop asthma

the hmsa are run by people with the condition with the help from dr graham and dr bird. the 2 most specialist in the condition (and 2 of only a handful who really know enough about the condition to help patients)

the hmsa is run purely on donations and as such cant do half the thigs they wish they could. im a member of the hmsa now and like many others we constantly look for new ways to raise money.

a new scheme we are doig is to raise moeny collecting the plastic tops from the plastic milk cartons. when given to an organsiation that recyles them we in turn recieve money for each top donated.

so please from now on instead of throwing your milk bottle tops away, give thm a quick rinse and pop them in a plastic bag. when you have collected a few either post them to me or if you live near e i will come to collect them. if you can help me with this i will pm you my address.it wont cost much to post a jiffy bag full of tops.

please forward this to your work collegus, freinds, family and help me raise much needed money to support an organisation that have helped me fight hard enough for a diagosis and continue to help me learn more and more about how to protect my body, cope with the pain and exhaustion and how to live with this potentially crippling condition.

thank you so much.

carrie x