Re: introduction, flu shots.

[Guest guest]

Hi CMTUS List folks,

My name is , I live in , B.C., Canada and I've been reading

your emails for

some time now, and have really enjoyed all your comments, and personal

histories. This

is a very friendly and caring list. Thanks Gretchen for organizing it and

thanks all of you who

share so much!

I have CMT type 1, diagnosed Jan. 99. I am 45 yrs old and have been most

affected by

CMT symptoms for the past 3 years. I think the stress of having abdominal

surgery and being

bumped from a union position in a hospital(all within a year) accelerated

my symptoms. My main symptoms are very painful deformed feet and weakness

in my hands and forearms. I also have

chronic back pain which makes sitting for long periods(one hour or more)

very uncomfortable. So far,(and hopefully never), I don't experience the

awful nerve pain that many of you have.

I do have a wonderful chiropractor who really helps with my back problems,

and also go for

weekly massages to help loosen all the tight muscles. I have had physio

for tennis elbow and

back pain also.

I used to do weight lifting because it was recommended to me by the

Canadian Back Institute

to strengthen my muscles. I worked out at a gym faithfully, whenever I had

the energy to do so.

Unfortunately, I believe I overdid the weight lifting because it gave me

chronic tennis elbow and

tighter back muscles, but didn't understand why. Now, I know that you can

easily overdo

weightlifting( and I did) with a neurological condition such as CMT, so I

don't do it any more.

If they knew about my CMT I don't think they would have reccommeded

weightlifting. But I

believe exercise in some form is so important to prevent further atrophy of

muscles.

I am writing to comment about flu shots. I was somewhat distressed to

learn that flu shots aren't

appropriate for neurological diseases. I had one in November to prevent

me from getting the

flu again this year. Last Feb.(99) I got a very bad bout of the flu and

it knocked out my energy levels

for months. So I didn't want a repeat episode of that! Therefore, I

ASKED my doctor to give

me a flu shot, and she agreed. Guess what, I got the flu last week and was

very sick for 1 day,

and weak for 3 days, but it wasn't as bad as last year. So I don't know

how I would have been

without the shot.

Thanks for listening,

.