Symptoms Update - Fatigue and Bladder

 A few things I've been spotting over recent weeks.

Fatigue

I am finding that I've been feeling tired more frequently. I noted this back in November (https://hspjourney.blogspot.com/2021/11/new-shoes-symptoms-update.html). Since then I've generally maintained the reduced caffeine, and I've been trying to stick with the more consistent bedtime. I'm finding screen time a challenge, and need more will-power to avoid this! It is also worth noting that I'm finding that at work the pressures of the projects I'm working on have felt high for a few months, and I know this isn't helping. Furthermore, I also realise that I'm not keeping myself as active as I have been previously. There doesn't seem to be an easy solution here, and I'm still not sure how much of my fatigue is HSP, and how much is me being busy all the time.

Bladder

Back in November I noted an alternative bladder medication, the switch from neditol (tolterodine) to oxybutynin. Overall both medications work, and I find that I am not desperately needing to go all the time. The messaging is different though. With the neditol I found that once I needed to go I needed to go to the toilet quickly, whereas with oxybutynin the need to go message builds up over a longer time, giving me more time to plan. I dont think that I am going to the toilet any more or fewer times per day, but I think it has have improved my need to go during the night, with there being less urgency there.

One other observation, and this is something which I've noted before the medication change-over. I think that flow pressure of my urine is decreasing - sometimes the flow out is just a dribble, and at other times the flow is steady, but less 'powerful' than it was in the past. This may, of course, be something to do with getting older rather than a result of HSP.

Spasticity

I think I'm spotting that moving is becoming a bit more difficult. I'm having to make more use of my upper body, especially when standing up, and I think that my speed and distance are both continuing to decrease slowly. I think that the main change is that when I'm chatting with people about my future, I'd placed my eventual need for a wheelchair to be sufficiently far in the future to be out of consequence. I had generally put the wheelchair at '5 to 10' years in the future, whereas now I feel that this timeframe is a bit too optimistic. I need to accept that this future me is getting closer, and I perhaps ought to be describing this as '5 or so' years away. I'll see how this feels and report back! I also know that the increasing need for wheelchair goes in parallel with increased need for changes to the way I cycle.