** Update: summary of my depression posts here: http://hspjourney.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/summary-of-depression-posts.html ***
In my recent browsing around the internet I was quite interested to find this paper: http://cre.sagepub.com/content/23/9/857 Basically it says (from the abstract only) that many people with HSP have mild depression, and that the depression is correlated with mobility. I'm not sure why I haven't picked up on this aspect so far?
In my understanding of whats (potentially) coming up for me, and in reading of various pages by others with the condition I am not surprised. Once you realise whats coming, you know your life is going to be different and that your mobility is going to be reduced. Because the condition is gradual this gives plenty of time for thinking about what might happen and how things might be different and there don't seem to be too many "at leasts.....".
All this thinking can lead to a more bleak outlook on the future, which I take to be another way of expressing depression. I can see that this may be much stronger for those who place a high value on activities which are mobile (sports, outdoor life, pets, children etc.) than for those who place a high value on potentially less mobile activities (art/literature, computing, films/TV, communicating etc.).
Wearing my fact finding hat I'm interested to find out about the Beck Depression Inventory (which is used in the study) and am interested to learn more details than wikipedia has to offer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beck_Depression_Inventory. My geek hat suggests that the level of depression would be correlated with the inverse of mobility - i.e. less mobile=more depressed, but I don't know how they were measuring mobility. Interested to see a copy of the full paper.
This blog records my journey to Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP, also known as Familial Spastic Paraparesis or FSP). I was diagnosed with SPG4 in 2009 when my wife became pregnant with our first child. I currently wear insoles, do daily stretches and weekly Pilates. I take medication for my bladder. I tweet about HSP, RareDisease and other things @munkee74.
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Thursday, 22 September 2011
Monday, 12 September 2011
Symptoms Update (Riding my bike)
OK, so another brief post in the never ending list of things which may or may not be relevant.
I cycle to work. Its 6-7miles each way (10-11km), and I can do this in about half an hour. In the last few weeks I've been noticing that my feet gradually move forwards on my pedals as I continue my journey. I wonder if my quads are getting more tight, preventing my knee from flexing quite as far on its way back.
I cant work out if getting some SPDs would be worth a try, or if thats going to turn out to be more trouble than its worth.
I cycle to work. Its 6-7miles each way (10-11km), and I can do this in about half an hour. In the last few weeks I've been noticing that my feet gradually move forwards on my pedals as I continue my journey. I wonder if my quads are getting more tight, preventing my knee from flexing quite as far on its way back.
I cant work out if getting some SPDs would be worth a try, or if thats going to turn out to be more trouble than its worth.