Hi Guys

I have the same problem with vibrations. The type of 4wd we bought depended on how bumpy the ride was. Our 4wd is pretty good, better than our last one, but still hell on earth for me. I have to hold my foot off the floor of the car, hovering in the air, it's that bad. But of course that's hard to do when you have an RSD affected hand and arm too.

So what I do now (if I'm not driving, that is) is take a lounge cushion (so a small 35cmx35cm size) and fold it in half, then put that under my thigh. It limits the vibrations I get through the seat into the top of my leg, and stops my foot from touching the car floor. It feels well supported and just makes things easier.

Or if we're going on a long drive, I sit in the middle seat of the back and put my leg straight through to the front seat, on a cushion on top of the drink holder thingy in the middle. (I hope you can understand what I mean!)

But I've actually just bought an inflatable foot rest. The bottom is flat but the top is high at the front and back but dips in at the middle, like a V shape. You put your heel in the V shape and it helps support your foot while you're in the car. It reckons because it's full of air (you can choose how firm/soft) it helps limit the vibrations as well. It was AU$30 down to $5 so worth a try, anyway!

My arm and hand is also the same, so if I'm a passenger I actually put my arm in a sling. That way it's well supported but not touching any part of the car.

As for airplanes, it's a nightmare. I last flew last September, from Sydney to the Gold Coast (1hr flying each way). I cried. In front of my four sisters in law, I cried. The pain was beyond anything I've ever felt. I tried lifting my leg up and supporting under my thigh, but it just didn't work as well. Even without my foot on the floor, the vibrations through the seat were insane.

It took me two days of being dosed up and staying in bed for the pain to settle down, which was just horrible when it was a girls trip away. For the return flight I took 20mg endone (normally I'd only take 5-10mg at any time, I've only had 20mg doses after operations) but it still wasn't enough. I've had to resign to the fact that unless it's a huge emergency I'm not going to be able to fly anywhere for a very long time.

We recently went down to Melbourne for a holiday (to see family for Christmas- it's a 1500km trip) and because of how I am in planes, we knew we couldn't fly, but I can't be in the car for long either. So we ended up taking 4 days to drive down there and 4 days to drive back (normally you can do it in 12 hours), with stops every 2 hours, stopping anywhere from 2-10 hours each time. The whole trip was rearranged and organised around my reaction to vibrations!

Oh, and I get the kids thing too with the loud noise flaring me up- and I have four kids! Our house can be crazily noisy sometimes- the tv on loud, kids on the Wii in the other lounge with it up full volume and laughing and yelling etc, Hannah screaming around the house on her trike, computer games on, arguments about who's turn it is.... is it flaring you up just reading this?! I often have to retreat to my room to get away from it all, the only trouble is the kids follow me in to give me cuddles and make me feel better! But that usually ends up with them arguing about who gets to cuddle me first!

And I'm the biggest party pooper when Matt is play wrestling and tickling the kids. They scream the high pitched screams and I can't handle it! It's horrible! I know they're having fun but I can't be anywhere near them when they do that.

I also can't handle the vibrations from a loud tv or at the movies, no difference there either.

People can't understand how the vibrations affect us, though. My SIL asked us to visit last week but that's a 1 hour drive on country roads and I said I just couldn't. We've gone up there a fair bit lately and each time I've been in tears on the way and way back and I've gotta start being more assertive. She just couldn't understand why it was so bad for me and hasn't talked to me since. Ah well, you can only do what you can do, right?

Anyway, I'll be giving this new footrest thing a try so I'll let you guys know if it helps.

Daylilyfan- Thanks also for the tip about the vibration gloves- I'm going to see if I can get them over here, they sound great.

x Kate