HI All......Thank you for all the encouragement and information about nerve damage. I'm going to start walking each day. I used to do that before I started feeling so bad. I take Lyrica for pain but it's not covering it well....and it's making me gain weight.....that's another thing that's really killing me!...besides the worry and depression.
My bariatric surgeon has a nutritionist that works with his patients and I have taken all the vitamins and had the blood work every 6 months as required after the surgery.....every thing has always looked good! I thought "I" was doing good! I had NO idea I was getting sicker and sicker each day......till this past Feb. when I started having the terrible aching and feeling like I had NO energy at all! I was trying to work each day (I work in a Special Education Life Skills classroom and it's a very demanding job!) and then I started missing 1 day a week because I just couldn't put one foot in front of the other!
Anyway.....now I have to get well......or at least feeling better so I'm better able to cope.
I've been going to counselor for the past month.....but after seeing her today I've decided not to see her any more. I might try a different counselor....I don't know at this point.
Thank you to everyone who posted today......it's SO nice to know that there's people out there who understands this pain and what I'm going through. I'll see my Rheumatologist on Monday ......with my husband who is SO great with all of this.......and I'll let y'all know what I find out! Roxie

No kidding it's demanding. I have multiple Special Education credentials in California, and taught middle school LH classes for years, then became a Resource Specialist. I got totally burned out after 14 years of teaching, and so got a BS in Computer Science and became a programmer for another 17 years.

My family urged me to go back to teaching when I quit programming, and "coast". Some teachers did that, and that was one of the reasons I changed careers. It turned me off so having to work with them.

Teaching, especially special needs children, was a somewhat holy calling to me. Kids need their teachers, look up to their teachers, and only feel physically and emotionally safe in a classroom with a dedicated teacher who works their butts off for them and their parents. If a teacher doesn't come home exhausted every evening, and isn't in a haze of fatigue come June (but never show it to their kids), they're not doing their job properly in my opinion.

Your statement that teaching is a "very demanding job!" says a lot of good things about your character. It's great for me to hear another educator say that. I hope and pray you can continue working with your students as long as you want to.

HI David!
Thank you. I do love working with the kids.....esp. the kids with Autism. They are a special breed....so to speak. I love them.....tho they are difficult at times but when you get them on 'your side' you have it made. They can be a lot of fun. Roxie

Oh Roxie,

Best stay off the bike. Maybe you can start a walking group?

(I won't tell you how many diggers I have taken. I have the scar from a shifter that hit my calf, back when the shifters were on the downtubes of bikes. I also went over my handlebars when mtn. biking. Oh and once my foot came out of my cleats, and got stuck in my back wheel..I did some races into my late 40's then I got sane.

Road rash is for healthier people than me now, altho, I assume due to my devotion to the sport, I will get more. Right now, my sacrum is too sore to sit on, so my bike is temporarily parked until they figure this problem out. I cringe when sitting down and cringe when standing up, and I am sitting on a heating pad.)

I walk on a bike trail...have to drive there to walk.

Does your school have a fitness center? Not as much fun as a walk outside but a treadmill can be a lifesaver.

A thunderstorm put the kabash on our solstice program at the archeological park near my house....I better get off this computer before I get zapped.

Wow, you have a stressful job and it sounds like you are doing a lot to help yourself...

I am sure you can get the nutritional component corrected, but it is disappointing to think that it went on and wasn't caught sooner...

There is a study out that cycling of all things improved Parkinson's. It is on the Parkinson's forum. Now that is not for every one, as if your balance is impaired, you could take a digger...not to mention if you don't have a safe place to ride, I don't recommend it, plus it is fairly aerobic, unless you really know how to use gears and have a lightweight bike.

Walking and swimming are sure bets. Walking has the added benefit of weight bearing to prevent osteoporosis, where swimming has the benefit of weightlessness if you are injury prone....and start easy.

I live in an area where cycling is rather chic....even in winter...tried that when I was younger...it didn't work for me then and it will not work for me now...thing called black ice. It hurt 20 years ago. Now it could land me in a nursing home.

The other thing is you can make the exercise social...doing walks or rides for causes. You meet people and get lots of tee shirts...eventually you have lots of rags!!

One big thing is making sure your body doesn't have any postural issues...in otherwords, one leg shorter than the other, or 'falling arches' hyperpronation etc. Regardless how much you exercise, if you are not doing it right or need some correction, you will hurt yourself. I developed a tibial plateau fracture due to uncorrected hyperpronation prior to my diagnosis with PN....I had no idea I hyperpronated...I do now.

This is where a good physical therapist comes in....without orthotics I would be toast...and I need new ones, I can tell...that is not all I need new!

I tried cycling 4 yrs ago.....bought a great bike and rode around the neighborhood...I took a corner too closely (I was on the sidewalk at this point) and caught some gravel......slide and landed down a driveway right in front of car! Scared me to death and the poor driver of that car! LOL Since then my bike has been parked. Now I have OsteoArthritis in my knee so it doesn't bend well So I think I'll stick with the walking......tho we don't have a great walking area here in our neighborhood because of the way the houses are built. I wish I could find someone who wanted to walk with me.....it's always more fun to walk and talk.
As for my job.....yes it's very stressful. We had 11 kids in our room this past school year and 9 had Autism.....it's an epidemic! Hopefully when the scientists find a cure for PN they'll figure out Autism too! Roxie