Tired Arms

It is the end of the day. I am writing this blog in advance. My arms are tired. My shoulders are tired. My hands are tired. It happens a lot to me these days; my upper body gets tired after a long day of wheeling about.

I had a conversation with another wheelchair denizen the other day. He is a complete paraplegic; he has no ability to move anything below his waist. He is 100% in a wheelchair. I was asking him how he managed. I wanted to know if he could give me some insight into where I was headed. His comment was that "it's like being on your feet all day". Only you use your hands.

When I was in the ALS clinic recently I asked the doctor about why my arms were so tired. He said I showed normal strength in my arms and hands. So I asked him about why my hands "went to sleep" so easily and why they got tingly so often. His comment? "Carpal tunnel syndrome".

In other words being in a wheelchair causes repetitive stress injury. Pushing yourself around all day causes your arms to hurt and your hands to hurt. It causes nerves to wear and tire. It's something you don't find out until you spend all day pushing yourself around in a wheelchair. It's another side affect of ALS, another ancillary benefit.

It's really frustrating. Even with this exercise I don't seem to be gaining any strength in my arms. They are not getting bigger, just tireder. I hate this nonsense. It's just hard. I am guessing that this is how its gonna go, how my disease will progress. Lots of work, limited reward.

That's one of the reasons I am leaving my job. It tires me out too much. I expect to sleep more and wheel around less. It may seem boring to you, but I am looking forward to a day when I can sleep until I want to, get up when I want to, have no responsibilities or plans, and go to bed when I am tired.

Of course, after about a week I will be bored, back looking for something to do, a reason to get out of bed.