Up at 7am, woke to rain beautiful rain, heavy rain as well just like yesterday. Had a text from Jess saying that Leo is really sick it came through at 3.22am I replied this morning saying if he is no better to ring Dr to your door.

Received a text from Jess at 11.08 letting me that Leo is still coughing but says he feels better.

She took him to a Dr and he has a chest infection and will have tomorrow of school. She rang his driver and let him know.

Up and dressed by 6.30, Leo here for the day the antibiotics are working and he feels much better, he is still coughing a bit.

Stopped raining around 10ish and got really warm.

Had to turn the air con at 3pm as I am dripping sweat. Only had it on for 30 minutes

Leo asked to stay the night and of course we said he could.

Had a quick shower before bed

Up and dressed before my alarm went off a cool start to the day.

I went with Leo to meet his driver

Has warmed up nicely not hot enough for air con. Blain came home from school said he was throwing up.

Just as I was leaving to go up and get Leo the car with him in it turned up.

Leo here again tonight, at 5pm Tasha rang Jess to see why she hadn’t picked up Leo as I didn’t know he was staying the night.

Up and dressed before the alarm again, dry and warm.

Jess and Tasha came down and Jess took the scooter for a spin out the front.

Sandy asked me to order a photo of dad which I did straight away.

Mum rang early, to tell me what’s going on with Michelle & Landon.

I left at 3.20 to wait for Leo so I wouldn’t be late again, I would rather wait for 10 minutes then be late,

I have taken to listening to an audio book of an evening before going to sleep now I am up to chapter 5 of Mutiny on the Bounty.

Up and dressed as soon as the alarm went off Leo was dropped of at 7am.

I took Leo up to meet his driver and just after I got back it started to rain but only rained for a short while.

A very warm day.

I took my audio book to listen to it while waiting for Leo.

Tasha’s birthday she is 33 now, I sent her a text this morning wishing her Happy Birthday.

When I took Leo up to meet Brian I also took my bags and left them at Tasha’s.

Tasha & I picked up Mum & Dawson and drove them to Charlie.

Blain had the day off school as it is the swimming carnival.

Jessica got me ready for bed before her and Leo left.

Had a sleep in got up at 8am, felt good to have a sleep in.

Jess dropped Leo off at 9.15am and Tim drove her to pick up the van she has to use today.

Another warm day.

I managed to wet myself because I was too slow getting to the toilet.

Kathy came over and helped Tim change the sheets and vacuumed she also got the clothes of the line for me, she wasn’t in the best of moods.

Leo here tonight.

Some people come

into our lives and

quickly leave, while

some stay awhile

leaving footprints

on our hearts, and

we are never the

same again.

Yet another stinking hot day, turned the air con on at 7.30am as soon as I got up.

Tim is replacing the air con in the kitchen, Jason Brown came and helped him took around 3hrs to do it.

He also finished the ramp for the front door.

Been extremely hot again around 41 degrees today.

Mum rang me around 10 and she was near tears, Michelle was being Michelle nagging and demanding. She wants to buy Dawson a TV and have him give the one he has which Mum bought him for Christmas to his Dad so she can have the old set which he gave to his Dad to have in his shed. She thinks because gave Dawson the old set 4yr ago that it’s hers so she should get it. When you give a gift it is no longer yours.

Tasha looks really drained today.

Up at 6.15 am, coolish enough to have the doors open.

Leo & Jess arrived around 6.40.

Leo is making a mess with the Styrofoam packing from the new air con.

I went to aqua and enjoyed it came home and had a shower.

Around 1pm the scooter arrived so I rang and told Tim, he is happy.

Leo walked in at 2.45pm didn’t realised it was his early day

Tim has assembled the scooter when he got home from work.

I love it……………………………..

Up at 6.15 and dressed by 6.25 when Jess & Leo arrived. Vacuumed the lounge room before doing anything else.

I rode the scooter when Leo went to meet his driver, I had no trouble getting in and out of the house.

Leo forgot to take his medication this morning, so I rang the school this morning.

I rode the scooter up to meet Leo this afternoon.

Up at 6.15 opened the house and got dressed, Jess & Leo arrived at 6.50 she was running late.

I took Leo to meet his “taxi” it is a good feeling to be able to do this.

Been a coolish day so no air con needed.

I have been unwell this afternoon low BGL Leo made me a ham & cheese toastie and I started to feel better.

Tasha had to meet the taxi as I was not good

Awake at 6am so I got up and dressed before alarm went off. Still cool this morning, I have opened the house up.

Leo’s school photos being taken today I had to find cash and put it in the envelope for him.

Tim home at 10 for a few hours.’

Mum rang late and she was annoyed that I had Blain & Leo around trying to talk to me.

Had a restless night, got up when the alarm went off and had a shower before getting ready.

Leo sounds terrible, he also had a bad night.

It is raining this morning and very humid.

Tasha walked Leo up and spoke to his driver and asked him if it is raining this afternoon would he be able to drive Leo down the driveway as I would have trouble getting up the driveway.

It has been raining all day so I was glad that I didn’t have to go and get him.

Tasha rang at 5.30 to say she wasn’t able to help me get ready for bed, as she was just leaving Kurri Kurri and to ring Jess. I am not ringing Jess, I will cope on my own.

Awake and up at 6.30 after a bad nights sleep I woke feeling sick mostly it’s a headache. I am suppose to be going to Dave’s for Mum’s birthday, but if I continue to feel like this I may not go.

Just had some banana bread and feel like I am going to throw up and the headache is getting worse.

Went back to bed for 1.5hrs after I got up I got dressed to go to Dave’s but Kathy & Tim thought I didn’t look well enough to go and talked me out of going.

It has been wet on & off all day.

I am up going back to bed as I am still not good.

The real secret of happiness is

not what you give or what you

receive; it’s what you share.

Had another late start as I slept in till 7.30ish I got up and dressed and did my daily weigh in. turned the air con on at 8am.

Tim’s birthday.

Blain home by 8.30am.

Kathy and Summer came over to see if Tasha can help with doing something to Summers hair.

Yesterday afternoon Leo went for a bike ride and decided to ride up and see his great-nana (my mum).

I am so proud of this boy he has so much compassion and empathy.

When I spoke to mum she told me about Leo’s visit, she was really happy to see him.

Up at 6.30 after another restless night to find Tim up and in his office at his computer he also had a restless night and had been up an hour. He has now gone to work.

It is cooler this morning but I am sitting in sweat. Turned the air con on at 1pm.

Blain came down a couple of times to check on me.

Jessica said that Leo rode his bike to his friend Kaja’s place she said he is becoming very independent.

Slept in till 7.30am still have pain in my hip and tailbone.

Tim has an appointment at the hospital about his nose.

Tim is off for the rest of the week.

He got another script for the stuff to wash out his nose maybe this time he will use it.

Tim has ordered new ink for our computers.

Up at 6.30am when the alarm went off I was in getting dressed Jess & Leo turned up.

Tim and I waited with Leo till the driver turned up, Tasha was rude to him it was her tone but she thinks she did nothing wrong.

Tim went to Jess’s with trailer and took a load of stuff she didn’t want to the tip. When he got to the tip he wasn’t allowed in because he was wearing thongs she had to come home and change them.

After the tip he took the cans and cashed them in he got $170 spilt between him and Leo.

Kathy has jury duty, she was at the court all day and has to go back next Tuesday

Leo had a good first day when he got home he made himself 2 ham & cheese toasties.

Up at 6.15am before the alarm went off opened the house up and got dressed. Got a text from Sandra saying not going to the club for lunch no one has any money. Both Tim and myself are disappointed.

Mum’s birthday she is 80 today we went to cemetery before going back to Mum’s for lunch, hot chips.

Leo is here for the night, it has been stinking bloody hot all day.

Awake at 5am but laid in bed till 6.30am, I got up when my alarm went off.

No make-up today just eye shadow, lippy and jewellery.

Tasha had to help have a smoke as I was in a bad way, I then had a lay down till mum rang.

Really stinking hot today, and when I got home from shopping Tim didn’t have the air con on.

Awake at 6am but didn’t get up till 7am.

Last night at 10.30 I thought I heard Jess crying in the lounge room so I jumped up came out to see what was the matter only to find Tim alone watching telly .and he said no one was crying in what he was watching.

Had a stressful morning, nothing I did was easy and it all felt too hard and not having any rollies to smoke didn’t help.

Tim took his compute over to Kathy’s for Michael to put in a hard drive for him.

He also took Sydney’s birthday present, which she loved.

I got up at 6.10am after a somewhat restless night and the first thing I did was get dressed and open the doors except the front door would not open.

I then decided to vacuum out

Washed all the floor mats twice to get them clean.

Also did a load of washing.

Been a good day.

Up at 6am and tidy kitchen and took medication then used the Wii Fit for the first time in 690 days going to start using it first thing again at the moment all I could manage was body test where it checks your weight and BMI but it is a start.

I had to go back to bed at 7am but only laid there for 15 minutes. I had to get Tasha to help me get ready for aqua.

After aqua I had a shower and afterwards Jess helped me get dressed.

She received a letter from her GP something about Leo on the bottom there was a note saying he had an appointment at Wallsend at 3pm since she didn’t know anything about it we rang and asked about they knew nothing about any appointment. So a good thing we rang and just didn’t turn up.

Tim had a CT scan on his nose and they found something like liquid blocking his nostrils. So there is a problem.

I woke at 6.30am after another restless night, had another dream in which Tim didn’t love me although on the plus side in the dream I was walking normal without pain.

Tasha drove me to the doctors he appointment went well got my script and he checked the mole it is nothing to worry about . He has referred me to the Royal to see someone about my incontinence.

After that I went to see Karen Burns about my feet. After I explained how much my feet sweat and having them suddenly start sweating she got why I prefer to go barefoot. She could see how my feet could slip and slide in my shoes.

Asked Tasha to come down at 6pm to put me to bed.

I got up at 6.30 and got dressed and used the Wii Fit but not for long.

Jess dropped off Leo at 10am, she had to go into work to get her run sheet for the year.

Kelli is going to help her clean her house, Leo would be under foot

It has been a stinking hot day

She arrived at 3pm to get Leo and left again at around 4.30pm to head home

Up at 6am again, got dressed straight away then used the Wii Fit before Sandy rang to tell me that Mum had a bad night and that she stayed the night with Mum.

Mum rang me around 9am and told me all Sandy told me earlier but at least hearing her I could tell she was sick but not too bad.

When Tim g ot up I had him cut off a pair of my leggings to wear them as shorts to check wear tomorrow.

It is a very hot day, Tasha rang to on me and told me to drink water between drinks of Pepsi,

Jessica picked up my scripts for me and after she left I attempted to hem the pants I had Tim cut off this morning. I failed at first but kept at it and at last succeed.

At 2.30pm the air con in the kitchen started blowing hot air, it does this because of how hot it was around 42 degrees Celsius outside and the air con had been on since 7am.

Up at 6am to find it still about 29 degrees I turned the air con on at 6.30am and it was working fine.

Jess took me shopping while Leo went to work with Papa. Mum didn’t go shopping as she is still not well.

At lunch time it is still 28 degrees, Tim and Leo here, Tim will be going back to work at 4.15pm finishing 8.45pm.

Cool enough to turn the air con off according to Tim I would have left it on a little longer.

Tasha said she would be down by 5.30 but went out and it is now 6 and she is still not home.

Going to be another hot night.

I had a sleep in till 7.30, woke up in pain, it was around my tailbone sprayed some ice spray on it.

Kathy-Lee arrived around 10ish with the shopping, I was planning a birthday lunch for Tim. However, yet again it didn’t go to plan, Jess & Leo arrived around 10.30 but she tells me that at 11.30 they had to go out but would be back by 12.30 for lunch. Then Kelli rang and asked if she could watch Daemon & Freya for a bit which was ok not a problem.

Jess rings and said that their appointment had been pushed back and she will now be here around 1.15-30.

Tasha went out to help a friend when I asked if she would be here for lunch all she said was “ok be home soon” the last time she would be home soon she arrived 4hrs later.

I am feeling let down again, this the third year in a row this type of thing has happen on Tim’s birthday.

I feel like why do I bother.

Tasha arrived at 1 and Jess at 1.25.

Kathy left at 1.50.

I said sorry to my girls via text message and all three forgot to help the bed.

Tasha came down at 5pm to help me but I said it was too early as I want to have a shower at 6 before going to bed. She was going out and will not be back for a while.

Tim got his sewing machine out and fiddle with it in order to get it to work. He has taken up Leo’s school pants. Then the machine started playing up again.

I had a shower and Tim helped me get ready for bed.

Friends find the

sweetest sense of

happiness comes

from simply

being together

EPIDEMIOLOGY

The precise incidence and prevalence of FMDs are unknown, as population-based studies are unavailable. Estimates of the prevalence of FMD among adults and children with movement disorders vary between 2 to 4 percent. Women are affected more often than men.

A retrospective chart review of our centre in Toronto Canada yielded 206 patients with a diagnosis of FMD out of 7624 records, for a prevalence of 3 percent. Of note, our center receives referral from both primary care physicians and from other academic movement disorders centers. The prevalence of FMD among patients who present with dystonia and fixed, contracted joints may be even higher. As an example, one study of 41 such patients with prospective data reported that criteria for functional dystonia were fulfilled in 15 (37 percent). A review of patients assessed by a movement disorders program found that of 321 new patients, 10 percent were diagnosed with a functional movement disorder.

In most reports of adults and children with FMD, functional tremor is the most frequent type of involuntary movement, followed by functional dystonia. Among our cohort of 206 patients with FMD, the most common functional involuntary movements were tremor (33 percent), dystonia (25 percent), myoclonus (25 percent), gait disorders (11 percent), and parkinsonism (6 percent). Women comprised 77 percent of the total cohort. Although our population is culturally diverse, a formal study of transcultural differences that compared patients with FMD from the United States and Spain revealed similar frequencies of movement types, gender, anatomic distribution, and disability across ethnic groups.

I am slowly learning to live and accept my limitations there are more and more things that I have trouble doing. I have things that help me cope, as in not get as upset and depressed when things are not working and it’s just not easy.

There are days when I struggle to prepare food to eat, some days I just like someone else to either prepare the even a simple sandwich at times is hard. I haven’t tried to eat cereal in a long time and ya know I have been feeling like corn flakes lately. Last winter I tried having soup, that ended in tears and frustration.

I have taken to using a bath board when I shower as I find the heat of a shower causes me to become light headed and lose my balance. I prefer to have a bath but with water restrictions I think a shower is better as I use less water.

Getting dressed takes me ages three times as long as having someone assist me, this is because I break into a sweat often during the day and no it’s not menopause that I went through 14yrs ago. So often I am all clammy and sticky, also this causes me to stink more. Some may think have a cool shower but I can do that and be sitting on the bed drying off and break into a sweat again.

I have to use a walker when I go out but only if I have a small amount of walking to do, if I have a lot of walking to do I need a wheelchair, or a motorised scooter.

I cannot drive so have to rely on someone to get me from point a to point b and home again, I have had a few episodes of confusion and loss of balance. So the girls do not want me to go shopping alone and honestly I think often they are right.

I used to love to read but find it hard to concentrate and can only manage a couple of pages at a time, it is so frustrating.

Then there are my bladder problems which is horrible and embarrassing but something I have to deal with.

Is it any wonder I feel depressed and like crying.

Functional movement disorders (FMDs) are clinical syndromes defined by the occurrence of abnormal involuntary movements that are incongruent with a known neurological cause and are significantly improved on neurological exam with distraction or non-physiologic maneuvers. This definition replaces the previous one that considered FMDs to be “psychogenic movement disorders” and attributed the occurrence of the abnormal movements to a psychiatric cause. FMDs were first described in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and have been the subject of great interest and puzzlement ever since.

In addition to “psychogenic,” alternative terms for FMDs include “hysterical” or “nonorganic” movement disorders and “medically unexplained” motor symptoms. In modern times, awareness of FMDs has increased in the movement disorder literature.

However, the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of FMDs are not fully understood, and debate continues as to whether “functional” or “psychogenic” is the better term for these movement disorders

The dangers of FMDs are manifold: excessive, unnecessary, and costly investigations of FMD resulting in reinforcing the sick role, misdiagnosing organic illness as psychogenic misdiagnosing FMD as organic, and failure to recognise a kernel of organic illness embedded in the symptoms of an FMD. The prevalence, poor prognosis, and intensive health care utilisation of FMDs present a problem that has been likened to a crisis in neurology. In order to offer the best chance for remission and to use scarce resources wisely, rapid and accurate diagnosis of FMDs is essential.