| I discovered your website recently and read it through with sympathetic interest. I am an 83 year old woman now living, with my husband, in a pleasant retirement home complex in Pennsylvania. I've struggled for about 50 years with OT, trying to cope with ever increasing problems of inconvenience, embarrassment, and misunderstanding; also with skeptical and uninformed doctors, futile examinations and medications that caused other troubles and did not work. It is hard for me to pinpoint an exact time for my first OT encounters except to say that in my late 20's and early 30's I can recall instinctively backing up against something when I had to stand for any length of time, such as while watching a parade with the children (4 of them). Then in my late 30's my legs started to shake uncontrollably at one time when I was singing a solo. That began the endless encounters with doctors who treated me for "nerves". I knew differently, but what could I do? I had to make adjustments in how I managed my housework and worked at my job as a Research Librarian. Fortunately, there was little pain involved, and I could walk quite well, participate in sports activities, and do a lot of traveling. I switched my music activities from singing and directing music to playing the piano. I guess this is one emphasis I would make--to know what you can't handle, and either find an alternate way to do it or abandon that project for another. It wasn't until about 1986, that, in a Florida neurological clinic, one of the doctors had recently read in a medical journal of cases similar to my "neuromuscular disorder" which they named "Orthostatic Tremor". My primary reason for writing this is to tell others about a piece of equipment that has helped me greatly. It is a stroller/walker with four 8 inch wheels, adjustable handbars with brakes, removable basket, and, best of all, with a stool-height ledge seat that you can turn around and perch on to shop, or stop to converse with a friend. It is light weight, collapsible, and easily transportable in the trunk or back-seat of a car. It's readily available now in most retail medical supply stores, or (cheaper) through health-oriented mail order catalogs. I bought my walker from a mail order house which now has a great catalog website: www.drleonards.com using "deluxe mobilator" as a search word. With this unit I have been able to maintain a reasonably active and productive lifestyle. Osteoarthritis has added further complications, and I now use a cane and a wonderful electric scooter to get around our living complex. (Our apartment home is full of high stools, some with wheels, and grab rails from here to there!) Hope this will be helpful to someone. My very best wishes to all my world-wide "fellow-sufferers"--living with OT is indeed a frustrating challenge! - Mary B. PA, USA |