I've been away from the forum for awhile and so I found myself perusing the forum today to see what kind of "goodies" you all had come up with in my absence. And to see if there was anything that I could contribute in turn to help lighten your load a little.
I won't bore you by repeating what has gone on before (my story is on the orthostatictremor Suggestions from Visitors page where I am known as Rich, Missouri - maybe you could edit that for me, Gloria) but actually I am now Rich in Panama (yep, I moved south - determined not to let this difficulty define or limit me any more than absolutely necessary). From that earlier entry you will know that I have now been practicing how to deal with this malady since the early 1990s, about 15-16 years so far. You would think that I would be getting pretty good at it by now. But I struggle daily, just as you do.
As an aside, for those readers who may be wondering what miracle drugs I am ingesting I should explain that I have determined from many of your own stories that rather than experimenting chemically on my body (as I am not willing to let the pharmacologists practice on me with various polysyllable chemical formulations - they just don't seem to contribute that much to a solution) I would try less invasive ways of getting my nervous system to behave, or at least compensate when it won't cooperate.
Over time, I suppose I have learned how to cope a little better and that is really what this post is intended to be. Some suggestions - tips if you will - as to how I am working around this POT (Primary Orthostatic Tremor) thingy.
I was one of the first on this site to suggest the cane with the folding seat on the forum, but I find that mine sits in my office at home most of the time. The reason? Well, not because it isn't a useful device - it really is. It's just that there are limited places I am willing to use it. I really don't enjoy looking like an oddity in public unless I just can't help it. Lesser of two evils, you see. Examples would include inside a book store looking at potential purchases for long periods of time, or waiting in a long line at an airport when I'm traveling alone and I have no one to hold my place in line. So as a seat, it is sometimes useful. But as a cane - not of much use with my condition.
Let me explain. I notice that some of you in your postings have mentioned that a doctor or two has recommended that you "use a cane". Like those doctors, at first I thought a cane would work too - but it really doesn't. Here's my theory on canes and POT. The stabilization that is needed for my POT condition (and this may or may not be true for you) is NOT out at the end of one of my arms holding a cane. Stabilization to quiet my shaking legs when standing still is most effective if applied to a different part of my anatomy.
Not to be indelicate here ladies, but the most effective stabilization for me is that which is applied to ........ my butt.
(Rich waits for the snickers and guffaws to trail off and then he continues his explanation). Seriously. Imagine a POT sufferer standing in a social situation - say, at a party conversing in an urbane and witty way (as POT sufferers are wont to do) with 4 to 5 other "normal" people. He (or she) is teetering on two very shaky and unreliable vertical stems with the calf muscles inside his (her) pant legs vibrating like a tuning fork at about 16-18 cycles per second and with the toes attempting to attach themselves to the floor through the soles of the shoes. If we are to rescue our hero or heroine in this scenario, it isn't going to be done by putting a cane in one of his/her hands. BUT (no pun intended), if we could help him/her by forming a tripod on the surface of the floor consisting of his/her two legs (now notoriously unstable) along with a THIRD non-vibrating leg extending from the same apex from whence the two legs extend (say the butt area) -- now we've got something that will work and will allow our conversationalist to hold forth conversationally long enough to appear as if he's not trying to get away from his conversation partners.
You see (at least for me) it is the tripod formed by the two unstable vibrating legs supported and bolstered by an unbending, rigid and straight reliable third appendage upon which the gluteus maximus can now rest. This completes a stable platform to support our subject (me, in this case) who can now appear to "be like everyone else" in this imaginary conversational grouping. In other words, a cane-like device is much more helpful to me if it is supporting me halfway up my body at the point where my legs are attached, not out at the end of one of my arms.
That's why you will find me trying (ahead of time) to form conversational groupings at such gatherings by putting my butt onto the edge of a sofa back, a bar stool, a table edge - in short, anything that is about the height of the aforementioned padded area of my anatomy. So, as I enter a room (or other situation), I am always gaging where I can arrange/position/manipulate/invite others to join me in my prearranged conversational setting. It doesn't always work out, but (there's that word again) I'm always trying.
Outside can be a problem because there are far fewer objects at hip height, but a stout tree or a car fender (automobile mudguard) will do.
In a hall, I head for a wall!
So, I wish you success and good fortune in your quest to find solutions to this interesting affliction. The ways of coping with this are as myriad as the people reading this forum.
I'll be back one of these days with more equally useless musings on the human condition and my static but vibrating legs. Meanwhile, maintain your sense of humor and keep your chin up, fellow POTters! I will if you will.
Rich (shaking in Panama, but only when I'm standing still!)
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If you live to be one hundred, you've got it made. Very few people die past that age. -George Burns
The latest on our excellent adventure in Panama.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/young-in-panama/
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