I score somewhere between 6 and 10 - I don't know what answer to give for 4 of the questions:
3. Do you feel you would defend yourself against a physical attack as well as an average person of your gender would? Yes, 1 point. No, 0 points
Depends on whether or not I can take my age into account. I like to think I could defend myself at least as well as the average 64-year-old man could.
6. Do you often use over the counter pills or medicines to cope with pain that isn't a broken bone or something like that but is rather an internal physical pain such as stomach or head ache? No, 1 point. Yes, 0 points
I fairly often use ibuprofen gel and/or Deep Heat cream for the following conditions:
1. Suspected minor arthritis in one joint of one hand (symptom is minor pain for a lot of the time, occasionally becoming moderate pain for a split second). I wouldn't bother normally, but I play the guitar a lot, which seems to exacerbate the pain, so tend to use topical anti-inflammatories before and after a long session, mostly as a precaution but sometimes because I get fed up with the minor pain, typically when my mind isn't occupied enough to distract me from it.
2. I get random itching, apparently it's not an infection or a real clinical disorder, I think it's just a sensory issue. Often I can fix it by scrubbing my skin with a wet, reasonably stiff brush, but occasionally that doesn't work, so I use Deep Heat cream which seems to burn the irritation away.
I also occasionally have this strange inflamed feeling in my entire body, which annoys me, so sometimes I pop 400mg of ibuprofen to ease it out.
7. Are you able to wear expensive leather shoes or shoes with not much support if you are a man or high heels if you are a woman without getting painful blisters? Yes, 1 point. No, 0 points
Don't know, I've never tried. I got fallen arches many years ago, and the "medical shoe" place (Scholls) made me a pair of custom plastic arch supports which they reckoned I'd need to wear forever and have re-shaped regularly. I quickly switched to a cheap pair of off-the-peg rubber inserts, and still put them in my shoes just in case my arches go again. Frankly I think it's overkill and suspect my arches are fine now. I recently stopped using them in my carpet slippers and have come to no harm. I might try leaving them out of my outdoor shoes one day soon. But I wouldn't want to try "shoes with not much support," and the question seems a strange one to have in a questionnaire about general health, because a lot of people, though in good health, would stick to sensible footwear. Don't get me started about high heels.
8. Were you one of the least talented students in your school P. E. Class? No, 1 point. Yes, 0 points
I probably was seen as hopeless at P.E., but that was probably only because I didn't get the instructions and I kept fooling about. AFAIK I was at least as strong as average, but it was never properly tested.
Anyway, overall I guess I'm in fairly good health, especially considering my age (surely that has to be a consideration here?). The main health issues I have seem to be down to sensory issues. Even before I knew what AS was, I used to describe myself as being "never really ill, but always sub-clinically ill."
18 Oct 2017, 6:42 am
