Tina Wick – I’m still here, I’m still going

For the past 32 years I have worked as a nurse in a nursery. As you can imagine looking after young children, I have been on my feet a lot over all those years. I have to monitor the children from a development point of view and keep an eye out for any developmental issues they might have. 

I have two children of my own and three grandchildren. For many years I was active and was a big walker. Only a few years ago I climbed Scafell Pike, which is the highest mountain in England. 

But then my health started to deteriorate. I started to feel like my legs were heavy and I had aches and pains where I didn’t have them before. I went to the GP and he said that it was just part of getting old. But I know my body, I knew this was more than that so I asked for more tests to be done to see what was going on. Eventually I was diagnosed with a heart issue so I’m fitted with a monitor and on top of that they realised I had severe sleep apnoea.

That didn’t equate for my joint pains though. I asked if they could do an MRI scan and it was then I met a wonderful doctor at Leicester General Hospital who looked at the scan and said I had osteoarthritis in both knees, both hips and early stages in both of my hands. 

It’s quite the shopping list of ailments but I was determined to keep working. I’m not old enough to retire. My work usually starts at 7:15 am but at that time in the morning my body was simply too stiff, it was becoming harder and harder to get up and move at that time. So work sent me to an occupational therapist who said, “You’re a long way from retirement, you’ve got so much to offer”. The pain was unbearable a lot of the time, stairs became near impossible, I would have to crawl up them on all fours. I often couldn’t sleep as the pain was so bad, finding the right position and then in the middle of the night waking in agony.

Some days the pain felt as acute as a toothache at the top of my leg. But it also started to play on my mind all the time. I started having anxiety about going out. I was worried about the pain I might be in and the thought of not being able to rely on my joints. My hip can just give way, prior to my diagnosis I was falling over a lot and couldn’t understand why. 

The thing with osteoarthritis is on the outside you look like the person everyone’s always known you to be. Trying to explain pain to another person is very difficult because until you’ve experienced it you cannot understand it. Sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning is an achievement. 

They started me on paracetamol, but I was in so much pain I was taking six a day. I didn’t want to be taking that amount of drugs each day so I started to do some research into some alternatives. I started on supplements and now take Curcumin every day which is good for joints. I was standing in Superdrug one day and amid all the different gels and creams FlexiSEQ stood out to me. I looked at it and it seemed to tick all the boxes I was looking for, and then I realised it was drug-free. I am someone who tries to be quite holistic in what I put in my body. If it hadn’t been drug-free I would have tried it but knowing what side-effects things like Ibuprofen can have on the body I would have eventually looked for a drug-free alternative. I bought it and started using it as the pack said. 

I couldn’t believe the difference FlexiSEQ made. I wasn’t completely pain free but my stiffness was much less and my range of movement in my hips and my knees was significantly improved. I found I was able to get up stairs now without too much pain, not to mention the mental benefits it had. Thanks to FlexiSEQ I can now get a good night’s sleep without waking in the middle of the night to take paracetamol. When you’re in pain all the time it is so draining, it dominates your entire life, so to feel like that is now being managed, I feel more like me. 

I’ve been recommending it to people, I’ve been telling people to use it regularly and as the pack says because it can make a world of difference. But you have to keep moving, we’re not meant to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. I’ve got an exercise bike at home that I try to do 10 minutes a day on the days I’m not working. That way I’m still moving the joints, I’m not just sitting in a chair waiting to die. You have to find ways to keep moving, because when you do, your joints thank you for it. 

Getting these diagnoses is daunting, and it’s quite isolating. But at the end of it all I’m still here, I’m still doing what I want to do, I’m still working with young children. Yes, I’ve had to adapt but I’m still going. Arthritis doesn’t go away, there is no magic pill but do your research, get the right treatment for you. FlexiSEQ has changed my life, I’m able to still be independent. A positive mindset is everything.