The Chain Theory

I have what might be a silly question, I know there are people out there, and I am one of them, who have to budget their energy reserves carefully. These people suffer from a wide variety of maladies ranging from Lupus to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Arthritis to Fibromyalgia.  These people group together under the title of "Spoonies", thanks to Christine Miserandino and her spoon theory.  My question is, what do we call those of us who have an additive problem that is like being pulled back and gets worse as we go through the day?

I was sitting trying to think of a similar description for the way I have to force myself to wade through invisible mud and suffer from the delayed pain that this causes.  This may not be typical of other Osteo-Arthritis sufferers, but it’s my description of my “Demon”.

The spoon theory states that you have blocks of energy, represented by a handful of spoons that get taken away as you do tasks throughout the day.  My “Demon” doesn’t take, until later, but adds, however, he makes sure I throw my spoons about too!

What you need to do is imagine that as I start to walk, or stand, this little blighter nips up behind me and threads a chain through my leg.  Not between them, but sort of sticks a link of the chain right into and through my knee.  Needless to say, the analgesics I am on hide the actual pain of the link being threaded through the knee, but sometimes, the heat used to weld the link shut can be felt.

Like Jacob Marley, in “A Christmas Carol”, who appears to Ebenezer Scrooge weighed down by chains he forged in life, my chains weigh me down throughout the day and drag along behind me as I walk.  It starts off with just small light chains, but these are added to and added to as I move, if I can stop and take a rest with my weight off my legs, some may fall off, but there’s always some that don’t.

The day goes on, with these chains dragging me down, throwing my spoons out as I go along, until at last, I run out of spoons and fall into bed.  This is the time the Demon really has his fun.  He gets to stand at the end of my bed and pull the chains with all his might, pulling on those links that pass through my shoulders and knees.  He doesn’t have the decency to undo the link that goes through the joint, just pulls as hard as possible to yank the chains out, dragging the last link straight through and out!

I had tried to find other descriptions, like a back-pack being filled with stones, but being a “Stonie” didn’t sound too good, that and the pain at the end of the day isn’t there.  The chains seem to be the best description, so, as well as being a “Spoonie”, I’m a “Chainee”.