Amen!!! From late last year I started to suffer from chronic lower back pain. So bad every morning preparing to go to work in the morning was an ordeal. I didn't know why all of a sudden it should start to hurt when I hadn't done anything particularly different in my routine. This went on for months. It got worse each time. My doctor just put it down to my excess weight (that's another post right there but not right now) and prescribed me pain killers. Then one week I went on Annual Leave and didn't go to work for a week. Almost immediately I felt relief but I just thought it was because whatever was causing my back ache was healed and gone. I went back to work and I thought nothing of it till a day or two into being back the awful spasms started again. I couldn't understand it. It was not until I went away on holiday again a few months later that immediately I stopped going to work my back was fine. I realised it was the chair I was sitting in that was causing my back pain. Doing irrepairable damage. I immediatley informed my line manager who discovered my office chair was still movable but broken. When I moved to that department I was given an old chair which is normal to save costs and because it still moved on its wheels it was assumed it was okay but it was already broken. So when a Health and Safety assessment was done it was revealed a standard chair was not right for me and even the purchase of a new standard chair would damage my back. They assessed my height which was important for the seat and how the legs would extend from the seat. They even looked at seat width and back support. The right chair was ordered and I suffered no back pain until I left my job to go back to university. I felt bad because the chair cost £800! But as it happens there were as many people in the office in need of the same chair and it was made use of when I left. I shared this with my doctor who apologised after I kind of reprimanded him for not looking closely at my symptoms and always just diagnosing 'fat' to everything. Everything is always "well it's your weight". Yes, sometimes it is and the darn truth is I still need medical help and support. Not a put and shut up because you're fat and you did this to yourself treatment! I really hate that!!!
Anyway, I began to look into the benefits of plus size living and plus size furniture. So many of us are squeezing ourselves into standard sized chairs, beds and sofas because we feel it's embarrasssing to be seen requiring extra sized items. After my back pain that thinking for me went out the window. My comfort of living became as important to me as to the person who enjoys good living from thier furniture everyday. I realised why some people don't even look at plus size furniture. The expense! Often you have to look online for specialist shops which are few and when you do find them if you live in the UK you are looking to pay tripple the cost to include the cost of importing from the US. So what to do? If you can afford it buy it. If you can't but want it then start to save up. If that takes too long, improvise.
I've got back problems again. Why? Because I was too cowardly to insist to my landlord and friend that my physical furniture needs were not and would not be the same as a standard sized person. Even now my friend cannot truly grap the seriousness of the condition this bed he insisted I use has caused me. Slimmer people often just don't get it. Frustrating. I slept on a futon for a month and now because of previous back pain and with this new pain my back was thrown completely out of alignment. I've been in pain for longer than a month, am on a cocktail of painkillers to cope with the pain and have to have phsyiotherapy. Next time I will speak up more and educate someone on why I need to be different. I didn't want to rock the boat and upset our friendship but in the end the pain I was feeling was more than I could bear and I Just had to insist. I even thought to just leave. It would have been a shame as I really like the place and area. I don't need a special bed as it happens. Actually this time a normal divan bed is the right bed for me. Not too hard and not too soft. Sturdy enough to cope with my weight. So sometimes just being wise about the type of furniture you chose is just as good as buying plus size specific furniture. Another way is to have something custom made for you. I love custom made anything! I love having something made for me to my specific wants and needs for that item. I want to live in comfort just like anyone else so I will not allow anyone to shame me into not personalising my living area in a way that provides me comfort. When I finish uni and move into my own place again God willing I will be much better prepared.
http://www.plussizefurniture.net/page3.html
Have you got plus size furniture in your home? How has this helped you? Has it made life easier for you? Please share. At the moment I am in just a room. The bed situation is being sorted at last but not without some frustration to both parties the landlord and me. But I know the landlord and I know it's not deliberate. I just don't know how to articulate the issue I have with his futon and I hate feeling like a pain and a diva. I don't want to speak out but i I'm to live comfortably I need to. I just have an issue with the pain this way of living gives me. He can't understand and I'm okay with that now. Sometimes I just have to step off my soap box. My next mission is to find me an office chair I can fit my entire derrier onto. Right now the one I have barely fits half of one lol! I use it to hang stuff on. :/ I'm still looking into my extension belt decorations, working on my tees still, writing children's books,creating my scented candle range, creating my mix tunes and attending uni!!! Can I do it all?!! Perhaps not but I like to set myself a challenge. Maybe I can. Maybe you can too? Do it. Do what you do bigYoutifuls. Just start. Whatever it makes your heart happy to work on and share it with other bigYoutifuls and people.
bigYoutifuls be-You-tee-fools!
RayRay xx
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