Garett - I think your wife is basically correct, in general. Although men are supposedly the stoic, strong gender, I have also found, both in my nursing career and life in general, that overall, women tend to be much more tolerant of and stoic about pain. Of course there are whiny women, just as there are very stoic men (my Dad is one of those - he'd walk 5 miles on 2 broken legs, and shrug it off).

I also think that the amount and duration of pain can have multiple factors. Type/length of exercise is part of that. Each of us perceives pain differently, plus no-one really knows enough about the various mutations that create myotonic conditions; heck, there isn't enough known about MC period, for anyone to be able to give much definitive information about it! I think this forum, and our discussions - and the empowerment that gives people to talk more openly and authoritatively with their doctors about it - are doing a lot of good for many people.

I can say with equanimity that the information the doctors gave me when I was diagnosed 5 years ago was mostly ancient, superficial, irrelevant to me, wrong, or just incomplete. I lived with my condition for 54 years, knowing I had something, being acutely aware of what my symptoms were, yet being told that I was making it up. Finding the forum, having Jan for information, feedback, support and resources, and hearing all the stories and histories of fellow members was such a boon - PLUS, it helped give me the confidence to tell my doctors that they did not have complete or current information, and that there were people in the world who knew and understood the condition and its manifestations much better than they did.

Well, I'll stop my little diatribe - I just want to be sure people understand that, with rare and rather vague conditions, doctors often do not have the answers we seek. They are generally going to use readily available literature, and not go much deeper in cases where the outcomes are pretty benign. lois

Type of Myotonia: Myotonia Congenita, Becker's type

Country: USA