I woke up feeling a bit sick and nauseous. I don’t think I’m actually ill or have coronavirus again. But it’s weird. It almost feels even though I’ve recovered from it, the extra viral load I got from my friends on the weekend is just giving me a slight echo.

The two packs of Konjac noodles I ate yesterday have filled my stomach and made it like a big lump of dry cardboard – parched, full, and a bit sad. My brain feels flat and slightly depressed, and I’m definitely feeling worse than yesterday.

But I also feel like there is potentially a way out from this feeling and that by this time tomorrow, I won’t feel quite so bad, and that maybe things will improve.

In terms of my ankylosing spondylitis pain, I don’t feel too bad at all.

I don’t have any SI pain at all to talk of, but I do feel very stiff on my lower back.

It’s weird because it’s not like your traditional AS stiffness. It feels more like the kind of stiffness you would get after a lot of excercise, but it is bad nonetheless. When I left my desk after work to go for a walk at about 11:15, it felt like a relief.

My brain isn’t in the right place, and I feel a bit exhausted mentally and physically, and the heat hasn’t helped. Worrying about the neighbours and the building stress and everything else has made me feel a bit low

On a positive note something I have really enjoyed, is picking blackberries on my walks. Pretty much every walk without fail recently.

I’m finding vast areas of blackberry bushes, particularly in the park near the horses. There are these fairly hidden, not that well-known bits where there are wild blackberries everywhere, and every time I go up there, I’m eating at least a punnet and a half worth of blackberries, and it’s just brilliant and doesn’t seem to be causing my AS any problems.

So it’s quite amazing. I’ve just eaten some now, and I’d say it has lifted my spirits every day during this, and I’ll miss it when they are gone!