Welcome to my health blog. I am a 29 year old living with a range of strange and confusing medical symptoms and conditions including various functional/neurological disorders, Endometriosis, PCOS, Raynaud's Disease
and seronegative Hughes Syndrome. This blog is to document my struggle with doctors and the impact these illnesses have on my life. I hope that in some small way, my experiences will give others who are in similar situations some sort of strength or some form of comfort. Thanks for visiting!

Some may question my choice of title but if you are ill constantly and seem to always have your brain on pain and discomfort that's making your life very difficult, you begin to feel that perhaps you are a hypochondriac or what's worse, that other people see you as one. Whether you are or not, you still feel pain, sadness, and dispair which brings me to this quote from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling:

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" - Albus Dumbledore

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

April Update

It's been ages since I wrote. I guess I've been putting it off as so many things happen that at the end of it, I don't really feel like sitting here going over it all again.

In the end I didn't send the letters... yet. It's probably for the best while we're still trying to get to the source of the problems as it has the potential to cause a lot more stress.

Since my last update I've been back to Dr C (neuro) and Dr B. Dr C listened as usual but was unable to pin point anything specific based on the scans of the head. Even though on the previous visit he talked of testing the nerves (for numb patches and loss of mobility in foot/toe), testing the blood pressure and getting a recent MRI of the neck. None of that happened, so instead I had an angiogram done of the head. I know the head ones are fine! It's the neck I have the issue with, it's the neck that was the problem in the first place and only sorted itself out when the thrombolisis happened. Doctors don't seem to want to investigate it though. All I am thinking is that -if- something got clogged up in the neck, could it then lead to blocking off or limiting blood flow to the head and would therefore not show on scans of just the head? His suggesting was to go to the 'activation' clinic at KCL and see if one of the episodes can be triggered.. I'm not keen on this at all :(

Dr B (neuropsych) seemed more intersted in finding out what was going on and was trying to look at the bigger picture. He explained some things about my scans and letters which was really helpful. We talked over everything that's been going on and he began looking things up and asking me more questions. He believes that the cause is not pyschological and in light of that is referring me on to the Lupus and Rheumatism clinic in London to have that checked. It makes me feel so much better just to have something official that says 'no its not anxiety, you're not mad or making it happen in your brain'. So I guess, in a way I was lucky to see him but on the other hand, surely these checks should have been done at the hospital in the first place? Something like 15-17 attacks and 4 collapses in the space of 2 months and I have to wait this long just to be told that I'm not making it up in my head..

I'm glad to say that I haven't had any 'episodes' since that last collapse. The day to day symptoms are still there but I can put up with those now. My legs hurt.. I don't know why though, maybe from under use? Strangely enough, the voice problem is back again. I feel like a ballooning pressure in my neck and then try to speak and ..nothing comes out but a strained squeek. Lost the voice again for about two days straight and since then its been randomly coming and going.The circulation to my hands and legs is still wonkey and my heart rate still seems to be going nuts. It's worst really early in the morning or when I try to lay down. My ribcage hurts like it did when I had pleurisy years ago, but only on the left side. I know I shouldn't worry but when my heart is banging so hard and hurts, and the ribcage is hurting too, I get scared that it's just going to go 'pop' and there's nothing I can do about it. In my sensible non-paniced head I know it won't. So so so cold too. Last night was the worst night I've had in a while. Heart going so fast I didn't know what to do with myself, freezing cold no matter how many things I piled over myself and everytime I started to fall to sleep I'd be woken pretty much instantly with voilent muscle spasms - even whacked myself in the head haha. I think I've had about two hours sleep maybe but luckily I have audiobooks :D.

Going to try and go out for a walk later on. Might even be brave and go walk down to the garage to get the car back. I'll be so sad to see it go.. but with things the way they are at the moment I think it's safer that I go with an automatic.


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