Tag: frustration

Posted in Archive, June 2014

Exasperated

Posted on by dystoniaandme

This week has been a complete rollercoaster of emotions. Beginning with excitement, this quickly turned into desperation and turmoil, concluding with frustration and nervousness.  On Tuesday I attended a physiotherapy appointment, I was under the impression that this was to be the first of at least weekly appointments. I had been extremely excited for it as I was anticipating news of trialling a second skin splint which I was hopeful would make a difference to my leg spasms.

When I had seen my Neurologist last he had mentioned to me that he had spoken to my physiotherapists the week before to advise them on how best to treat me, and that he was very keen for me to start having intensive physiotherapy locally. He was also happy for me to trial the splint and did not say too much about it. So you can imagine my total shock on Tuesday when my physiotherapists told me that my Neurologist had advised her to discharge me and not to refer me for my splint! She was left with the impression after speaking to my Neurologist, that after I have my IV antibiotics for Lyme Disease and was cured of that then I could have physiotherapy. She was shocked to learn that I have been denied IV antibiotics by the NHS unless I have lumbar puncture, which my Neurologist has recommended I do not have as it puts me at risk of developing more Dystonia.

I left the appointment on Tuesday in a completely state of turmoil. Without IV antibiotics and without physiotherapy what chance of any sort of improvement do I have? I was furious with my Neurologist, how could a person have two completely different conversations within the space of one week. Then, Thursday afternoon, a follow-up letter from my last Neurology appointment arrived reiterating that he wanted me to receive intensive local physiotherapy. I could not be more frustrated, I can only presume that they must have had a rather ridiculous misunderstanding. Yet I question how that can even happen in the first place, the conversations reported are at extremes with each other.

I am seeing my Neurologist on Tuesday for my next lot of injections, so will be able to clear this matter up with him then. It took over a year and a half, with a lot of jumping through hoops just to receive physiotherapy, so to have it taken away after one session is not something I am going to let happen without putting up a fight.

 

Posted in Archive, June 2013

Frustration With Lack Of Help

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Over the last couple of days I have not felt to great and my spasms have been awful. I have found myself going from being boiling hot one moment to shaking with cold the next, along with some interesting spasms. My legs latest trick is to spasm so that the leg is completely back to front, which is not a comfortable position to be in. I am going to try and get my mum to capture a picture of it the next time it happens.

Thankfully today I am feeling slightly more like myself and my spasms have been less extreme. I don’t know if the antibiotics that I am on as a trial for possible Lyme Disease caused the increase in spasms or if I was just under the weather.

I am still waiting to hear from my consultant in regards to being admitted for a week so that I can get some help.  We last heard from him on around the 15th April and despite us sending him several emails and chasing his secretary we have heard nothing. When ever I have an appointment with my consultant he seems great, however I am getting more and more frustrated with the lack of help I am getting! Everything that was being arranged for me seems to be not quiet what he gave me the impression it would be. Last October he put me on the waiting list for an inpatient intensive therapy program, and told me that the waiting list for the program was about a year long. However I had an appointment up at the hospital the other day where I was interviewed by two members of staff who will at some point decide IF they are going to admit me to the ward or not. IF I do get admitted it will not be until around June 2014.

I struggle to believe that there is no other help out there that could be put in place for me now. I understand that hospital wards are busy, however surly there must somewhere be at least an outpatient  Neuro Physiotherapy service that I could be referred to  This is going to be something I will discuss with him when I eventually get to see him. I am hoping that I will at least have an outpatient appointment with him soon as I am in need of my Botox injections for my jaw and neck to be redone.

Until my consultant sorts everything out I am going to keep my fingers crossed that Lyme Disease is what has caused this mess, as at least then I know the cause and that is one thing I can stop worrying about.