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Posted in Archive, May 2014

Alternative Coping Methods

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Today is the last day of Dystonia Awareness weeks, which is most likely a relief to all the lovely people who are signed up to receive email alerts when I post a new blog as I’ll be going back to posting a couple of times a week. It has been amazing seeing how many people have joined in with Dystonia Awareness week, Thunderclap was seen by over 6 million people which is incredible!

In many of my blog posts this week I have mentioned treatments such as Botox injections, muscle relaxants and Deep Brain Stimulation, however none of these treatments can guarantee relief and are not always accessible, so I wanted to discuss some alternative ways of coping with symptoms. Heat is great for relieving muscular aches and pains that can result from spasms, wheat packs, back wraps and microwaveable slippers are all great products and I use at least one of these three several times a week. TENS machines are also great, I don’t know what I’d do without these. I never go anywhere without one in my handbag and towards my Botox dates they often help keep my neck spasms bearable.

If you can afford alternative therapies I would highly recommend trying Reflexology. I found before having regular treatments that I could not sleep well at night as the spasms would keep me up. This turned into a vicious cycle as I was then too tired to handle my spasms well in the day. Now I find having regular Reflexology treatments enables me to have several good nights of sleep a week which does me the world of good as it means I can handle whatever my body throws at me in the day better. I also find burning scented candles or essential oils helps me relax (and after putting them out) get to sleep easier.

Everyone finds something different that will help them, for some people touching certain pressure points will relieve spasms to a certain extent, in others hot or cold therapy does. For me as I mentioned above heat, TENS and Reflexology are what keeps me ticking along in between Botox appointments. Its worth experimenting and trying to work out if anything particular helps you.

Posted in September

Cervical Dystonia

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Cervical Dystonia is when the spasms are in the neck, this can be quite painful and can result in awkward neck postures.Generally the spasms will cause the head to pull to one side, backwards or forwards. In my case my head pulls down towards my left shoulder but with a forward twist. I also have a no style tremor to my neck. It is the most common form of Dystonia and according to The Dystonia Society is currently estimated to affect around 18,000 people in the UK. Like most forms of Dystonia if it occurs in adulthood then it will hopefully remain in just that part of the body.

The most effective treatment for Cervical Dystonia at the moment is regular Botox injections, though how well this work varies from sufferer to sufferer. I receive regular Botox injections to both sides of my neck and it has had a massive impact and helps me keep my head fairly straight  whilst the Botox is working. Medications such as muscles relaxants can provide people with some relief as well. Pressure being applied to specific points around the neck and face in some people is beneficial but this is not the same for everyone.

This image demonstrates some of the positions the spasms can pull the head in to.

Posted in April 2014, Archive

Disappointed & Disheartened

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Yesterday I had my appointment up in London with my neurologist. I had been really looking forward to this appointment, as I wanted his opinion on a couple of things. Firstly on my new leg spasm and if there was any treatments he could suggest that could help it. I am taking 45mg/ml of Baclofen a day for it and whilst this is controlling it, it impacts my cognitive ability greatly. I am able to hold a conversation but anything that requires me to start actually using my brain and answering questions is too much and I am unable to do so, I end up relying on my mum or whoever is with me at the time to do so for me.The second thing I wanted his opinion on was on a type of splint that my physios are arranging for me to try called Second Skin. It’s a lycra based splint that provides  feedback to the brain, and it seems to work either really well or not at all.

For my leg he had no idea what to do other than keeping me on the Baclofen.  He is referring me for more intensive physiotherapy to see if that will help but other than that he was lost for ideas. So I guess all we can do is hope that these new splints when I try them work, because otherwise I do not know what to do. In regards to the splints he did not say too much, he said they could do no harm which is always good to know and that they may help but didn’t say much more on the subject.

The main reason I had been looking forward to yesterday’s appointment is that in a letter I had received from my neurologist the other week he had stated in it that he hoped to have an answer for me about my IV treatment for Neurological Lyme Disease by the time he next saw me. I took this as a positive statement when I read it as recently in conversations with my doctors it had all been looking like it could go ahead if someone could be found to oversee it. Sadly this is not this the case. The hospital that originally said this can be set up if you find a neurologist to oversee it, is now saying they want more evidence that I have Lyme. By evidence they mean a positive Lumbar Puncture result.

My neurologist has said that he can arrange for me to have a Lumbar Puncture very quickly and it is up to me whether or not I agree to go through with it. He is not very happy for me to have one done as it puts me at risk of developing new symptoms or my current symptoms getting worse. There is also the problem that I cannot actually guarantee I can stay still due to body spasms so for them to realistically be able to do the Lumbar Puncture I would have to be under a General Anesthetic. The tests for Lyme Disease are also extremely unreliable giving false positives and negatives, and with a years worth of oral antibiotics in my system its more likely to come back negative.

I started taking oral antibiotics for Neurological Lyme Disease this time last year, and we have battled for the correct treatment which is IV antibiotics for the last year. For a whole year I have been put under the impression that I would get IV it would just be a bit difficult to set up. Now I am extremely upset. All I have done since I left the hospital yesterday is cry on and off. The IV would not cure my Dystonia but it would cure my Lyme, and who knows how much of my body is that! I had all my hopes pinned on this!! I am terrified that now when they take me off my oral antibiotics, which I know will happen soon, that my symptoms like my hand spasms, that improved may come back. I could not cope with that!

My plan today is to phone a local private hospital that I know treat Lyme Disease and see if they will consider treating me without the Lumbar Puncture. If they won’t then I will have the Lumbar Puncture done as I would rather risk it and hopefully get treated then spend my whole life wondering what if I had done it.

I am feeling very lost, and sad right now and I know things can only get better. It’s just hard after spending a whole year having all my hopes pinned on this treatment to have it snatched away. On a positive note I did get my injections done, and he was so lovely and apologetic. I am lucky that I have him. I  just have to struggle on.struggle

 

Posted in Archive, March 2014

Fundraising and Awareness

Posted on by dystoniaandme

As many of you the Dystonia Society is a charity that is very close to my heart. Without the amazing work they do I would not have known who to turn to in the beginning, I would most likely still be looking for a diagnosis. The support they provide is invaluable to so many sufferers and the website is full of information that is constantly being updated. They also help provide funding for research, this is vital as you never know whose research will one day find a cure to Dystonia. For such a small charity they provide an amazing service, however they are reliant on donations. This is why each year I do lots of fundraising activities and awareness campaigning.

My cousin David and his fabulous friend Sam are running the London Marathon in a couple of weeks’ time. This is something I admire them greatly for doing. They are aiming to raise a total of £3000 for the Dystonia Society. Now some of you may be thinking that’s a mighty high target! Well, that’s because the London Marathon organisers charge charities £2000 a place! So for charities to actually gain any money from donations the targets have to be placed extremely high. However people who have not gained a place through a charity don’t have to pay anywhere near this amount of money to run!  If you would like to help David and Sam achieve there £3000 target here is their Just Giving link http://www.justgiving.com/DavidandSam2014.

A fab company called Recykilt are running a competition so if you like to win a one of kind Recykilt cushion, when you donate simply type the words Recykilt in the comment box, make sure you have included your name. You can see examples of previous cushions here https://www.facebook.com/recykilt/media_set?set=a.171278609595603.40296.100001403947434&type=3

David has been doing other bits of fundraising as well, with his previous company even joining in. So to help out we are throwing our annual Dystonia tea party earlier than normal to raise money to add to David and Sam’s total. As usual our tea party will consist of all the cake and tea/coffee you can eat and drink, along with lots of information on Dystonia. The Dystonia Society have been very kind and provided us with some fantastic leaflets so if anyone has any questions that I don’t know the answers to then I am sure they will be in there. 

Last year myself and a lady in America organised an event called Go Blue. Well this year, I am encouraging everyone to Go Green during awareness week (May 3rd -11th), which is the Dystonia Society’s colour.  Whether you dye a lock of hair green, dress in green, wear green make up etc., it does not matter as long as people know what you’re doing and why. Encourage as many people as you can to get involved, take a photo and spread the word.

The Dystonia Society are also using a website called Thunderclap that co-ordinates sending messages out for groups of people. The aim of this is that on the 9th May a mass message gets sent out at 1:30pm through the social media network saying ““Help us raise awareness of #dystonia, a neurological condition that causes muscle spasms. Do it for dystonia! http://thndr.it/1fXu9dr” The more people that sign up to Thunderclap, then more people will see this, it is a fantastic awareness tool, but it will only work if lots of us sign up to it.  You can register through your Twitter and/or Facebook account with them, and it sends out a message on your behalf at the set time during awareness week. You can register here https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/9777-dystonia-awareness-week?locale=en .

I have some other fundraising and awareness ideas up my sleeve, but until they are certain I shall keep them for another blog post. Raising funds, and awareness is the only way Dystonia will ever be cured, so please share this, donate, and sign up!

Posted in Archive, March 2014

Hertfordshire Group meeting

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Yesterday I attended the Hertfordshire Dystonia Group meeting. I cannot even begin to describe the joy it brought me. Finally meeting other sufferers face to face and hearing individuals describe their journeys to me and the different ways they manage their conditions was a very comforting and freeing experience.

A speaker, who has Generalised Dystonia, had been arranged and I must say Suzie was absolutely inspirational to listen to. At 16 she had won a scholarship to train as a ballet dancer at the London Studio Centre, unfortunately three terms in she started suffering with Dystonia, that has gradually progressed. However she is such a positive, determined, talented woman and has not let Dystonia stop her in the slightest. She now created ActOne ArtsBase which is a platform for young people and adults with and without disabilities to explore dance. The work she is doing really is amazing. For anyone wanting to check her work out – http://artsbase.org.uk/dancebase.php

Within the talk that Suzie was giving she mentioned how felt that exercising helped her manage her spasms. This is a theory that my personal trainer has touched on several times with me. Whilst certain exercises may trigger a spasm most tend not to. This is something that I have noticed, and it amazes me, for example I can ride a horse but I am unable to walk. One of my spasms involves a rather violent arm spasm/twitch, out of the many people I have spoken to online not one of them has had this particular symptom, which has gotten me into a few awkward but amusing situations. So I was delighted when it transpired yesterday that Suzie also has this spasm, having someone else say yes I do that too, made me want to laugh out loud and breathe a sigh a relief!

Meeting everybody yesterday has given me such a big positivity boost and in a way normalised Dystonia for me. Everybody was so lovely, if it had not been for the fact my body had been deteriorating I would happily have spent several hours more sitting there getting to know everyone. It was perfect.

Posted in Archive, March 2014

Neurophysiotherapy

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Today I had an appointment at Jacketts Field Neurological Centre for my neuro-physiotherapy assessment. I was slightly worried as I had heard very mixed reviews about the unit but was doing my best to go with an open mind. As it was an assessment I knew a lot of the time there would be spent answering questions verbally e.g how does your spasms affect your ability to swallow or do you have any walking ability? However some of it was going to be physical, this left me concerned as my body is currently in meltdown mode due to lack of Botox so moving about could be painful. Luckily my mother agreed to come with me which put my mind at rest, if the worst did happen and I had seizure after seizure and an ambulance needed to be called, I would be safe and my mother would be able to instruct them on what needed to be done – however all that worrying was for nothing as I didn’t have a seizure 🙂

After answering a lot of questions and having a good laugh with the physiotherapist, it was time to demonstrate just what my little Dystonia alien does to my legs. Figuring I would only have to take two or three steps with my walking sticks, plus the physio and my mum holding me up, I happily stripped off my splints and stood up. This promptly set off my spasms in my legs and the next things I knew I was on the floor! I had not even taken one step! Benedict obviously had been enjoying playing twister with my face and got his knickers in a right old twister when asked for my legs to join in…stroppy sod! As much as my body is now a little sore at least it gave the physio a good idea of what exactly I am contending with.

Due to how much my body does, the assessment did not get finished even though we majorly ran over time! So we have had to book another assessment in! I am really looking forward to this.

On a quick note this Saturday I am attending my local Dystonia Society Group meeting, this will be this first one I have been to and I am so excited to meet other people with my condition!

Posted in Archive, March 2014

Oromandibular Dystonia

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Since last Friday my Oromandibular (jaw) Dystonia and tremor has been rather bad. These spasms leave my jaw extremely distorted and the pain is constant. Unfortunately my Botox is a week later than usual, my appointment is not until the 18th of this month. Even though I know it is just under two weeks to go now, I am finding it hard to function due to pain.

However there is always a positive and I refuse to let this be a purely negative blog post. Despite the spasms that were severely affecting my jaw and neck last Friday I still managed to get into college. I cut down my workload as I knew it would not realistically get done without exhausting my body, but I managed to get in, which surprised me as I did not expect to in the state I was in.

It never ceases to amaze me just how exhausting pain is. Today my jaw has insisted on tremoring a lot. I use a teething dummy to protect my teeth and tongue, at the end of my last tremor however I was not quick enough at removing the teething dummy from my mouth, with the way my jaw then spasmed it got slightly stuck…I cannot even begin to describe how much this amused me, it took a whole hour before I was able to pry the dummy out from between my teeth. It really was hilarious.

It is moments like these that are vital. Dystonia is hideous. The pain that I am going through on a daily basis is enough that all I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep until I can get my Botox injections. But sleeping won’t raise awareness of the condition, hiding away won’t beat the condition. Moments of pure hilarity are part of what makes Dystonia bearable and I am so thankful for these moments!

Posted in Archive, February 2014

Feeling Good

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Last time I posted I felt that I was balancing on the knifes edge and was feeling pretty negative, well I’m feeling darn good today and I plan on enjoying it. My legs have not been as bad the last couple of days, the swelling in my knees is going down and the pain in them is tolerable. This improvement has made such a mental difference as the pain was really beginning to get me down.

Having my pain levels go down has made the biggest difference as it is the pain that I struggle to deal with the most. I can cope with my body spasming, tremoring and getting into unnatural positions but the pain is what I can’t cope with. Normally it would be my jaw that causes the unbearable pain, so at least having it in my knees made a change.

I am now on half term, which mean no college and no riding 😦 however I know that it is best just to let my body rest and recover this week, before I throw myself back into everything head first next week. On a positive note I made into college last week!! After being too ill to go in the week before I was determined to drag myself out of bed and into college – trying to get dressed whilst my legs where on strike was interesting but  I managed it and it was the best thing I could have done. I know that I tire very easily these days but doing normal things like college make me so happy.

As I have mentioned before my cousin David and his friend Sam are running the London marathon for The Dystonia Society in April. I woke up to see a small article had been written on them in their local newspaper (Somerset). Its so positive to see awareness of Dystonia spreading!

I often say that I wish I could see inside my brain so I could have a better understanding of what exactly is going on. As other than all the medical jargon I have no idea what exactly it is doing…this picture describe it perfectly and makes me smile.

Posted in Archive, February 2014

Worrying

Posted on by dystoniaandme

I feel like I am balancing on the knifes edge and that at any moment I could fall. My Dystonia alien and my Lyme Disease had really managed to lull me into a sense of ‘normality’, and over this past week have decided to send me flying to the edge of the knife filled with dread. Up until very recently I had coped rather well with everything, but everything seems to have gone out the window now.

Whilst I have remained seizure free there have been a few moments recently where I have felt right on the edge of one. Last Monday my mother and my little sister spent half an hour looking after me and talking non stop to try to keep me conscious. This has not happen in quite a while and was a shock to all of us. My legs have been bad recently, to the point that last week I did not make it into college on either day, which was to me a big defeat in my battle against the two conditions.

Whilst the pain is bad and gets me down, it is the unknown that I struggle to deal with. My body has progressed and regressed so many times, and each time I deal with it. However it gets harder to do so each time, and right now I have no idea which way my body is going to swing. It may pull through this horrid period and be absolutely fine or it may take a nose dive.

I know there is not much I can do other than stay positive but I can’t help but be scared. Hopefully this is just a bad period and soon my mind will be put at rest.

Posted in Archive, February 2014

Positive Neurology Appointment

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On Tuesday I went up to London to see my lovely neurologist. It was overall an extremely positive appointment. I was very much in need of my Botox injections as in the days leading up to it my Jaw spasms were back. I had my usual six injections (eyes, jaw and neck) and then two my calf. We are hoping that injecting Botox in my calf will prevent the spasms that cause my feet to turn upside down.

I like to keep myself busy, but my neuro has really stressed to me that this is something that has to take a step back for now. I need to slow down, and do less than what I am doing. Doing too much puts me at risk of running myself down and making my condition worse. This is not the first time I’ve been told this but I am really going to try to work on in this now. I don’t want to put myself backwards, I want to keep going forwards and if slowing down is what it takes then I’m going to make a conscious effort to do so.

I’m not seeing him again until the 18th March, which is 7 weeks from when I saw him on Tuesday. I would normally see him every 6 weeks for my injections but there was no clinic on the 11th. This concerns me slightly as the spasms in my jaw tend to come back around week 5, and I don’t want the pain causing a seizure or interrupting my college commitments. However I have not had a seizure in a while so I am hoping that if I fill myself up with painkillers then I should be fine.

This weekend, I went out and saw friends. Now it was just at a mates house watching movies with them all, so I’m hoping this doesn’t count as overdoing it!? It was so great to sit back and have a laugh, and just feel like me again! I can do a lot more now in comparison to a year ago, but activities like yesterday make me feel like I am still in there somewhere, Dystonia and Lyme Disease have not truly taken over.