Tag: NHS

Posted in April 2013, Archive

Twisting Limbs

Posted on by dystoniaandme

On Sunday afternoon my ‘good leg’ spasmed for the first time. I choose to simply ignore this, as I was having lots of spasms and seizures as it was. Other than having the odd spasms in a toe or two yesterday, my leg and foot were fine, and I choose to completely forget about it, as I felt there was no use in getting wound up over something that may or may not cause an issue.

However I woke up this morning to the bottom half of my leg and my foot in spasm. I breathed through the spasm and tried to think of calming thoughts. Once it relaxed I once again pushed it to the back of my mind and tried to go back to sleep. However any chance of having a peaceful day was destroyed when I woke up. My step-dad had been accidentally locked himself out, so I got up to let him in. What would normally be a couple of quick hops on the crutches to the front door, took a painful minute or two. My left leg was spasming badly and I struggled to balance myself and avoid setting off a spasms in right leg.

A similar situation arose later in the day when I got up to go to the other room. I really struggled to move at all. Which sparked a great deal of panic in me. I rung my GP and left a message asking for him to call me back, I knew that he would not be able to offer much advice, however the question he asked in response to my statement about my leg was “are you able to eat?”. I now have an appointment to see him tomorrow morning, I hold little hope for this though due to his earlier comment, after all since when have I used my leg to eat?

I am trying to stay calm and have mediated several times already today, however I have not been able to relax. Part of me is worrying about how I will be able to mount when I go riding on Thursday (I am going to go no matter what and plan on medicating myself to the max) and another part of me is having a break down over the impact that this is going to have.

I have tried standing in different positions over the day and if I stand on the side of my foot then this works to a point. It enables me to hobble around a little bit but I have no idea what else do. My whole body is now completely out of my control and I cannot stand it. I do my best to try to stay positive every day and fight against the spasms, but I am beginning to feel like I have fought one battle too many and they feel like they are never-ending.

However despite all my pessimistic thoughts I refuse to give in, I will keep trying to find new ways to get around the spasms. In the mean time I shall occupy myself with hounding the NHS for some form of treatment as I’m beginning to feel like I am drowning in a sea of untreated symptoms. I do not want to spend my days in bed, I want to be out and about!

Today marks the beginning of yet another battle against my Dystonia alien.

 

Posted in Archive, March 2013

A flicker of faith restored for the NHS

Posted on by dystoniaandme

On Tuesday night I ended up going to A&E to be treated for dehydration. By the time I was seen I had been without water, medication and food for about 32 hours. I count myself extremely lucky that the triage nurse and Doctor who treated me actually knew about Dystonia – this is a first! It took awhile to get a cannulae in me as my veins had done a disappearing act. I was given IV fluids and IV medication. The medication they gave me was called procyclidine. I had never had this medication before and was stunned by how well it worked.

The doctor who was looking after me was very caring, and came and checked on me every five minutes. He instructed me to take the procyclidine for two days (today is my last day on it). I am extremely glad they administered it to me as it really does seem to have had a beneficial effect. I am going to discuss with my consultant, whether it was worth continuing this medication or not.

I am glad that I was treated by two very nice people on Tuesday, as it restored a bit of faith in me for the NHS. Every time I am dismissed by the medical profession  it ends up inspiring me to make a difference! Just because my illness is not well known does not mean I should be shoved to the side.

 

A flicker of hope at the end of a dreadful weekend.

Today has felt like someone has lit a tiny candle at the end of long tunnel, one that I am still at the beginning of. I cannot turn back, all I can do is head towards the tiny flickering light I can see in the distance. I must jump, duck, slide, and fight hurdle after hurdle on my way to that light. That light is hope! Finally being able to see it, feels like I can put everything into perspective. I can breathe, and acknowledge that no matter how much I have to go through, no matter how much physical and emotional pain I have to go through, there is happiness at the end. I will get my happy ending!

I am the type of girl, who wont just sing in the shower, I will sing under my breath in the shop, I will sing at the top of my lungs in my house. Singing, for me, creates happiness. And if by chance I am singing a song from a Disney film such as Pocahontas or Mulan, then I am completely joyful and content. However, I cannot sing when I am unconscious  I cannot sing when my body is bend backwards due to a spasm in my back, and my neck is trying to over rotate due to another spasm. Agony, causes me to have Non Epileptic Seizures  However this weekends agony, took things to a whole new level.

Saturday night, my neck and back were awful. I could not move without setting a spasm off, and as soon as I had a spasm I had a seizure. It was a vicious circle. One that I have no recollection of. My mum ended up having to sleep in my room that night, due to the agony I was in and the lack of consciousness I had. Eventually I thankfully fell asleep and the spasms and seizures stopped. I had hoped that Sunday would be a better day. Despite my neck still insisting on spasming, the morning started off well. At midday, I unfortunately collapsed from standing, giving my head and body a good whack as I landed. Whilst the spasms were slightly more frequent, at first it seemed that this fall had not done much damage. However I quickly began to deteriorate. By 7pm the seizures had become constant, and the spasms wouldn’t stop. I was getting mere seconds of consciousness now and then, before slipping straight back into another seizure. My mum had originally thought that we would do the same as the night before and ride it out, however by midnight she phoned for a paramedic, who after assessing me phoned for an ambulance.

I arrived at my local hospital at 2am. I finally regained consciousness between 5 and 6 am. A doctor did not come to see me until 8 am! This particular doctor worried us. We were completely convinced that she was a crazy cleaner who had put on some scrubs and stolen a stethoscope. On seeing me she felt my forehead and told me I was beautiful, she then informed us that there was nothing she could do for me other than pray, which she then did. Now, I have nothing against prayer. I am Christian, and I appreciate people praying for me. However when I am in a hospital it’s not what I want or need! I need medication! If I was the doctor I would have tried administering muscle relaxants to see if they would take the edge of the spasms and in turn calm down the seizures. The doctor then told my parents that the hospital could do nothing for me and they should take me home, this was despite the fact I was still having dreadful spasms and could not sit up without going into a seizure.

My mother expressed her concerns to a nurse, who then called a consultant into see us. This man was rude beyond belief, if I had been well enough to argue or make a complaint against him then and there I would have. At one point during a seizure my mother tried to shield my head to stop me from hitting it against the metal bars on the bed. The consultant told my mum to stop it and that I would not hit my head, he refused to listen when my mum pointed out that I had already hit my head on them several times. He then started rambling on about the type of seizures I was having. My mum tried to point out to him that we already knew that I was having Non Epileptic Seizures, and that we were not concerned about them, we were concerned about the sudden change in my spasms and the way they had presented themselves so violently. The consultant listened to none of this and told my mum to stop talking. He was useless, arrogant, and down right rude!

We tried to get the hospital to call my consultant up in London  to see if he could offer us any advice, but they refused to do this. My step dad had to do phone my consultants secretary instead and leave a message. Hours later, after my body had eventually calmed down, we left the hospital, with no help from them. I felt so angry and upset. I had been in extreme pain, and yet they did nothing. We had to do battle with them just to get them to give me some basic painkillers!! Once I arrived home I phoned my GP and explained the situation to him. He was extremely shocked at the lack of care I had received at the hospital and prescribed me some stronger pain relief. The whole weekend had left me feeling physically and emotionally broken. It was ridiculous.

Today, I had to go back to the hospital. Luckily this time it was just for an appointment with the surgical orthotic department. The man I saw was superb. He had dealt with Dystonia before and had a good understanding of it. After having a feel of my legs and getting me to stand up and show him the spasm, he said he thought he could help! He is going to make a splint that should hopefully prevent the spasms twisting my leg into painful positions. Whilst we there he made a plaster cast of my leg/foot, which should be ready for me in around 3 -4 weeks. He said that if the splint did not work for me then he would look at what other ways there were for him to help me!  After telling him about the spasms my arm does, he suggested I get my GP to do another referral to him so that we can look at what he can do to help contain the spasm.

It was such a positive appointment. It helped me to not completely give up hope on Doctors and showed me that there are a handful out there who want to help you. You just have to find them. Both my neck and back have behaved so far today, which is fantastic and gives my body some much-needed relief. I feel slightly ‘normal’ again, to the point that I can see the distant light at the end of the tunnel. I can now relax and sing along to my favourite songs, knowing that no matter what happens and how bad it seems, there is always going to be something positive at the end of it. I just have to find it!

Posted in Archive, March 2013

Life Challenges: Would you fight or would you run?

Posted on by dystoniaandme

At 20 years old I didn’t expect to feel like my world was crumbling around me. I thought that I would be out clubbing with my friends, or trying to stay awake during a night shift on placement. I expected to be having the time of my life. The reality is extremely different to the expectations I had.

Today I felt like life was trying to show me just how difficult it could make my life. I knew this weekend would be a hard one anyone due to personal things, however it has so far been hell. Yesterday afternoon until I went to bed, my hand did an extremely painful spasm, that resulted in me having hours of Non Epileptic Seizures, with only a few seconds of consciousness in between. Then today I have spent the majority of the day unconscious having seizures. Again these were caused by a bad hand spasm.

I feel like every bit of normality I had (e.g uni, relationship, walking, freedom) has been cruelly snatched away from me. I have to fight constantly with different government departments, with the NHS, and with my own brain. I won’t ever give up, but at the same time I am already very emotionally and physically tired.

Today due to spasms and seizures I have not been able to get out of my bed. I have felt so many emotions, such as anger and sadness, in some ways I feel as if today has defeated me. Now I know I will get up tomorrow and continue to fight, but I should not have to fight! Days like today I dread because of the way I feel physically and emotionally. I am lucky that bad days are few and far between. I have not felt this bad since January 1st. I will never stop fighting Dystonia, just like I will always campaign to raise awareness of it.

I keep thinking how silly it is of me to get so upset over everything that has happened to me. I could be so much worse off. I guess in a way I am grieving for the life I had, whilst carefully trying to create some degree of normality for myself. Life challenges us all in different ways. Whether we run screaming away from them at the top of our lungs or battle it with all we have, is up to the individual. For me I shall battle on, whilst knowing that on some days Benedict is going to have won and I am going to be unable to cope, but that is just at that moment in time. Who knows how I will feel the next day or the next month or even the next year! I need to learn when to accept defeat for that day and start preparing myself to battle on the next.

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Posted in Archive, February

Hospital appointment & My views on the majority of Doctors I have met

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Every time I attend a Doctor or Hospital appointment, I go with a calm, polite manner, banishing the memories of the countless impolite Doctors I have met before and hope that the one I am seeing will be a good listener and polite. Yet 97% of all the Doctors I have met have squashed my hope.

Yesterdays appointment was not for Dystonia, however Dystonia still managed to impact it. It started like all Hospital appointments, I waited to be called through and when the Consultant did call me through he seemed to be polite. This helped up my hope for a nice Consultant. So you can imagine how devastated I was at the end of the appointment, when I left wanting to tell him exactly what I thought of him (I refrained from this and kept up my polite attitude). Through-out the appointment he talked over me, consequently he ended up having to ask me the same question 4 or 5 times, as he never let me say more than 3 words before interrupting. He made me feel like a complete inconvenience and that the procedure he would have to carry out at a later date was even more of an inconvenience.

This feeling was proven to be correct after I expressed my concerns that the procedure may set off a Non Epileptic Seizure or a spasm, to this he replied “Well, we shall to give you a small sedation in your hand before hand. I cannot see why we have to, it’s rather inconvenient”. I immediately apologised and explained I was not trying to make things difficult for them, I was simply expressing my concerns as I did not want to turn up on the day and then the procedure not be able to be done because I had a seizure etc. However I do not think he listened to a word of this, as he went on to keep expressing that the 3 changes that had to be made were a huge inconvenience for him. He then expressed that he felt the issue I had suffered with for 6 months was most likely not serious, this was great news, however he then implied that he considered that whatever was going wrong in my body to be due to my weight or my disability by saying “it would not surprise me in someone like you”. Now I understand that he most likely was not trying to insult me however to me that came across as a dig at either the fact I am overweight or the fact I am disabled.  The appointment just kept going down hill from there.

Now I understand that not all Doctors are like this, and there are some who are genuinely nice people, who want to help you, such as my Neurological Consultant and my GP. However the majority of the Doctors I have met are arrogant, insensitive and extremely bad listeners. These traits that do not go well for a Doctor. Even if you do have these traits surely you could at least act like you were listening and wanted to help! I am fed up of Doctors talking to me as if I am not a human but just an illness, or not listening to me etc. I am a human, I have feelings and I deserve to be treated with respect. I would not dare to be disrespectful to a Doctor, or insult them, so why on Earth should I be expected to put up with it??

I know from talking to many people, all with different types of conditions, that running into these types of Doctors/Consultants is becoming a frequent issue. I have seen patients leave appointments in floods of tears. On placement, there were occasions where I was left to deal with the patient myself, and calm them down after they had seen their Doctor. This is not right! A person should leave an appointment, feeling like they have been listened to and that their Doctor is going to try and help them.

It is terribly sad that the Doctors who care seem to be so few and far between. I count myself to be extremely lucky to have two that actually want to help me, who listen and respect me. They truly are outstanding in their profession  Every Doctor should take a leaf out of their books. I can only hope that with time, Doctors start to change, that they start seeing patients as vulnerable beings who have come to seek help from them and not as inconvenient illness that has been shoved in front of them.

 

Posted in Archive, January

A trip to the Doctors

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Cartoon DoctorI paid a visit to my doctor today, as my Dystonic leg is still really bad, and the extreme tremor has been going on for 11 days now. I was hoping he would be able to prescribe me some sort of muscle relaxant to try to take the edge of it. I also wanted to discuss with him about being referred to an Orthotic department, to talk about getting some sort of splint or brace for my leg, as I have talked to and read about people who have tried this and good results.

My doctor was not to sure what to do about the tremor in my right leg, and said that hopefully it was just one of those things that comes and then goes. I am really hoping that he is right as I find this extreme tremor very difficult to handle. It has really restricted how much I can do, for example in the day when I am on my own, I literally have to spend the day in bed, as I need people to help me hop around. I have decided that if by this time next week it is still bad then I shall go back to my Doctor and ask for him to prescribe me a muscle relaxant just so we can see if it works.

He seemed rather interested in my suggestion to try a brace or splint, and has said that he will write a letter to the surgical Orthotic team at my local hospital, and we will go from there. This was very positive, as I had expected him to say it would be best to discuss it with my consultant first and let my consultant handle it.

Overall it was a very positive appointment. Considering my Doctor knows extremely little about Dystonia, he really does try his best to help me the best he can. I hope that in the nicest way possible that I won’t have to see him next week. Just going to have keep my fingers crossed and hope that my right leg calms itself down.

Posted in Archive, January

A Step In The Right Direction.

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Today has been a slightly better day, in comparison to the last 5 or 6. The last couple of days I have been almost unable to even hobble around the house, without one or two members of my family holding my arms, and helping me. Today however was different! My right leg still shook like mad, and my knee still over extended, but I managed to hobble around unsupported. I only managed a short distance, however I am still overjoyed by this as it is a big improvement compared to the last few days.

I am thinking about asking my Occupational Therapist for a walking stick. At 20 years old, I did not expect that I would have to consider this, however if it helps that’s what counts.. My theory is that having a walking stick will either go one of two ways. The first being that it helps me with my balance, so hobbling around the house becomes slightly easier and less dangerous. The second is that with my natural ability to fall over everything and anything, the walking stick will become yet another obstacle for me to try to avoid, yet will still fall over. However I will never know unless I try, and it is not the end of the world if it does not help. Anything is worth a shot at this point.

Tomorrow my new wheelchair is arriving! It is a self propelled one, which will give me some much wanted independence!  I am really rather excited about its arrival and cannot wait to go out in it! It will put my mind at ease as well. When ever I have someone pushing me, I have a mental freak out, I know that they are not going to deliberately through me out of the wheelchair, however I still end up muttering under my breath “stay away from the curb…watch out for the hole” over and over.

My hand also seems a lot better today, I have my fingers crossed that it stays this way. It has improved so much that I did not wear my splint today. This is really positive as I don’t like strapping my hand up, but it helps contain the spasm so I can’t complain.

I have also started to slowly increase my dose of Gabapentin, I am currently taking 1800mg a day and am hoping to get it up to 3600mg a day. As I am finding it to be a very beneficial medication my consultant thought this would be a good idea. I am doing it in steps of 100mg in case I start getting any side effects, that way I know how much my body can handle.

Overall today has been a very positive day and I am hoping that the rest of the week continues to stay positive.

 

Posted in Archive, January

Today’s Support/Research Group and Dystonia Update

Posted on by dystoniaandme

This evening I went to a group that my GP signed me up for. It is designed for people with chronic pain symptoms, to help give them coping mechanisms that they can learn to use in daily life. The group is also for research so we were asked to answer questions, and give them our life and medical history, so that they can compare the results the group gets at the end of the 12 sessions to the answers provided at the beginning.

At the start, I must admit I was a bit dubious about the group, the leader seemed a bit mad, and everyone there was a fair bit older than me. I was also concerned with how much I would be able to take part in, as I am in wheelchair. However by the end of tonight’s session my concerns were long gone. I had managed to take part in everything, when they did walking activities, I copied their upper body movements, and swayed about in the chair. The other people their were lovely and I have a good giggle with them all. We also focused on our posture and did breathing exercises which I found to be very relaxing. The two hours flew by, and I cannot wait for the next session!

Today has been a rather positive day. After six hours of calling, I finally managed to get hold of my Consultants Secretary, who has promised to chase him, and have him contact me ASAP, I am hopeful that he will, but I shall just have to wait and see. I have had no Non Epileptic Seizures at all today which is fantastic and my head and body are feeling much better.

My local Riding for the Disabled stable phoned me today, and as long as my Non Epileptic Seizures stay calm, then I shall hopefully have my first RDA lesson next week! I am rather excited!

Posted in Archive, January

Visits from the Doctor, the Occupational Therapist and our MP

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Yesterday I was visited by my GP, my Occupational Therapist and our Local member of parliament. I found the visits interesting in their different ways. The first to visit me was my Occupational Therapist, she is an amazing woman, who does above and beyond what is required of her. She has looked after people who suffer from Dystonia before, so she has a good idea of what the condition is like. Upon being in the house for 20 minutes, and watching me have bad jaw spasms and many Non Epileptic Seizures, she could not believe that I had not been admitted into a hospital as an emergency case!

Next came my GP. My GP is lovely, he does try his best to cope with my condition, but he has never dealt with Dystonia before so has very little understanding of how to treat/cope with it. My GP came to do a home visit as my head has not been right since I hit it on New Years Day and because due to my new Seizures there was no way we could safely get me out of our house. He did the usual basic observations, e.g my blood pressure, my pulse and my temperature. All where normal except my temperature which was ever so slightly up. My GP had never seen my Seizures before, and I don’t think he had a clue what to do with them. After checking me over, he decided that my body was most likely just fighting something off and that was what was causing the new seizures, and the collapse the other day. He did say he would inform my consultant as well.

Now this is the bit I find interesting.  Compare the reactions of the Occupational Therapist who has seen Dystonia before, and the Doctor who has never seen Dystonia before. One thinks I need to be hospitalised as an emergency case and the other thinks my body just has a bug. I think these two very different reactions, are very interesting.

Finally our local member of parliament came to visit. This visit did not go as I had hoped, he listened, made noises in the right places and said he would right a letter. I’m not sure what I was expecting him to say but I had hoped for a more positive outcome than what did happen  The most interesting thing he did was freak when our cat entered the room. It seems that I am going to have to do more complaining myself. I plan to start by writing to the heads of the hospitals whose system have failed, and take it from there.

Living with Dystonia is never going to be easy, and I can only hope that I will be one of the 1 in 20 of us who randomly, for no known medically reason, go into ‘remission’. I plan to draw as much attention as I can to this condition, until someone in the NHS or government realise that their system is failing us!

 

Posted in Archive, January

The Battle Against My Neurological Demons!

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Today has involved yet another fierce battle against my Dystonia and my Non Epileptic Seizures. A battle which is still yet to be won. I try to defend myself against my neurological demons by sitting up as slowly as possible  attempting to use distraction techniques as I attempt each task, but so far my neurological demons are one step ahead of me, constantly ready to launch their next attack on my body.

I am spending most the day in bed at the moment, to recover from Tuesdays incident. Just to get up to go to the toilet is almost impossible. 9 out 10 times just by sitting up a seizure will happen, this then means I have to try to sit up again, which is rather painful due to the sprains and soft tissue damage caused by Tuesdays fall and seizures. Once I have won the battle to get up, my mother and one of my siblings have to help me walk to the toilet and back. This can take a long time in itself as if I collapse and seize on the way there, I find it extremely hard and painful to get back up.

We  are still unsure of how many seizures I am having, as some of them I am completely unaware of. My body hurts a lot but my head is the worst. I feel dizzy often and have a constant feeling of there being too much pressure in my head. I feel like someone needs to put a needle into my head and drain out whatever is causing it. It is a rather painful feeling.

This battle for control is very physically and emotionally draining. I desperately want back the control of my body, but my Neurological demons seem to have other plans for me at the moment. I am hoping that my consultant (when he bothers to get back to us) will be able to provide us with some advice.