Tag: pain

Posted in Archive, May 2013

Dystonia Alien Gets Creative

Posted on by dystoniaandme

My Dystonia alien seems to have come up with yet another inventive spasm for me. Now my head and neck rather violently jerk to the left whilst my mouth opens and closes making a sort of popping noise. It’s rather painful and leaves me feeling like I have pulled the majority of the muscles involved.  The spasm happens all day, sometimes l go a few hours without it and then it will start all over again, I have noticed that when I get tired in the evening this spasm happens far more often.

My mum emailed my consultant for me last night, updating him and asking him if they were any closer to knowing when I would be admitted for a week. However it normally takes a fair period of time for him to get back to us, so I am not expecting to hear from him any time soon. I spoke to my GP this morning, asking him if there was anything he could suggest I do as I am in a fair amount of pain and getting to sleep and staying asleep is becoming almost impossible. At first he tried to persuade me to try the Clonzepam again, but as it turned me psychotic the last time and had me wanting to cut my hair off I told him I would not go back on it. So he has decided that I am to up my Tramadol, which is a pain blocker, to two pills in the morning and one pill in the evening until the pain side of things settles down, then I shall go down to one pill in the morning and one pill in the evening. I am also to go back on to a medication called Baclofen which is a muscle relaxant. I had been on this previously but my consultant took me off it as at the time it was not helping me, it made me forgetful and I was on a very high dose. My GPs thinking is that because so much more of me is affected by the Dystonia than previously the Baclofen may help, if it does help then I am to increase the dose.

I am really hoping all the medication does help, I feel like I have fought against Dystonia for a fair while now without a lot of help from the medical society, and a bit of help in this endless battle would be greatly appreciated. I have not been able to get to sleep easily lately and I am waking up often in the night due to spasms. Lack of sleep is beginning to add up and being rather tired in the day makes fighting against my Dystonia alien that little bit harder.

I am a big believer that when you suffer from any sort of illness you should always explore alternative therapies to see if you can get any relief from them as taking lots of pills (like I currently am) is not good for you. When I was little I suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and had reflexology for a period of time to help. It certainly relaxed me and I always had a great nights sleep afterwards. With that memory in mind I have found a reflexologist who comes to your house and is not too expensive. I have no idea if it will help me at all but my theory is this, when you have Dystonia you are advised to avoid stress and to try to stay relaxed, therefore having reflexology done, which is a relaxing/calming experience, should provide some sort of help, even if it is just having a great nights sleep afterwards. I am having my first session next Monday and I am really looking forward to it.

I am hoping that with a combination of medication and reflexology I should be able to feel ‘better’ in myself  and have more energy to fight Dystonia with!

Posted in April 2013, Archive

Bring It On!

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Yesterday afternoon I collapsed outside of my house and started having Non Epileptic seizures and Dystonic spasms. As I was not regaining consciousness I was rushed by ambulance (with blues and twos on) to my local hospital, where I was luckily treated by the lovely doctor who I had seen the last time I was there. The doctor remembered exactly who I was and even where the best place to take blood from me was! I was extremely impressed with how I was treated. I was unconscious for a couple of hours and have very little memory of the event.

Today I am rather sore, but I am also feeling inspired! My illness repeatedly puts me through hell and back, but its ok! I know that no matter what my little Dystonia alien throws at me, I will get through it. The image below depicts exactly how I am feeling.

Whilst Dystonia and Non Epileptic Attack Disorder are truly hideous conditions to have, I could be so much worse off. I could have cancer or another potentially life threatening disease! So I feel blessed that my condition merely limits me.

Through being ill I have had the privilege to talk to and meet some of the nicest people I have ever met. They all support me and give me strength! For example other bloggers and health activists; talking to them is a joy, as they can understand, advise and support me. Another great example are the amazing staff in the chemist by my doctors. I love going in there as I always get a warm welcome and have a quick chat, which puts me in a great mood.

I may suffer from a hideous condition, but I am so much more than just an ill person. I am a health activist, a fighter, I can be anything I want, and I can achieve anything I want. Just you wait and see!

 

Posted in April 2013, Archive

Life is a Lottery

Posted on by dystoniaandme

I love this quote, and for me it rings true, I may only be at the beginning of my storm but I am already a stronger person for it. It can be applied to anyone and everyone as we each go through our own ‘storms’ at different times in our lives. The struggles we experience, no matter how big or small they are, change us. They allow us to develop and change so that we are stronger, so that we can carry on with our heads held high, it gives us the knowledge that no matter what life throws at us we can and we will beat it every time.

In life people always ask themselves ‘why me?’ or ‘why now?’, next time you feel like asking those questions stop and breath, understand that those questions will not solve anything. You just need to battle your way through to the other side of the storm. It will be hard, but if you give up, you won’t see the wonders that are waiting for you on the other side.

Life is truly a lottery, some of us soar through life with ease and others battle endlessly. However at the end of the day, what will be will be. All you can do is battle on with the knowledge that you are fighting for a reason, that things will get better, and you will conquer every storm life throws at you.

Posted in April 2013, Archive

Exciting & Empowering Day

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Today has been such a fantastic and empowering day! I had been looking forward to today all week as I had planned to go out and see a few friends and then have a personal training session. Normally my friends would come to see me, and I would sit in the middle of my bed so that if I do have a Non Epileptic Seizure I am safe. Instead I went out to my friend’s house, and my mum left me there on my own. This was the first time I had been left in someone else’s house on my own since July 2012. This excited and scared me. It turned out that I had no reason to be scared as it went perfectly. I spent the time sitting down, laughing with them and for a few hours felt like a normal 20-year-old. This has given me confidence to venture out more, I know that eventually my little Dystonia alien will act up but I cannot let the fear of that keep me from trying to establish a normal social life.

I had not been able to see my Personal Trainer for a few weeks as my spasms had been so bad and more of my body had been affected (only my left leg is unaffected now). As usual I was really looking forward to today’s session. I love our sessions as I am doing something proactive that not only challenges my little Dystonia alien but makes me feel positive about myself.

In today’s session my dystonia attempted to act up, and we worked around it. I paused when the spasms made it to hard to do that particular exercise but carried on as soon as it released. It was an extremely good session and I only had one tiny Non Epileptic Attack and a handful of spasms in it, which I thought was fab considering it had been a few weeks and my body’s not been great recently.

My Personal Trainer and I had previously discussed trying out a TENS machine to try to counteract the spasms. Whilst my hand was in spasm, he put the TENS machine up to full power and within a few seconds the spasm in my hand had released. The theory behind this is that to use a set of muscles another set has to relax, so by stimulating the relaxed muscles the spasming ones had no choice but to relax. The positive outcome it seemed to be having amazed me, it was like having a remote control for my Dystonia alien. I have no idea if this will happen on other parts of the body or if stronger/different spasms will react so positively, however this is an exciting experiment that I am going to enjoy greatly. I am planning on videoing my hand in spasm and how the TENS relaxes it, so that I can show my consultant.

If anyone has tried using a TENS  before for Dystonia please let me know, I would be extremely interested to hear how you got on with it. You can get in touch with me by either commenting on this post or by going to this page https://www.facebook.com/dystoniajourney where you can inbox me privately or comment publicly.

 

Posted in April 2013, Archive

A glimpse into the consequence of pain

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Normally if you are in pain or need help for some reason, you are able to call out or make a noise/movement to indicate that you need someone to assist you. I cannot always do this and to be honest it terrifies me. It is one of my bodies latest tricks. I class it as one of my Non Epileptic Attacks, even though it does not look like a seizure.

It will start with a spasm somewhere in my body, as usual I will try to ignore it and try not to get wound up. Then, if it is a bad spasm/spasms comes the agony.

Picture this, you are lying on your bed reading, ignoring the searing pain that is consuming your right leg. Suddenly the book falls from in-between your fingers. You frown, there is no spasm in your hands, so why did it fall. You have not realised that your eyebrows never moved when you frowned. You go to reach down to pick up your book, but your arms don’t move. You try to wiggle your fingers, but again they do not move.

Your getting a bit concerned now. Taking a deep calming breath, you order yourself to stay relaxed, there’s no point getting worked up as you know it will do you no good. You decided to lie on your back with your eyes closed, so that you can day-dream peacefully until your body responds better. That’s when you realise that you no longer have control of any part your body. You are stuck on your side, your arms frozen in the position they were holding the book. You cannot move. Your eyes are stinging because they are no longer blinking. Your eyes can only take so much before they spasm upwards due to the pain.

Now you are blind, unable to move and in agony. You try to yell for help, but your lips do not move and no sound comes from your throat. You are locked in your body. Unmoving, making no sound. You can feel the panic levels rising, you try to control your breathing and keep calm, but its hard. The pain from the spasms in your leg and eyes are only getting worse. You want to scream but only silent tears run down your cheeks. You can hear people in the house, they think your fine. No one will know what’s happening unless they come to check on you.

The minutes are slipping past so slowly. You have only your mental voice for company. The panic is getting worse, as is the pain. By now you know that unless someone comes to help you soon, the unconsciousness of a Non Epileptic Seizure will soon engulf you, silencing the one part of you that is still free, your mental voice.

You can feel the unconsciousness creeping up on you as the pain gets worse, its like a slow fog creeping across your brain. You can feel that your state of awareness is slipping away bit by bit. It won’t be long now. You know that there is nothing anybody can do to help you. A small part of you is welcoming the creeping fog, in a sick way it will help.

Its getting hard to think now.

The fog finally consumes you.

That is a glimpse into the latest torture that I put up with. Sometimes the unconsciousness helps, and when I regain consciousness I’m ok, other times this goes on for hours and hours, and it is truly terrifying. It takes severe pain to cause it all, and part of me is now extremely frightened of feeling pain as I know what may come with it. All I can do is hope that each spasm will not be too bad, and if it is bad, try to relax.

The sun is shinning today, and I’m taking that as a good omen for a hopefully pain-free day.

 

Posted in April 2013, Archive

Trip to the Consultant

Posted on by dystoniaandme

On Tuesday I went up to London to see my consultant, I went armed with a notepad full of questions. I must say that I was extremely pleased with how the appointment went. I felt that my consultant listened to all of my concerns and really wanted to help me.

After explaining to my consultant all of my new symptoms and how they have resulted in an increase of Non Epileptic Seizures due to the pain, my consultant had a couple of ideas. First of all, after demonstrating to him how my neck spasms (it goes down towards my right shoulder, whilst rotating left, so I am in a sort of diagonally skywards position), he decided to administer Botox to my neck.

He administered the first lot of injections to my jaw to help relieve my Ormandibular Dystonia, this was relatively painless. He then went onto my neck. I expected this to be fairly painless as well. I was wrong. It was painful, I feel sorry for my mums poor fingers that I was already squeezing as I really do not like needles that are aimed at me. However I would rather have a couple of seconds of discomfort than hours of a hideous neck spasm.

My consultants second idea, is to introduce Clonzepam into my medication cocktail. At first I shall only take it when I think I am about to have a seizure. If that does not work then I shall start taking it nightly. His theory is that when I am in severe pain, my body goes into fight or flight mode and my bodies way of fleeing is by going into a Non Epileptic Seizure, therefore the medication should prevent my body from feeling like it has to fight or flee.

We discussed the role of dopamine, and he feels that my Dystonia is not dopa-responsive, so does not want to do a trial of levadope. Whilst this is disappointing, I can understand why he feels this, I know that I was only hoping I could try it, so that if did work I would be able to return to university in September. However I am not totally giving up on this idea. From the way my consultant spoke I was given the impression that many treatment avenues are closed for me because of the Non Epileptic Attacks. I am hoping that if the Clonzepam does its role right and stops them, then my Dystonia will be able to viewed in a light that is not tainted by them, it is at that point that I shall bringing up trying Levadope again.

For now I am going to sit back and count down the days to April 18th, when my riding lessons start-up again. I cannot wait to get back to it, its my happy place.

 

Posted in Archive, March 2013

Disgusting Medical Care

Posted on by dystoniaandme

I am seriously fed up with and disgusted by the treatment I receive from the medical profession! Even my GP, who is usually in my good books, has appalled me. Since 2:45pm yesterday afternoon my jaw has been clamped shut and deviated. I cannot eat, drink or even take my medication and have not done so since that time yesterday! We asked my GP to do a home visit, and after feeling my pulse and stomach he left. He claimed that he was sure my jaw would go back eventually and that he did not know what to suggest.

I know that eventually my jaw will go back. Eventually being the key word. We do not know how long it will take for my jaw to EVENTUALLY go back. I have not had a drink of water or taken any medication in almost 27 hours now. How long do they expect me to go without fluid or medication? Surly the logical thing to do is to admit me into hospital put an IV and administer me fluids, my meds and muscle relaxants/pain relief???

I do not understand why I should have to accept and put up with such disgusting treatment! I am disgusted and highly irritated!

Posted in Archive, March 2013

Illness and Inspiration

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Over the last week I have not been well. My seizures have increased to the point that one night I seized from 12am till 6am, my body was spasming constantly and I was feeling really under the weather. The last three days I have had a temperature along with a sickness bug, so have spent the days in bed resting. As I have mentioned before Dystonia does not respond well when the body has an infection/bug, for me this means it acts up a lot. I have put this last week of bad spasms and seizures down to my body fighting off the bug and then succumbing to it.

Today whilst reading through some material on the Dystonia Society’s website I came across a section on Dystonic Storms/attacks and it has really got me wondering if my ‘new’ Non Epileptic Seizures are actually not Non Epileptic attacks and Dystonic Storms instead. In my ‘new’ type of seizures I am completely conscious  however I am unable to communicate verbally, sometimes I may be able to do this via twitching a finger or blinking my eyelids, other times I am unable to communicate in any form, which is terrifying! The Dystonia Society describe Dystonic Storms as :

“episodes of a rare condition called status dystonicus where people develop frequent and intense episodes of severe generalised dystonia. A single episode of this severe dystonia may be referred to as a ‘ Dystonic storm’ or ‘ Dystonic attack’. They usually occur in individuals who already have dystonia affecting a lot of the body…During an attack people do not lose consciousness  and are completely aware of their surroundings but they may not be able to communicate to others as the muscles of the face and larynx are often involved. “

Naturally when I next see my consultant – which shall hopefully be soon – I shall put this to him and get his thoughts on the matter. – if you would like to read more on Dystonic Storms or Dystonia in general then please visit the Dystonia Society’s website http://www.dystonia.org.uk/index.php .

I found this picture earlier on today and it inspired me.

I am not going to have a perfect day everyday, and some days I am going to struggle to find the silver lining. However something good happens everyday, it may a day from hell, but if I woken up that day and I am alive, well that is fantastic and I am going to be grateful for it. There is no point in dwelling on the negatives in life.

So I am going to ignore my spasms and seizures, force my spasming face into a smile and carry on.