A Hospital Birthday

My birthday this year didn't exactly go to plan. This was the delightful view I was staring at as the clock struck midnight and signified me entering my 26th year on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

Tuesday lunch time I suffered a seizure in which I banged the back of my head pretty hard along with bruising and grazing my ribs.

Initially had no intentions on gracing the corridors of my local hospital with my presence but my body wasn't having any of that. I simply wasn't recovering at a "normal" rate. My head was banging, body aching and beyond tired but that's all normal. I saw a doctor during that afternoon for a quick check over of my injuries and for him to make a note of the fact I couldn't walk properly - I wasn't very well balanced. He did a quick check over and deemed me fine. We got back to my place and I took a nap but when I woke up again the vomiting started. Never a good sign when you've had a knock to the head. I still will do anything to avoid hospitals so rang NHS direct for advice on wether I needed to see someone again or if I could just stay home and ride it out. Unfortunately they told me to go straight to hospital to be seen. It's fair enough as you can never be too careful with a head injury - I'm just stubborn.

It took a few attempts to get an IV line in which is actually quite a good number for me especially as I was dehydrated. It also took a few different anti-sicknesses to finally stop me vomiting (lovely) I'm not 100% sure what they tried or what the final one was but it sure did burn my veins from the inside! At the time I couldn't care less though as it worked and I was finally able to keep my Epilepsy medication down. 

I'm very glad I had a friend there with me the whole time. She and her mum responded to my alarm and she didn't leave my side from then on! I was found unconscious in the middle of the kitchen floor. I think I was initially after a cup of tea!

Thankfully I didn't have any more big seizures so I was discharged during the morning and slept most of the day in my own bed. I did make it out for a lovely meal with a group of friends for my birthday and they came around to mine for a catch up and some cake after. So all in all despite a really rubbish start I had a surprisingly nice birthday! 

Now I'm just slowly getting over concussion. My head is still bruised along with my ribs but nothing long lasting so I'm ok with that and thankfully my walking is back to normal again. X 

3 days = 3 appointments

Migraines. Asthma. Epilepsy. 

This week has well and truly been taken over by medical appointments.

Monday was an appointment with my general doctor. The reason I booked it is because my migraines have kicked up a gear in frequency again with no obvious reason. My usual medicine for them (Naratriptan) isn't working as effectively as when I first started taking it to ease the pain of a migraine once it has begun. This has a knock on effect as not only does that mean I feel the full force of the migraine but as they also make me physically sick I'm at risk of not keeping my Epilepsy medicines down resulting in more seizures. The doctor I saw is new to the surgery and was really lovely. She suggested I try the medicine Rizatriptan. Not only is this medicine powerful and hopefully good at its job but it's also a dissolvable tablet that you put on your tongue as opposed to one you swallow. Which means I will be able to tolerate it even if I vomit. I'm to see how these go over the next month or so then go back and see her to either get a repeat prescription of them or try something else. She also suggested that I might have to consider using a prophylaxis medicine in the near future if things don't improve. That is something I'll have to think long and hard about as it would mean taking daily medication along with my current regime of medicines which means and increase in side effects etc. 

Tuesday I was called in the surgery to visit the nurse for a review. This is just to look over the medicines I'm on and how my illnesses are currently "behaving". We discussed various matters around Seizures, Migraines and Asthma. All was fine until she asked me to do a peak flow test. This is where they use a tube type thing to measure a persons ability to breathe out air. Very basically the reading reflects how constricted the airways are. Mine was half of the number on the lower end of the "normal" values scale. I've had Asthma for as long as I can remember but have been having a particular trouble with my lungs since an infection over this last Christmas. I was put on steroids for a while to help me gain some half decent breathing back again and I finished them about 2 months ago. Monday afternoon though I was at the scene of a house fire (I'm a drama magnet.. I can't leave the house without some emergency or other happening - all residents where fine thankfully part of the house were destroyed though!) anyway that meant cycling/running to the scene very quickly up hill and then standing in smoke checking everyone was ok. Needless to say my lungs were on fire and I desperately needed my inhaler. Anyway with the peak flow reading as low as the one I gave there was no choice but to put me back on steroids again for the time being. 

Today I was at the hospital for an appointment in Urology. This one is a little embarrassing to write about to be honest but hey it's a part of me so...

Since being in ITU (intensive care unit) last year I have had a problem with my waterworks down below. Doctors are unsure as to wether my problem is due to nerve damage or possibly a side effect of medicine. Long story short whilst in ITU I was obviously catheterised for days and also had pretty severe seizures during the time. A few days after I was back on a regular medical ward I started experiencing horrible pain in my abdomen and had to have the catheter out and replaced a few times due to blockages. Eventually I had a scan of my bladder and swelling was detected. Now, how it was caused is a mystery but we're thinking either wrong insertion or seizing with it in has dislodged it and caused damage. Since then I just simply cannot pee properly! It's like I can't register when I'm too full and need to empty my bladder. I have to make myself go to the toilet and try to pee but for some reason my system isn't emptying anywhere near as much as I'm taking in. Skip forward months and plenty of tests and I'm now at the point where the pain from retaining so much urine is causing huge discomfort and gradual damage to my bladder and kidneys so the only option is to self-catheterise. I had a good long chat with the nurses at the clinic and they carefully explained how the catheters work and what I have to do. I had to give it go at the hospital to make sure I know how to use them properly and empty my bladder before I left. I was holding over a litre of fluid when they scanned me! After my 'practice' session I was successful and when they rescanned me had next to nothing in there thankfully which in turn made me far less bloated and much more comfortable. The catheters are surprisingly discreet so I can carry some around in my bag etc which is good. Plus they are delivered to me door, whoop! 

Just another chapter in the life of Jade X

Post-Seizure Fuel

Check this out for a delicious pile of colour! 

This was my lunch the other day, a post-seizure day. I had a massive craving for cheese and in particular the salty taste of Halloumi. So I popped out to the shop to grab a pack of Halloumi and decided to whip up a salad from ingredients already sitting in my cupboard and fridge. I was going away for a few days so needed to use up some fresh food anyway. 

In the end there was quite a list of foods that made it onto my plate:

• Grilled Halloumi
• Fresh uncooked Spinach
• Cucumber
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Beetroot
• Sprinkling of seeds
• Drizzle of Olive Oil
• Pinch of Salt+Pepper

The result was scrumptious and energising! I've just back got from a long and tiring weekend so I thought I'd repeat it and make it again to eat today to make up for lack of energy. Yum. X 

Seizures + Endocrinology

Urgh the last few days have been rough. A seizure hit at about 6am in the morning on Wednesday. I knew it was coming as unusually for me I was struggling to sleep and constantly waking up feeling sickly and generally "not right". In the end I got fed up of dozing so thought I'd take a cool shower in the hope of feeling a little better. But in the space it took for me to get out of the shower and get dressed before putting my seizure alarm back on. Bam. I was waking up on the bathroom floor with a very sore shoulder. Lucky for me I didn't hit my head this time so that's a plus! My seizure was accompanied by a Migraine for the rest of Wednesday and into Thursday. Today I'm feeling almost back to my normal self though :)

Anyway what I was intending to write about was the problem I seem to have with my blood sugars. I'll try to explain. 

Since I altered my diet to low carb and eating little every 2-3 hours I've seen a little decrease in my seizures which is amazing. This is in comparison with a standard diet of 3 meals a day. Now we're trying to find out why this seems to be an issue.

On various occasions on admittance to hospital for seizures, when my blood sugars have been checked they have come up with low readings. Now was the question "which came first, the seizures of the low blood sugar?" and this is what my doctors are trying to determine. 

When your blood sugars drop too low your body sends out a adrenaline response (usually seen as tremor and shaking) My theory is that, because my seizure threshold is lower due to having Epilepsy my adrenalin response comes in the form of a seizure as well as the usual signs and symptoms. Now it might be that they drop too low or the drop too fast. I'm no doctor though but after discussing this with my Neurologist he seemed to agree that this might be an issue and sent me to see a Endocrinologist. My first appointment with him was a long one. He too listened to my views and after discussing everything to do with my general health, seizures and the effect of changing my diet he agreed that this definitely needs investigating. I left his office feeling confident, listened to and taken seriously.

I received his request for me to be admitted to hospital for a test within two weeks of seeing him. I wrote about it  **Here** . I'm waiting to hear about another test he wants to perform soon as well. 

For now each night before I go to sleep or before significant exercise I am to check my blood sugars to make sure they are at a level of 5.8 or higher. This then gives me a buffer through the night so as my energy is used sleeping the sugars will drop but hopefully not below 4.0. Now this is not really THAT low of a number but it seems to be a bit of a floor for me so as long as I stay above it the less seizures I tend to have. 

I do have to say though that this certainly won't give me any answers in the form of a cure as with most of my seizures my blood sugars are well within the normal limits. I'm ok with that though having less seizures is a pretty good start! 

Well that's me done for a little while as 5am tomorrow morning I'm waking up to go on an adventure with my medic family. It's my first major duty out of our county so we're staying away for the weekend. I can't wait to see what the time brings... hopefully not too many patients and absolutely no seizures please?! X