On hold

I'm back!

Another update on me (boring, I know)..Still struggling to come to terms with my diagnoses of MS. Will I ever get my head around it? Hopefully.

Life seems to be on hold for now. No working. No moving on to getting a full time job. One good thing. Got my holiday in Cyprus coming up. 2 weeks in the sun will hopefully do me the world of good. Heading there at the end of July. Might not come home!

This seems like a really crap post. As I'm typing it I'm thinking "WTF? STOP AND FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO SAY!" but I can't help but continue to type utter rubbish. I guess I'll just go find something else to do. Could even think of other posts to make. I could even watch some Supernatural and Vampire Diaries. Which has given me an idea.

I shall return!

Had a bad time

It's been awhile again. I know. Had a rough few weeks...well, months really.

About 3 months ago I started having a wee bit of a bad time. Bad sight in my right eye, dizzy 24/7, people thinking I'm drunk 24/7 because I couldn't walk in a straight line, weird feeling in my legs..So I went to see the doctor. I was in 5 minutes and he said he would refer me to the hospital. I had to go back a few days later to have blood taken.

After an very early start that morning, I headed back home after walking around town with my Gran. My eye felt weird. So I checked it in the mirror. One eye was really small and my left eye was HUGE. The left side of my lip was also droopy and numb. I called the doctors and they asked me to come straight up before they shut for the night.

2 hours later I was in the doctors room and she looked a little worried. After another 15 minutes waiting for her to make some calls, she told me I needed to head straight up to the hospital to the Neurology ward.

After a week of sitting about, having an MRI scan, and a lumber puncture done, my specialist came to see me to tell me I have MS (Multiple Sclerosis). He told me I most likely have Relapsing Remitting MS because they think my first episode was over 10 years ago when I lost the sight in my right eye.

I sit here with the struggle of getting by every day with no car (it broke down before christmas), trying to get use to not being able to walk all that great unless I have a crutch, trying to come to terms with the withdrawl of a good job offer I was just about to have (although I'll still be offered it when I'm a bit better) and trying to get my head around the fact I have MS.

Still not read my booklet, looked at any websites and hardly talk about it. Still not ready. I will have to soon. Need to understand what's going on and what will happen about my holiday that I'm having in July. It'll hit me. How hard, or how soon, I don't know. Got to keep smiling for now. It's the only way I can get by day by day.

A few words from me

I guess it's been awhile again. It's not that I mean to stay away. Just Tribal Wars and Facebook seem to be getting in the way. I need to make a stand and say NO to staying away. YES to more posting and OH HELL YES to Daniel being mean!

I guess I'll start off with telling people about myself again. The name is Jenni. I'm from Scotland and I'm not what I use to be. Sounds strange? Let me explain.

9 years ago, in November, my father passed away of Cancer. A year later it became clear to me that I was a shadow of my former self. I got into lots of trouble, I didn't care for myself much and it began to show. One way was in the form of self harming.

It's now 8 years later and I still struggle day to day but I'm getting better. Last week I went to a Red Dwarf convention. Couple of years ago I would never have been able to attend an event like this. Groups of people in rooms? NO WAY but I'm slowly getting better and I managed no problem.

You'll probably be asking my reason for telling people such personal things. It's to make people aware that individuals with a Mental Health problem CAN make it in the real world with a lot of work and positive thinking. I'm not saying it's always positive. Not at all. I'm struggling every day but there is hope in the horizon. Always speak to people. Make your feelings known and try and keep a smile on your face. It's not easy but it can be done.

ANYWAY, I'm going to stop typing now. Need to check my Tribal Wars to make sure I'm not being attacked by some 13 year old with balls bigger than melons because he thinks he's "hard" being in a successful tribe LOL

Take care and talk soon!

PCOS - Update

New update with my PCOS - I started taking a pill called Metformin.

Metformin is a type of drug known as an 'insulin-sensitising agent', which lowers the blood sugar level, in turn reducing the excessively high insulin. There are actually very few studies that have been carried out and published concerning the use of insulin sensitising drugs as a treatment for PCOS. These suggest that it may well be useful in several areas: helping weight reduction, improving irregular periods (70%), normalising blood cholesterol and leading to ovulation.

I have to take one pill for the first week. On Friday I have to start taking 2 pills and then the Friday after that I have to take 3 pills. Each pill is 500g. So in total I'll be taking 1500g of Metformin daily.

The first day I took the pill I got the attack of the shakes and it was really bad. I went shopping and that's when I noticed the shaking. I also thought I was going to be sick right in the middle of ASDA. The next couple of days were ok but on Monday things were different. I spent most of the day on the toilet and I've felt like crap ever since.

The most common side effects during treatment are diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal bloating.

I have two of those so far. I've been told these side effects will last between 1 to 4 weeks and I should start seeing results in about 3 to 4 months. It's only the first week and I'm starting to lose hope already. Oh and it's made my bleeding really heavy. More heavy than before. I have to see my doctor again in 3 weeks time to see how things are getting on. I'm also really hungry!! I've not been eating much because I dont like the side effects. Which isnt smart on my part, I know. I'll keep you updated.

I'd like again to encourage women who think they have any symptoms of PCOS as stated in this post to go see a doctor so you can start treatment. Please dont suffer in silence!

I'm also going to tell you about a blog called Soul Cysters. Started by a woman who's 16 year old Daughter has PCOS. The woman very kindly left me a comment and I've decided to link her blog here for others to read. The URL is here and also listed under Blogs We Read section down the side. Take the time to read her blog if you have any concerns about PCOS or you have PCOS. Thanks!

PCOS - Polycystic ovarian syndrome

I want to take this time to highlight something that is close to my heart, and that's PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome). I've posted about it before because I was going through some tests to see if my problems were caused by PCOS. My next doctors appointment will most likely have the outcome for being told I 100% have PCOS. I'm making this post so that other women might recognise some of the symptoms and then seek help and tests. So here goes. Please read carefully and if anything in this post rings true to you, then please seek help from the doctor.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), also known by the name Stein-Leventhal syndrome, is a hormonal problem that causes women to have a variety of symptoms. Some of the symptoms include:

* absent or infrequent periods (oligomenorrhoea): a common symptom of PCOS. Periods can be as frequent as every five to six weeks, but might only occur once or twice a year, if at all.

* increased facial and body hair (hirsutism): usually found under the chin, on the upper lip, forearms, lower legs and on the abdomen (usually a vertical line of hair up to the umbilicus).

* acne: usually found only on the face.

* infertility: infrequent or absent periods are linked with very occasional ovulation, which significantly reduces the likelihood of conceiving.

* overweight/obesity: a common finding in women with PCOS because their body cells are resistant to the sugar-control hormone insulin. This insulin resistance prevents cells using sugar in the blood normally and the sugar is stored as fat instead.

* miscarriage (sometimes recurrent): one of the hormonal abnormalities in PCOS, a raised level of luteinising hormone (LH - a hormone produced by the brain that affects ovary function), seems to be linked with miscarriage. Women with raised LH have a higher miscarriage rate (65 per cent of pregnancies end in miscarriage) compared with those who have normal LH values (around 12 per cent miscarriage rate).

Any of the above symptoms and signs may be absent with the exception of irregular or no periods. All women with PCOS will have irregular or no menses. Women who have PCOS do not regularly ovulate; that is, they do not release an egg every month. This is why they do not have regular periods. No one is quite sure what causes PCOS. However, the ovaries of women with PCOS frequently contain a number of small cysts, hence the name poly (many) cystic ovarian syndrome. A similar number of cysts may occur in women without PCOS. Therefore, the cysts themselves do not seem to be the cause of the problem. A malfunction of the body's blood sugar control system (insulin system) is frequent in women with PCOS. The result is an inadequate response to insulin (insulin resistance) that can lead to abnormally elevated blood sugar (glucose) levels. The insuliin disturbance is thought to also be the trigger for the development of symptoms such as acne and excess hair growth that is seen with PCOS.

The diagnosis is based on the patient's symptoms and physical appearance. If the diagnosis seems likely because the patient's history contains many of the symptoms described already, certain investigations are done to provide confirmatory evidence or to indicate another cause for the symptoms. These include:

* Blood tests such as
- Female Sex Hormones (at a certain point in the cycle if possible)
- Male Sex Hormones
- Glucose
- Thyroid Function Tests
- Other Hormones, eg Prolactin
* Ultrasound Examination

Your own GP can do the initial blood investigations, ensuring they are carried out at the correct time of the cycle if appropriate. Your GP may be able to arrange an ultrasound scan. Once the diagnosis is made, nothing more needs to be done for some women, eg if their fertility is not an issue, if their weight is within normal limits, and if they do not have excess body hair. If any of the symptoms are an issue, then further advice and treatment, and possibly specialist referral is needed.

PCOS often comes to light during puberty due to period problems, which affects around 75% of those with the disease. Infrequent, irregular or absent periods are all common variations, many finding their periods particularly heavy when they do arrive. The period disturbance is a sign that there is a problem with regular monthly ovulation. So just why do your periods go out of whack when you suffer from PCOS? The main culprit is hormonal imbalance

If you recognise two or more of these symptoms in yourself, make an appointment with your health care provider to investigate whether you may have PCOS. While a cure for PCOS has yet to be found, effective treatment for these symptoms is available.

Doctor visit: update

Today I went for more blood samples for my on-going testing for PCOS. I asked the nurse what my file said about my last set of results and she told me that I had a low level of the hormone SHBG (Sex hormone binding globulin) and the doctor wanted that tested again and also for other things.

Once home, I went searching to see just what this hormone is and found that conditions with low SHBG include polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes, and hypothyroidism. I'm guessing that it's more than likely that I do have PCOS. What didnt help was me then reading more into the syndrome and seeing...

heavy bleeding is also an early warning sign of endometrial cancer, for which women with PCOS are at higher risk

...for the past few months, I've suffered from heavy bleeding. Like my mum said to me (while I was sobbing my heart out on the phone) is that it might never come to that or maybe I dont have PCOS and I'm reading too much into things. I guess I'll find out for sure in another 3 weeks time.

Now to something about waiting for blood tests. It came to my attention that some people had been coming to this blog and had been referred here from another blog. NHS Blog Doctor happened to pass by here and had read my post about not being happy at waiting 3 weeks for test results.
I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that 3 weeks is a long time to wait. I said in my post that I thought it typical of the NHS to take so long. I know for a fact that I'm not alone in thinking THAT. It's hard to have 100% faith in the NHS. They told my dad that all he had was an ulcer and then 3 months later, another doctor told my dad that he had cancer. Maybe I'm biassed because it was my dad but to me, they should have done more tests to rule out everything. Not just settle for "Oh. It must be an ulcer"

Do the non-private medical care people of the UK expect to much from the National Health Service? You hear so many horror stories in the papers about our health care that it can be hard to have faith in it.
The only thing I strongly disagree with is that the NHS 24 helpline isnt helpful at all. I've found it extremely helpful everytime I've called. They helped me when I couldnt breath right and told me that it was most likely bronchitis, they helped me again when I called about my gran and although saying I would have to wait for 3 hours for the out of hours doctor to arrive, the nurse made sure a doctor arrived an hour later and that's when we were told my gran had had a mini stroke. I'm just one of the millions of british people who dont have 100% faith in their health care. Who can really say I'm not right in thinking this? (apart from an NHS doctor).
In saying that I don't have faith in them anymore isnt a correct statement on my part, to be honest. I had faith in my original doctors. They were the ones to point out my mental health problem and my eating disorder. My faith lowered when I was moved to this new doctor surgery because my original doctor moved and because of where I stayed, I couldnt visit them anymore. There's no doubt in my mind that some NHS doctors are excellent. I just think mine aint all that great.

Doctor update

A little update from my last post....The doctor finally called me and told me that they found a high level of a certain hormone and that they need to test my blood again and this time, there will be blood taken for about 5 other tests. I've got about another 3 week wait for those results. They said the results didnt come back conclusive that it is PCOS. That's why more tests are needed. Until then, they are putting me in contact with a specialist unit at the local hospital and I know what will happen. There will end up being a waiting list for this unit too. Probably about a month or 2. It's just typical!

3 weeks for blood results

I don't know if anyone has ever had to wait 3 weeks to get blood test results back (resluts and this is for Luna to laugh at) but that's what I've had to do. I had two blood samples taken on the 22nd Dec. One to test to see if I was anemic and the other was to test for PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome). The anemic result came back the week after, which said I wasnt anemic. Which I kind of knew because I gave blood the week before and if I were anemic, then my iron count would have been spotted then. Today, as you all know, is the 8th January 2007 and so far today I've been on the phone to the doctors 4 times. I've complained and one woman I talked with has taken it upon herself to make damn sure that I find out the results today. I'm waiting for the doctor to call me as I type this.

I've never had to wait this long to get any test result in my life. I suppose you could say this is typical of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. I can understand that over the christmas period it is hard to get test completed. People who do this have a life too, and I'm not even laying the blame fully on them. Most of the blame I'm placing on my doctors. I called on friday afternoon and I was told the results were back but the doctor still needed to look at them. I was told to call back in the afternoon, which I did and was told again that the doctor hadn't looked at the results. I was told to call on monday..which brings us to today.

I called in the morning only to be told that the doctor still hadnt looked at the results. I called again at 3pm and was told the same again. That's when I snapped and in the end, the woman on the other end of the phone took pity in me. True to her word, she passed messages onto the doctor and I'm awaiting this phone call.

For 3 weeks I've been worried over this whole PCOS thing. I've been trying my best to put it to the back of my mind but every now and then it pops into my head. Fingers crossed that this phonecall will be a good one but although it could be good, it can also be bad because that means they still don't have a clue what is wrong with me. Lets hope today gets the ball rolling again and faster this time!