Forget depression!
I'm not depressed and I have the medical evidence to prove it!
I'm just home from 12 days of barrier nursing in gastro enteritis at the QEHospital in Glasgow.
I first got ill maybe 2 and a half years ago. Quite suddenly I had no energy. I gave up my 'lady who lunches' act. Couldn't even be bothered going to the shops. More or less gave up holidays, after a lifetime of loving to travel. I was prescribed more and more medication but none of it seemed to help. The IBS I'd lived with for decades was suddenly more serious - and the meds were not helping. I got dizzy and fell a few times.
What appeared to be depression was - I thought - caused by the sudden deaths of two good friends within a couple of months of each other. My GP listened and prescribed an anti-depressant. On the 17th December, I developed another scary symptom: constant diarrhea. I spoke to a GP in our practice and he arranged for me to to go in to the QEH by ambulance.
It took the ambulance 16 hours to appear. With a very embarrassed crew in attendance. I'd reached the point of saying to the dispatcher on the phone: Just cancel it all - I'm too tired to take any more of this. I got to A&E pretty fast after that, but I'd missed my slot (12 hours before!) and was transferred to A&E Admissions, where the ward staff compiled a list of the meds I'd been taking:
Ranitidine
Omeprazole
Propranalol
Co-Codamol
Ibuprofen
Ramipril
Loratadine
Vitamin D
Loperamide
Estraline
All prescription drugs.
I was moved like a precious parcel. To an A&E ward. Then again to be nearer the nurses' station. (A new experience for me but it left my family looking grim-faced). Then up to a gastro ward, and then to a room close to the nurses' station labelled 'do not enter!'
It turns out I shouldn't have been taking most of the meds on the list above. Propranalol is okay but the rest affect your kidneys. My kidneys were in such a bad state, the consultant was talking about dialysis. I had ultra-sounds to check how my internal organs were working. No problems with the bladder, or the bowel. Kidney function was bad but recovered pretty fast, as did the blood count.
But still I had diarrhea - all the time. I didn't eat. I quite often didn't make it to the loo. And there was apparently no sign of what was causing it.
And then, the questions began to focus on the medical treatment I'd had and on what I ate and drank. The doctors were particularly interested in a visit I'd had in November 2017 with a consultant from London, who told me there was nothing wrong with me and I should lay off the wine. I was so surprised to have the opinions of other medics dismissed, I sent him an email - and got the same reply back.
The doctors at the QEH examined the results of 2 colonoscopies I'd had done at that time and there was clear evidence of old scarring from previous flare-ups of colitis. You can read about colitis if you're interested:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320819.php#symptoms
Tonight I had a wee sleep and then pulled a seat alongside the toilet. I took every tablet I shouldn't have been taking from the list above and I flushed them all down the loo. I'm left with steroids, vitamins and a place every few months at the colitis clinic of a consultant I respect. You can just imagine I am a mix of relieved (I know what's going on!) and absolutely ragin that I've been so sick for so long and probably for no good reason. Next stop is a wee chat with my GP, but I need a bit of recovery time first.
I also need time to absorb my impressions of the new NHS. It's not perfect but it's the best available. Nobody is forced to use it. You can go private but few of us can afford to. If we want to pass the NHS on to future generations, we're going to have to dig our heels in and resist Tory pressure to privatise it.
More to come!
I'm just home from 12 days of barrier nursing in gastro enteritis at the QEHospital in Glasgow.
I first got ill maybe 2 and a half years ago. Quite suddenly I had no energy. I gave up my 'lady who lunches' act. Couldn't even be bothered going to the shops. More or less gave up holidays, after a lifetime of loving to travel. I was prescribed more and more medication but none of it seemed to help. The IBS I'd lived with for decades was suddenly more serious - and the meds were not helping. I got dizzy and fell a few times.
What appeared to be depression was - I thought - caused by the sudden deaths of two good friends within a couple of months of each other. My GP listened and prescribed an anti-depressant. On the 17th December, I developed another scary symptom: constant diarrhea. I spoke to a GP in our practice and he arranged for me to to go in to the QEH by ambulance.
It took the ambulance 16 hours to appear. With a very embarrassed crew in attendance. I'd reached the point of saying to the dispatcher on the phone: Just cancel it all - I'm too tired to take any more of this. I got to A&E pretty fast after that, but I'd missed my slot (12 hours before!) and was transferred to A&E Admissions, where the ward staff compiled a list of the meds I'd been taking:
Ranitidine
Omeprazole
Propranalol
Co-Codamol
Ibuprofen
Ramipril
Loratadine
Vitamin D
Loperamide
Estraline
All prescription drugs.
I was moved like a precious parcel. To an A&E ward. Then again to be nearer the nurses' station. (A new experience for me but it left my family looking grim-faced). Then up to a gastro ward, and then to a room close to the nurses' station labelled 'do not enter!'
It turns out I shouldn't have been taking most of the meds on the list above. Propranalol is okay but the rest affect your kidneys. My kidneys were in such a bad state, the consultant was talking about dialysis. I had ultra-sounds to check how my internal organs were working. No problems with the bladder, or the bowel. Kidney function was bad but recovered pretty fast, as did the blood count.
But still I had diarrhea - all the time. I didn't eat. I quite often didn't make it to the loo. And there was apparently no sign of what was causing it.
And then, the questions began to focus on the medical treatment I'd had and on what I ate and drank. The doctors were particularly interested in a visit I'd had in November 2017 with a consultant from London, who told me there was nothing wrong with me and I should lay off the wine. I was so surprised to have the opinions of other medics dismissed, I sent him an email - and got the same reply back.
The doctors at the QEH examined the results of 2 colonoscopies I'd had done at that time and there was clear evidence of old scarring from previous flare-ups of colitis. You can read about colitis if you're interested:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320819.php#symptoms
Tonight I had a wee sleep and then pulled a seat alongside the toilet. I took every tablet I shouldn't have been taking from the list above and I flushed them all down the loo. I'm left with steroids, vitamins and a place every few months at the colitis clinic of a consultant I respect. You can just imagine I am a mix of relieved (I know what's going on!) and absolutely ragin that I've been so sick for so long and probably for no good reason. Next stop is a wee chat with my GP, but I need a bit of recovery time first.
I also need time to absorb my impressions of the new NHS. It's not perfect but it's the best available. Nobody is forced to use it. You can go private but few of us can afford to. If we want to pass the NHS on to future generations, we're going to have to dig our heels in and resist Tory pressure to privatise it.
More to come!
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