Tag Archives: headache

Home at last.

We arrived home. that night pain levels were obviously still high. Higher i think as I’m sure the morphine i had was not as strong as the hospitals however i was home.. i was happier. 
In the end i think its things like comfort, family and friends that help the healing process. My friends are amazing – they come to my hospital bed and they come to my home but when I’m at home its so much nicer and for my friends who are far away I can FaceTime them at home and seeing them makes me happy. basically life was really bad but better at home.



The next morning I woke to severe pain. I had the morphine and we managed to see the GP. It was a real struggle to get up there but we needed to. The GP prescribed something called M.S.T and was told to take one straight away and then use the oramorph when the pain was really bad. 
I continued to do this for the next 24 hours – i began to itch though – it must be a side effect of the medicine. i managed to sleep again but it was restless sleep. 
I dont know if anyone else has felt like this but i was asleep yet i could still feel the pain – i tried to wake up but couldn’t. i call this Kruger sleep cos its a nightmare ! 

The next few days this all continued – with one change of the GP swapping the MST and oramorph for oxycontin and oxynorm. 
This wasn’t a good change though. The new meds made me feel terrible ill and sick and we had to get the GP to come out again –  gave me an injection and we went back to just the oramorph as the other meds were not agreeing with me. Shame as the pain had been less on the oxynorm. 

The next few days I slept on and off – my oxygen levels occasionally dropping and me still having seizures almost every day on top of this. 


Pain.


Well the last few weeks have been a struggle. Ive gone through many emotions a few different drs and hospitals. The news on all fronts have not been great and ive not been feeling great on top of that. Basically life seems a viscious circle in many ways. The seizures cause joint pain, headaches and stress of family, friends and in turn make things difficult. I want to do things but I get limited by people thinking they know what is best for me when in fact they are making life worse… more stressful because I still want to try being “normal” whataever that is. Its not like i want to be like everyone else… thats never been my style However I want to live life, Enjoy what I can. Yes sometimes I push things to the limit but life is for adventure and for living. Not sitting on the sidelines wondering what is out there. Ive also been having worse cluster headaches. I haven’t spoken about cluster headaches much in this blog I know but yes I have cluster headaches too. Diagnosed when i was sitting with my epilepsy consultant one time and my Dr asked me some (what I thought) odd questions on my next appointment after reading my hospital notes. I answered them and bang – another diagnosis, lot of pills and other things to learn/ understand. Well i’ve been reasonably coping until recently. My episodic clusters have turned into chronic meaning they are several times a day. This does not help the seizures either.
We have also found that my seizures occur when i’m in pain and my oxygen levels drop – hence alot of the time im hooked up to oxygen trying to quench a headache and stop seizures. Sometimes it works – sometimes it doesn’t. Either way its another thing in the way of life. Ive not had a seizure free day (grandmal becasue I dont really count the absence ones) in 5 weeks. Before this I maybe got one ever 2 weeks. Im getting tired now, my joints are suffering badly and Ive damaged my neck. Im now at the stage where Ive got some things in order and now its time to fight or run and damn the consequences. Im not going to run im going to fight for as long as I can and for as hard as I can.


Fight for fun
Fight for life
Fight for a seizure free day 
Fight for a pain free Day
Fight for epilepsy awareness.

 Im waiting for an appointment go go back to london for more treatment of some sort – we dont know what yet. I know surgery is not an option unless they find something new as my seizure focus (where the epilepsy is and starts) is no longer in just one side of the brain but both. its not just in the one lobe anymore but in 3. time will tell but for now I dont know what the answer is. 


A poem edited for epilepsy: 

“What Epilepsy Cannot Do”
Epilepsy is so limited…
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.


Even if just for a moment it does any of the things above… epilepsy and everything else will not win I have epilepsy – it does NOT have me.It is not Who I am – it is only part of me. I am not defined by it – i dont want to be.If I die tomorrow I want to be remembered as the bubbly crazy wacky purple, glittery disney loving girl  who was fighting for epilepsy awareness. Fighting for funding for people to help find the cure we all need. I want to leave my mark on the world. Help and inspire people – that is my wish.

Night night. xxx

If i die young.

Ok im not going to be depressing or dramatic here. Yes ive had some really down days… Life has been difficult but im ok. Things wont change but i have them all in my head into their little neat spaces instead of making my head muddled and a mess. 


I was asked to do another video by so many people. I didnt know where to start. I began with a song a jessie J number.
I then went away on holiday to see my best friend for a week,  I had such an amazing time. During that time though my world changed  that little bit more and epilepsy took a little bit more from me. I ended up in hospital as you know from my previous blogs and then when I came home i was again in hospital some more.
During this time I was told by drs that with the amount of seizures Im having and the amount of times im suffering from status epilepticus where I have repeated seizures without regaining consciousness and where my breathing changes and stops on occasions my future is not looking good. my future may hold brain damage and death if this continues. Luckily so far Ive escaped with only slight  blurry  left eye. I was also told my epilepsy is no longer limited to starting in my temporal and occipital lobe on the left but has now spread and is on both sides of my brain. Surgery is not a viable option as this would also cause brain damage.
Depressed, upset and at a turning part in my life I looked through some songs and found this one. (if i die young) It seemed to fit what i had just been told.
Im not being depressive about all of this but it is the harsh truth. So many people think epilepsy is just a condition where you take a pill and no more seizures …. If only it were that easy for us all.
Mothers and fathers have lost sons and daughters to epilepsy, Ive lost good friends. The truth is that epilepsy kills over 1000 people in the UK alone every year.

More awareness needs to be raised and this is my wish and goal to do so. I love life and love my friends and family who help me when im struggling. Im still the happy bubbly person I normally am… I do have my down days but most of the time im still happy and enjoying life.
This video is just to make you think a bit more about how precious life is… it is not to be taken for granted. 


I hope you like the video and it raises a few questions of your own.
Love you all guys. Please leave comments if you like. its nice to know who is reading this… I just get a counter thing telling me people are here otherwise which is a bit boring. Would be lovely to hear some of your stories too. 


Love you all and remember Just keep swimming. 




Double consultant

Well the last couple of months have been full of ups and downs.
The ups being good days and playing music, meeting friends and the bad being hospital visits, consultant meetings, results and I still cant see out my left eye !

A few weeks ago now I met with my consultant, and another consultant from a high up place in the care of epilepsy in the whole of kent who was lovely but this meeting totally confused me as It was a surprise not to be just my normal consultant. I always have questions to ask my consultant but it all went out the window when I went in and the other man was there, therefore I didnt get chance to say hardly any of what I wanted to ask. In fact I left with more questions.

The man was there to talk about my situation and the posibility of doing something more invasive like surgery. This has been spoken about in the past and I was told a few months previous it looks like it may be possible…. it turns now that this isnt a option yet as my seizures dont just originate from my temporal lobe like they have done all my life but now have also spread to the occipital (explaining the loss of vision from my left eye). This for me was a complete kick in the stomach yet good news as well as at least I knew why my eye had been on and off and now pretty much off for the duration of time. 

I liked the extra consultant yet It was a really difficult meeting being told that the end of the line as to what they can do is very near. If surgery isnt a option and the drugs are not working then at the moment we are at a standstill. However there are a couple of other options being looked into as I type so for now all is not lost… its close but we’re not there yet. 

The other issue we spoke about in the meeting was my cluster headaches. It makes things more difficult that I have these as well as medication reacts and all sorts of things which I dont really understand myself yet they just said its a little more complicated and they tread carefully. Anyway there was this drug I was told I could try a few months ago. I had to have a ECG though to check my heart as it reacts with the heart. I had the ECG done and I wanted to now start the drug so I brought the subject up. This too was not a option as the ECG came back with a problem…. yet they didnt say what, and that was one of the questions I forgot to ask as they went into a different subject before I could really finnish what I was about to say. 

I left the appointment a bit grumpy and down. It was hard being told the end of the road is neigh, but i had a few answers and I knew not to panic about my eye too much and I knew they were now working hard to find me some answers and help. 

Still, got to keep going, have faith and “just keep swimming, Just keep swimming” ! 

Now to wait for the reply and answers. 

Christmas & New Year

Christmas and new year is always a time I love and dread at the same time. Its very often full of arguments and walking on eggshells with my dad. However I do love the run up to christmas this year was going to be even more special as i was back at band and we had gigs which are always good but the christmas one is amazing. its the best concert of the year and this year I was going to be part of it!. 

The gig went really well as I always does, Kara and family came, mum came and brought my uncle and my cousins came I really enjoyed having my special people there supporting me. It was great. 







You can find videos of the band at  www.youtube.com/tiggerifficjem 


The gig ended and I felt sad… not only cos of that but because christmas was nearly over for me… I love the run up to christmas, not necessarily the actual day. Christmas afternoon is great as I spend it with my nan with my family but the day up to then is tough. 

This year was ok Well not too bad, Dad drank and he got moody but we survived.  Unfortunately half way through the morning I had a seizure. Epilepsy does not even let me rest on Christmas day ! mum was worried as we had to go to nans and have the traditional dinner. I wasn’t really very bothered with dinner but i managed it after a sleep. Another little rest and a read of my book that i got for Christmas and I was ready for nans. This also went well. This is the tradition I love, Going round nans and grandads and opening parcels, playing with crackers and the traditional who can get the streamers from the poppers over the living room light game. I love both my grandparents to bits. They are 89 and 90 years old so every moment is precious. 


Nanny and grandad Christmas 2012



NEW YEAR and new start? or not. 


New year we were invited over to Kara’s. Well it was the 2nd of January as our new year but to us it was new year. All day I had been feeling grotty, my head was hurting so bad, I stayed calm all day and kept taking the pills as I was allowed and prescribed. I still felt awful. 

The evening came and I selected my clothes, sat on the edge of the bed and knew that If I went out it would be a mistake. I said to mum how bad I felt but she said it was too late… we cant let Kara down this late notice. So I got my clothes on, downed some more medication and kept my fingers crossed. 

Our new years wasn’t the type that your probably thinking… we played monopoly ! The food was lovely although I only had a little and the games and company were good but as the night went on I felt even worse. We left. 
I braced myself as I walked home, and as soon as I got there I grabbed my Injection and pressed it into my upper thigh. This was a full blown cluster and I was about to go into a seizure too…. I was very poorly. The cluster headache died down after about a hour however the seizures didn’t. There isn’t much research into cluster headaches and epilepsy as cluster headaches are quite rare however one of the consultants I have seen told me that a cluster headache inflames the brain and the inflammation causes the seizures. 
I blanked out with the seizures again. That night I ended up in hospital again. So much for a new year and new start. No matter how much you want the seizures to go away they wont. 
I came home and once again ended up with a few days in bed and My eye was black. I was weak but I recovered and The year began again for me just a little late!




One year ago.

The next 2 days I had night fits and so sleep wasn’t great… dad was being his normal self and so i was a little stressed.
I needed to get out. emails/fb messages and texts had been going between Tory and I so to save me running round doing jobs with mum I went to the activity box. I was scared at first but took my oxygen and had phone off lock and Tory new everything. The day went great. i was exhausted at the end but i did some painting on the floor when i started to ache in the chair….  but still it was great. The work experience boy was a drummer so i tried to get him into coastal band…. i think he may be interested.
Pat, Tory and i spoke a lot over the last few days about my interest in art and the craftbox…I was asked to do the disney side, and to paint a few pieces. 

A few weeks passed and then another blip..
One Monday I was at the craftbox on my art class course… I felt ok’ish… my head was pounding but id taken pills and i was doing my painting. Well i obviously looked ill as Tory managed to get me downstairs… I had a seizure and another and another.. luckily we had oxygen and i was able to come round in between but then that stopped… no more coming round. The ambulance was called and I was taken to the local hospital but different from the one i normally go to. I hate this hospital. I was given oxygen as the fits had stopped and had neuro obs done in a fashion… I can remember being pulled and poked and shouted at while i was struggling to sit and keep upright and stay awake.. I’ve never struggled so so much to keep awake as a dr was shouting. He finished and asked how i felt.
I told him i still had my aura of a funny feeling in my stomach and like i was going to have another seizure.. He told me that stomach pain is nothing to do with epilepsy and i was discharged and out the cubicle in 5 minutes… i guess they wanted the bed !

I can’t remember much apart from the struggle to walk.. I didn’t really know where I was and mum told me she was literally dragging me out the hospital. The next thing I know I was waking up on the cold floor of the outside of the hospital… id had 3 more seizures. There was a couple of nurses i think and i was taken back to A&E. Mum had called dad to come get us earlier on and now he came and I was back… I’m not sure he was happy about having a wasted journey but then he saw a fit and realised this was probability where i needed to be. I was kept overnight and discharged on the tuesday morning.
I was stressed and pissed off and wanted to be anywhere but on this plannet but here I was. Wednesday I was determined that this teapot was going to get done. I went to the craftbox with mum. we had a lovely morning and id nearly got it done. I had a appt with my dr consultant in the afternoon so After a lovely morning of watching Tory and Pat sorting shelves, eating brownies and scones and strawberries, and me painting my teapot and minnie mouse i went to the appt. the consultant was helpful yet disappointed as i was but didn’t say as much i i had hoped… I came back to the craftbox to collect some bits and finnish off as Kara was there now too. Tory had given me a lot of bisque to paint for disney style so she can sell them too.
Kara offered me a lift home which i agreed to but then felt odd… i text mum straight away to come and get me but by the time she came i was out again. I can’t remember much from here on but mum said she came and then Tory called Pat to come down to help. I can remember Pat’s hand and voice at times. Then mum called Grumpy off the bus cos this was the wost she’d seen me.
He came I was taken to the city hospital and stuck onto Phenytoin drips and saline as my bp very very low….. 40/38 ! ! ! 

anyway the next 2 days were awful… I did however meet my ex mentor who was lovely on one of the wards. It was a bit embarrassing though having seizures in front of someone who helped train me to be a nurse.
I had to move from there to the neuro ward and thats when it all went wrong…. The drugs by this time had racked my system and i was not me.. i cannot remember a thing but being in a very small room and dr’s and nurses in the room crowding me trying to explain about brain scarring. I asked if i could have just a couple as i was feeling very claustrophobic and sick but they refused to leave… i apparently became very agitated sat on the floor…. i guess to get out of all the heads and tried to get out the hospital. bloody locked wards !

Kara was there and had gone to the lounge so i went there and i panicked. I phoned the only person i knew understood what was going on and may be able to help me so i wasn’t so crowded with people… Tory.  I now know I probably shouldn’t have but i needed a friend who could talk hospital language and help me stop these people all talking to me at once… I had asked to talk to one person and that didnt work. Tory was my only thought to help… I thought she was a good friend.

She is a friend but at that moment not in the situation on that day….. The drugs had caused me to not know what had really happened that day. I felt back at square one. Alone with no one understanding what epilepsy and these drugs do to my body. I am still doing commissions. I still feel very unhappy and disappointed  that this happened though. I had lost control over my body once again.

I finally got out of hospital on the saturday and received (mum received) a call from my consultant. As we are at the moment we are still waiting to hear and get an appointment for help and talk about london.

Im still having the seizures much worse than i was although i am coming out of them so that is good!
i don’t want to go back to hospital as I’m so so sore . my veins are hard as rock again and all very painful… phenytoin and diazepam and all the other drugs that I get given are  nasty drugs but good as they work.

Magick keept me company in the three weeks i was in bed.
my best friend in the shape of a cat !



I stayed in bed for about 3 weeks after coming out of hospital. The seizures had racked my body. Sore joints and muscle weakness, My left eye had also gone black and i was unable to see out of it. This had happened before but this time it seemed worse Normally it was blurry but this time it was black. 

This was about a year ago….. more has happened since then. 


Embarrassment is never far away!


After the blip i had started living again.
I went to the craft box more and I went out with matt more, I was more confident and was going out with some other friends too.  I started planning things further away and life was good. I was still having the seizures but they were less severe and I was at about 2 a week and I knew to avoid my period time. I started brushing up on my nursing skills by redoing my online training and had passed them all. I was getting ready to go back and I was treating every day as a bit of a holiday. I still went through bad weeks where my cluster headaches would be bad and i would need the oxygen but i thought that iId still be able to go back to work even with that. 
To bring myself into the real world again I started taking my little cousin milly out for day trips. Things were good i was living, making plans yet this time still being reserved.

June 16th 2012

Things were good !  the last 2 mondays I’ve been going to a art class at the craft box as well and I’m still taking Milly out on the occasional weekend.
The last week i have been painting a plaque for dads fathers day pressie. Ive designed it with both his loves in mind. On one side I’ve got his regiment details and badge and on the other his own personal bus stop. On and off I’ve been going in and doing a little.
Last Thursday I was in the activity box with Kara (she was doing a similar thing for her dad but a gardening design).
Over the few days leading up to last thursday I had been feeling a little under the weather I had noticed my headaches were stronger and I had been having a lot of absence seizures. I hadn’t told mum how bad i was feeling as she had been unwell the last few months and I was done with worrying her about me. She done that way too much. Things were on the up so I thought I could cope.

Thursday was going to be our finishing off day. We went in at 10am and painted away and chatting about the usual rubbish we chit chat about. My head was getting worse so i took a couple of my stronger pills and then kara and I took a break to go and get a cake from the nearby cake shop. We came back and had a cuppa to go with it and continued to paint. Half an hour in and i felt strange, My head was bad and i was getting hot I went outside to get some air and as i went down the steps i knew something wasn’t right. I got to the door and it all went blank. I woke up laying on gravel feeling very cold. The lady who owned the craft box (luckily a ex nurse so wasn’t to badly freaked) was holding me telling me where i was. I felt awful and so so embarrassed. Why, How not again were my thoughts. I knew i wasn’t free from the beast but i felt I had gained a little control and here i was being proved wrong. (life with epilepsy is always unpredictable)

The next few hours are really blurry as from what I’ve been told i was in and out of seizures a lot.
I remember getting up and going back into the warm as sitting on a stool. My trousers were covered in mud as was my feet and hands. tory (the lady at the activity box) washed my trouser leg with a cloth and I was holding onto a roll of bubble wrap. I felt really ill and the sensations i were getting were odd as I didn’t normally feel them this strong once the seizure had passed.
The next thing I knew I was on the floor again. this was seizure 2. this apparently continued. I can’t remember what was happening yet i know people were there I could hear Tory’s voice and then mums. I could tell the difference between Tory’s hand and mums as Tory’s was smooth with short nails and mum had boney hands with long nails. Voices were distand and under water. i felt so so cold. I cuddled in a blanket and can remember mum passing me the oxygen. I was trying so hard to stay awake yet i was so tired. I wanted to go home and so tried to get up and get up the stairs. This failed as every time i got up I had a seizure. I can’t remember this part but this is what I’m told.
The next 2 hours are blank as I got taken to hospital and woke up in the resuscitation room with a needle in my arm wires on my body and a drip hung in position. There was a nurse and doctor  asking me what happened… fit? i said groggily?  the drugs kicked in pretty quick and it turned out i had a kidney infection which probably caused the flare up, it didn’t make me feel any better though i couldn’t believe id had a fit while out, this hadnt happened in a couple of months (ok i rarely went out too much nut hey) . i was so so embarrassed.
My head was pounding but the oxygen helped a little.
I was desperate to get home and our friend was there as huge support to mum. Persuasion meant they did let me home later that evening with a large dose of antibiotics and instructions. I was so relieved. I got straight in bed and cuddled in my blanket with magick and the oxygen. It seemed that too long of the oxygen and i would start feeling really rubbish again.

                                  


Pills, craft and disney


I came home from London with relief and sorrow.
I had the ok for oxygen, but i also had more pills to take. I was now on a total of 19 a day. If they help i don’t care i said.
A few weeks on and a little improvement was seen on the seizures. I had to up the dose of the medication and they meant 22 pills a day but who cares little improvement is better than none.
I was still getting a few absence seizures but i didn’t even bother to say about those any more.
When i was on my menstral cycle the generalised would be worse. The oxygen however meant that my headaches were able to be controlled a little. Sometimes the oxygen got rid of the headache totally. Was i about to get back to work and have a life?
Although i knew deep down a normal life was still far ahead i was getting braver. I went out down the street and posted letters by myself. I went in shops on my own knowing mum was just in the nearby area. I  done craft fairs in public, went shopping and as long as someone was about life was good.
The medication wasn’t perfect as i did have breakthroughs but i went from 5-10 seizures a week to 2-3 big seizures a week. Thats a big improvement.
The oxygen also meant that recovery was quicker. Mum use to grab the mask and give me oxygen when i had a seizure and we found this helped this too. We both started to relax.


February 11th 2012.
After a lovely but difficult christmas came the new year. My friend Matt had become my boyfriend on New years eve and I couldn’t have been happier. I was going out and really living life. He knew me from school (total of 16 years) and he had grown up with my seizures so all was good.
Over the christmas period i had a few blips and had to spend a couple of days in bed as i was too bad after the seizures but i bounced back. Febuary was different though.
Matt and I were dating and our first valentines day was planned to be great. However 11th february 2012 i was taken into hospital. The seizures wouldn’t stop and  again hospital was the only option. I went through the same process as always, anticonvulsants in a drip over night and a couple of days in hospital. i got out of hospital on the morning of 14th february (valentines day) this wasn’t going to be the day we planned as i was too weak but Matt came over nevertheless and we had a lovely evening watching a film. I was happy.
I was a bit disheartened by this blip as i thought we’d cracked it as the seizures had reduced  little and i thought i’d just up the medication and that would be it, but I didn’t give up.


As soon as i was well enough matt and I were off doing things and Kara and i started crafting again. I Started to craft more seriously and sell a few bits too.
Id stopped going to WI as it was getting the same and mum wasn’t fussed so we chose to spend the joining fee on some show tickets throughout the year instead.
Kara and i were still best buds and soul sisters and she introduced me to a amazing craft place. the craft box . You paint pottery then the lady puts it in the kiln and it comes out shiny and looking amazing. We went there often and i started to go there  solo too as Kara could not always do it as she had so many other commitments to clubs and social groups such as drama and craft.

We didn’t always craft. we went to the cinema and shopping and other places too. We even went to the o2 arena and watched disney on ice. It was great Kara was becoming as mad on disney as i was. I felt sorry for her mum as she had the job of taking us but she seemed to love it too. it was a really good day. 


Popped bubbles

I was trying to still have a life despite the seizures however i could no longer go to my band practice that id been doing for over 11 years as it was late night and i got tired. Id had a seizure on the way there and it made me think of how close i was to total embarasment… I was so scared of it happening again while sitting in practice or while on stage at a gig…. in fact I still am. 
Mum and i did start going to Womens institute with kara and her mum. This was ok it was once a month and was a sit down affair and some of the talks interesting.
kara would also come round to mine and we would chat and do crafts… life wasn’t great but it was ok. kara and i loved similar things and had a understanding. unfortunately i couldn’t go round to hers much as he dog jack had taken a dislike to me and tried to eat me on too many occasions for my liking but we still had mine to meet up at.
The results of the telemetry were in. As far as i could understand this was to see if there was a way out via surgery. There wasn’t. The tests showed where it was probably coming from but it stemmed from too deep down and to operate would be too life threatening. So we needed to look somewhere else.
During this time my new consultant had thought about my headaches. He asked me some (what i thought) random questions including did i have a runny nose when i had a headache did i tear. I hadn’t really thought about it before but yes my nose did run and yes i did tear but only from my left eye. Mum and some of my friends had mentioned previously that it looked like id had a stroke when i was having a really bad one. The Dr took one look and said at once he thought it was cluster headaches. Aparently it fit with all my symptoms and he has heard of a increase of people with epilepsy also had cluster headaches. Excellent i thought we know what it is now we can cure it.
POP ! there goes that bubble of thought. There is no cure he said, only treatment. The drug is a heart drug so he needed another ECG report. the other option is Oxygen but we needed london to sign this off as i was still under them.
I went to my gp who done a ECG and i took that back on the next appointment. POP there goes another bubble….. I wasn’t suitable for the drug. My heart results were not normal and so  now oxygen was my only hope. 2 Months later I went to london.
This time the hospital transport system had changed. Meaning unless you physically couldn’t walk it didn’t matter where you came from you needed to get there on your own. I was still having seizures that were violent and unpredictable. A friend offered to take us and mum jumped as she hated London and wouldn’t cope on her own with me in a strange city.
We went to london and after 2 and a half hours in the office we came out. our friend had coffees waiting which was a relief beyond reliefs and we went home.