The Anonymous Widower

Feeling Much Better This Evening

Because of the infection I had treated in A & E on Sunday, I’ve been taking anti-biotics.  And I’m feeling an awful lot better. For instance, I just got a pair of binoculars out to see if I could see any of the heavens.  It’s overclouded so the stars were all obscured, but I could pick out lights in the distance easily.  So my eyesight definitely is better! Last time using binoculars was actually painful. 

So have I had this infection ever since I’ve come home from hospital?  I really do think so!

October 12, 2010 Posted by | Health | , | Leave a comment

A Bit of a Scare

I got up at the usual time of about six this morning, as I was intending to see the Japanese Grand Prix.  However, within a few minutes, I had such pain in my face, that I did the only thing I could think of and that was dial 999. The thought of another stroke occurred to me, but then I could still type and speak!

The ambulance arrived fairly quickly and I was taken off to Addenbrooke’s after they found me wandering about in the house.

It turned out to be a blocked sinus, or that’s what they think it is.  I’ve had bad taste in my mouth for months, teeth and cheek pain and a lot of other symptoms that fit with a severe sinus problem.  I should also say, that for years as a child I suffered from the same problems and they really only went away when I went gluten-free.

At least now, as i write this, I feel a little bit better!  but i must get to see a specialist.

For example could the blocked sinuses, which often cause a lot of muck to discharge into your throat and gut, be the cause of my almost permanent soft and very ginger motions?

October 10, 2010 Posted by | Health | , , | 3 Comments

Messages That I Like

One of the members of the UK-Coeliac Yahoo Group has told me that my typing seems to be getting better.

I like that! Thanks!

October 5, 2010 Posted by | Computing, Health | , | 2 Comments

The Effect of Calcium Tablets

I reported in Calcium and Vitamin D, that I thought that the calcium tablets were helping me get a bit better.

It is some days since I wrote that and my typing seems much better.  It could also be today, that Ipswich beat The Damned United yesterday and that gave my brain a lift.

But I’m not going to knock it!

Also, my mouth seems better.  I just wonder if my mouth is rather acidic and of course the calcium tablets, which are mainly calcium carbonate will neutralise the acid and generate carbon dioxide.  Could that create a beneficial effect?

October 3, 2010 Posted by | Health, Sport | , , | Leave a comment

Fragile Warfarin Tablets

The pharmacist recently changed my Warfarin tablets to a different make; Teva UK, Leeds LS27 0JG.

TEVA Warfarin Tablets

Medically, I ASSume they’re OK, but I tend to break them getting them out of the packaging. The dog doesn’t mind, as she’ll eat anything that can go down a basset.

September 21, 2010 Posted by | Health | , , | 1 Comment

Calcium and Vitamin D

Yesterday afternoon, I chewed a calcium tablet and took a small one for vitamin D, after a chat with my doctor about the results of the blood tests.

I hadn’t expected a quick effect, but did I get one last night, as I felt a lot better in the evening, with a lot less pain in my mouth and arm. I went to bed at half-ten and slept well until six in the morning, which is usually my time to start the day.

Typing seems a bit better this morning, so who knows if the pills have had an affect.  I can’t believe one of each can bring an improvement. It could be just psychological, in that I now know there’s nothing wrong!

Here’s hoping that they did.

Today, I’m off to London to see Ipswich play at Millwall.  I shall be exploring hidden parts of London for this blog.  So let’s see how my body holds up today!

If nothing though, I would argue that everybody needs a full set of blood tests at about forty to see if they have any underlying problems.  If I had it earlier, they might have picked up my coeliac disease, but reading about calcium deficiency and its symptoms, I may have suffered from that too at times.  I have always tended to have pins and needles in my left hand and even saw the doctor about it once.  We put it down to the break in the arm caused by the bully at school.  But could it have been a calcium deficiency?

Also, as I feel used to feel that all gluten-free bread was made from cardboard, I didn’t eat it.  so was I getting my recommended dose of cslcium, as by law bread in the UK has to have added calcium?

I knew that there was something wrong, as I lay in hospital and wanted them to do a full blood test because I felt it was a coeliac problem.  Should all of those recovering from a stroke, be given a full set of blood tests, to make sure they don’t have any underlying problems that are hindering their recovery?

September 21, 2010 Posted by | Health, Sport, Transport/Travel | , , , , | 1 Comment

Permanently Feeling Glutened

I still have the bad nails and itchy scalp and sometimes I think that I’m getting almost a daily dose of gluten.  I should get the results of the blood tests in the next day or so, so I’ll hopefully know whether I have a biochemical issue.

Could it be the statins or the Warfarin tablets I take?  I’ll give the manufacturers a call today too!

September 20, 2010 Posted by | Health | , | 7 Comments

Pea Therapy

I have my son and his friend to lunch today.  I’ve just been shelling peas, which is something that I haven’t done since I was a child.

It seemed to be good therapy for my bad left hand!

September 19, 2010 Posted by | Food, Health | , | 2 Comments

Poor Quality Arthritis

I mentioned in an earlier post, that a couple of weeks ago, I was suffering arthritis in my right knee. This was probably the reason, why after the stroke, my left leg was stronger than my right.

But after some physio ten days ago, it seems to have gone or at least died down.  I also went t0 the physio yesterday and she said it was a lot better.

I’m saying thanks for small mercies.

September 15, 2010 Posted by | Health | , | Leave a comment

Now I’ve Got A Gammy Knee!

Over the last couple of days, I’ve had a minor difficulty getting up from a chair.  I was just getting a bit of pain in my right knee.  I had to see the GP yesterday and she looked at it.  I had thought it might be something to do with the stroke, but it was just a touch of arthritis.  As I was seeing the physio after the GP, she had something else to do and she gave it some therapy.  It’s a lot better this morning.

The gastroenterologist I saw on Friday last week told me that I had some sort of bio-chemical problem and this was resulting in my poor nails.  They took some blood to check what it was.

Now before I was diagnosed as a coeliac, I had lots of problems and pain in my left knee.  These had started when I was about 25 and one doctor in those days, suggested I had an operation.  When we moved to Suffolk in 1975, a new doctor, recommended some exercises and except for the odd stickiness when I got up from the floor, I never had any more problems.

All of these knee problems got a lot better with a gluten-free diet.

So now it’s the other knee!

Ever since I’ve had the stroke, I’ve worried that something is wrong with the bio-chemistry of my body.  I’ll laugh like a drain if I’m low on vitamin B12!

But what do I know about medicine! Not a lot! But I do know my body!

In addition to the knee and nails, I’ve also got a certain amount of the runs and I am sleeping a lot and very well. The latter is probably due to the body needing time to recover.

September 9, 2010 Posted by | Health | , , , | 1 Comment