My State of Health
Since I ended up in Addenbrooke’s a week ago, I’ve not felt well at all.
- My teeth feel like I haven’t cleaned them in a week and it’s almost as if they’re covered in slime, which I guess is the muck pouring out of my sinuses.
- My arm and face are in pain. But it seems that my left hand is better on the keyboard though!
- But at least my eyesight has improved and I am able to use a pair of binoculars. I thought that yesterday at the football, I followed the match better than at any time since my stroke.
- My throat hurts and I suspect that is the coughing to try to clear it.
- I thought for a while yesterday that I was totally constipated, but that cleared up this morning.
- At least I’m sleeping reasonably well, but I don’t like the number of pain killers I’m taking. I’m well below limit set by my doctor, so I suppose that is one thing.
I’m seeing a consultant about my sinuses on Tuesday morning, so at least the end might be in sight.
I really hope so!
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!
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?
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!
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?
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.
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?
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!
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!
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.
The Anonymous Widower 