Was My Bad Tooth Causing Other Problems?
I’m still on a soft food diet, as the socket still aches slightly, but I was able to eat a piece of bread with some soup last night.
The biggest change though, is that my allergies seem to be decreasing. That can’t be right can it? Symptoms like my sneezing and itching are getting better and when I blow my nose, it’s much dryer. Except for the slight tooth ache, I’m almost feeling normal. I’m also having to correct less spelling mistakes in my typing.
But am I bothered? No! Of course not!
On the other hand when I was a child no-one could find what I was allergic too. And I had rather packed and mixed up teeth, which were only sorted, when my dentist took out four pre-molars to give the others more space. Was it about the same time, that the worst of my allergic problems got a bit better. But all my records from those days have disappeared so I can never find the truth.
I’m now certain now, that some of my problems about getting back after the stroke were due to that tooth. After all I broke it about twenty years ago and it has never been good since. One very good dentist I had sad that because of my gagging response, it would be impossible to crown.
I’ve also looked back at some of the posts of a year or so ago.
This post describes how I ended up in Addenbrooke’s with tremendous pain. They thought it was probably a blocked sinus. As they were certified clear a few months later, I suspect, as does my current dentist, that it was the tooth.
I also mused about coeliac disease and my recovery. This post talks of another incident, where the tooth seemed to be the villain.
And this is the incident, after which I was put on Keppra. Knowing what I know now about myself and especially the trapped nerve in my neck, I suspect that it was caused more by my nerve and arm damage than the stroke. But I’ve never had anything like another seizure since.
It’s all very strange.
Am I Lucky Or Does The Devil Look After Me?
Throughout my life, I’ve often been described as lucky and several times, positive things seem to happen to me by chance.
For instance, I met my late wife at Liverpool University, when I manipulated a scheme for students to get partners for one of the guild balls.
I ended up in Metier, after a chance meeting outside an opticians on Great Portland Street.
I’ve also been mentored well, by a lot of friends, who would never be described as conventional. Some sadly are no longer with us.
and I could give lots more examples.
Even on Monday, when I had the tooth exorcised from my body, I did the right thing, as it needed three hours and three dentists.
So is it luck or do some quickly weigh up the chances and make the right decision? I do know that my late wife would never describe me as boring and is that because I never throw any possibly useful information away from my brain. Since the stroke, I have lost some memory, like knowledge of who did this or that. But there is always Wikipedia!
As I don’t believe in any religion and believe organised religion is just another way to screw wealth out of the poor, then I can’t think that a devil exists either. Although after my last few years, it is more likely there is a devil, than a loving and peaceful god.
But then I’m a London mongrel! And they have more fight than a wagon-load of pit-bulls.
The Sharing of Patient Data
David Cameron is getting a lot of criticism about his plans to anonymously share patient data with private companies.
As someone, who has lost two close relatives to difficult cancers and suffered a serious stroke, I can’t see what the problem is about, if the patients personal details are kept confidential.
I was once told by a senior research manager of a big German pharmaceutical company, that only about fifteen percent of medical databases have been analysed to any great extent. He felt that it would take an increasing part of medical research.
My son was part of a major trial being coordinated by a renowned British University. I was invited to see their work and was totally impressed at the care they were taking to make sure the data was correct and properly safeguarded. They were also looking for patterns in the data, as any clue, however small, might be invaluable in the fight against disease.
One thing that has to be said, is that if you are looking at any database for patterns, then that database must be complete, with no errors in the data. I have come across researchers, who when they are trying to prove something in a field like archaeology, first clean the data of anything that doesn’t fit their theories.
That is the biggest problem in research.
92 Clubs – The Biggest Problem
This does seem to be the pollen count and my hay fever. Would you believe that the count is High today in Coventry!
But my balance seem to be better. I did complain here about Virgin’s Pendolinos, but now I can walk up and down the moving train with ease.
92 Clubs – Day 7 – Burnley, Burton Albion
As I said in an earlier post, I took the morning easy and just turned up at Euston, bought a ticket and took the 11:30 train to Preston, where I changed for Burnley Manchester Road, which is the nearest station to the Burnley ground, Turf Moor. The walk-up ticket cost me £48.70, as opposed to the £13.85, I’d paid for an advance ticket, for an early train. But of course I couldn’t use that one after my troubles in Bristol! Well that is if I wanted to stay sane, fit and well.
Turf Moor
I arrived at the ground just before two after about 30 minutes walk. The trouble is that the station is on one hill and the ground is on another and the only public transport between the two is a taxi. I’ve said before, that crossing the main road by the station in Welcome to Burnley is not the easiest. I met a lady at the station as I moved on to Leeds, when I left and she agreed.
But the people at the club are very friendly and I got a good welcome there.
Welcome to Burnley FC
The receptionist took the picture, which sums up the club well, and told me about one of their former players who has suffered a serious stroke. My best wishes go out to him and his family.
She also told me, how she and a few friends were having an expedition to Brighton to see Burnley play in December, staying for the weekend nearby. Sadly, I won’t be going to Burnley this season as Ipswich play them on a Tuesday night.
From Burnley, I took the train to Leeds, on my way to Burton Albion. It was in fact three trains and I suffered my first delay of the week as it was a bit of a tortuous journey, where I had to change at both Leeds and Derby. The late train, was the service from Leeds to Derby, which was twenty-two minutes late and that knocked on. I dfo wonder how many tickets are issued between Burnley and Burton Albion
Outside Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium
The picture sums up Burton, although it wasn’t the club or the twon’s fault. To say it was raining would be an understatement, so I chickened out walking to the ground, as pneumonia would not be something to add to my ailments. The picture was taken by a cheery taxi driver, originally from Wimbledon.
Originally, when this day was planned, I would have moved on to Bury. But walking around Manchester, late at night and in the rain, I decided that to return home would be a better idea. After changing trains at Birmingham, I was in London around ten and asleep in bed, just after eleven.
Obesity
A report today says that we must take action to prevent obesity.
The government is just dithering, as it doesn’t want to lose votes.
I am only a bantamweight and I like to think that over the years, I’ve kept myself fit. Even after my stroke, I still exercise appropriately and have started to play real tennis again. I’m the same size as when I left University and got married in 1968. I also wear the same made-to-measure morning suit that I had made in about 1975.
My weight and core strength are just two of the factors that helped me survive the stroke. The most important one was that in Hong Kong, I was put on a clot-busting drip within an hour of the stroke. That now happens in many parts of the UK.
So instead of dithering the government must take drastic action to cut obesity.
Taxes on junk food, alcohol,tobacco and other unhealthy foods must be raised severely.
In addition, I would inspect all food shops, cafes and restaurants. Those that had a too sold a too high proportion of unhealthy foods and drinks, would have to reduce that level or close.
I would also introduce a yearly medical for everybody. If you are outside of certain parameters, then your driving licence would be suspended until you had reformed.
In an ideal world tobacco would be banned, but why not make sure it is only available from specially licenced government-owned shops, as alcohol is in Norway? Remember, I believe that my youngest son died partly because of his smoking. Are smokers selfish enough to wish all of that grief on others, by continuing with their vile habit? Every time I pass an obese smoker partly blocking the street, I make an appropriate rude remark. One day someone will try and hit me, but even in my state, I still feel I could outrun most of my targets.
Much of this post has just been read out on BBC Breakfast. I bet that lost them a few viewers.
But if we don’t take action, more and more of our taxes will go to subsidise those who abuse their bodies.
My Allergies and Me
I seem to be getting no relief from the hay fever at all this summer. Just as it seems the pollen level gets to a low level for a day, it then rises back up again. I had lunch with a friend yesterday and he never suffers, but he is this year. It’s a story that I’ve heard so many times in the last few months from others. No-one seems to have any idea about it either.
I don’t get any luck with it either. On Friday I was to see a consultant about it, but for administrative reasons the appointment was put back for a few days. Any sane person, would think that the Devil has it in for them, if they had suffered the last three years I have. To make matters worse, the sale of my house in Suffolk, seems to be moving slowly and Ipswich lost by seven goals to one last night. But I’m still here, which is more than can be said for my wife and youngest son.
I also had a good lunch yesterday with friends, essentially to celebrate my birthday on Tuesday. Even Ipswich contrived to lose six two that night.
I know it’s only a small thing, but I slept well last night and got up feeling fresh. So I thought, it might be a good idea to go to perhaps Brighton or Southend and get a bit of sea air. But after checking the pollen levels, I decided against it as levels were moderate in all the places I checked. And the excellent Met Office web site, says that it’ll be Tuesday before the levels get better.
So I think I’ll go and see my therapist today. I’m not sure where I’ll explore, but because it is so easy and fairly close, I think I might go to Bruce Castle Museum this afternoon.
What I will do is reflect on my life and especially this dreaded hay fever.
I will start with my ancestors. I’m certain that it’s my father’s line that has the really bad genes and has brought me the allergies. From what I know now, I’m certain that he was a coeliac like me. He certainly had more wind than the Outer Hebrides. He was always choked up with catarrh and ate menthol catarrh tablets like others eat sweets. He was also a heavy pipe smoker and that couldn’t have helped. His father had died young of pneumonia and my father had told me, that my grandfather was a heavy drinker and smoker, who suffered from asthma. My father told me graphic stories about how he would pick him up in a terrible state from places like Wood Green Conservative Club. One of the strange things about my father’s family, is that there is very few women, who have ever given birth. Could this be the coeliac gene, which doesn’t help women carrying a viable foetus to full term.
Unfortunately, I don’t have my school records, but it would make interesting reading, as I can remember taking endless time off because I just wasn’t up to it. I seemed to be coughing all the time and spent many nights with my head over a jug of Friar’s Balsam. At one time I supposedly got a case of scarlet fever. How I ever got to a Grammar School I don’t know! Luckily, we had television and I had my Meccano to amuse myself with. And that is what I did, when I was at home. Most weekends I would be off to my father’s print works, where I did useful things. To say, I was an indoor child would not be an understatement. And we worry about kids spending too much time on their computers.
So what was it that made me so ill? Unfortunately, my medical records are incomplete and start in 1970. If only they were on a central database, that I could access!
My GP, one Dr. Egerton White, thought I was allergic to eggs, and so I was rationed to one a week. Did it help? Not at all. My father thought it might be the paint in our house, which he thought contained lead and I can remember him stripping it all off and using modern lead-free paints. It could also have been his smoking or the coal fires we had in those days, but I didn’t really improve much. I suppose it might have got better, when my parents bought a house in Felixstowe, but we only went for the odd weekends. But at least I used to walk a lot by the sea.
I think in some ways, I just grew out of the worst times and what finally killed it in some ways was going to Liverpool, where I spent the next three years at the University on top of a hill with the wind in the west.
So perhaps it was just hay fever of a particularly persistent form, as from what I can remember, I don’t feel much different now. The only difference, is that now I’m on a strict gluten-free diet after having been diagnosed as a coeliac ten years ago. That cured a lot of my problems, like chronic dandruff.
All of my levels like B12 are spot on, so it’s not as if I lack anything.
Since C died, I’ve started to get a few problems, like tight shins, difficulty in breathing and spots on my chest, back and legs. I scratch them a lot, when I’m alone.
I have been told on good authority by an academic I respect, that widows can suffer high cortisol levels and the Internet indicates there may be a link.
So has all the stress I’ve suffered in the previous three years, brought the hay fever back?
I sometimes think, that my mind learned how to control it and the stroke knocked out that knowledge, but that is just a feeling not based on any fact. I have been told by a serious doctor, that stroke patients sometimes have pain return from previous injuries. He did find problems in my neck, which are improving through physiotherapy.
Simple Recycling
I have one of my new recycling boxes permanently on the front patio by my wheelie bin.
My Recycling Box and Wheelie Bin
At least it means with Coke cans that I can recycle them without walking up and down the stairs or going outside. I just open the window and drop them straight down. Is this good practice for my eyesight after the stroke?
At least, I haven’t missed yet!
But then I haven’t chanced it with glass bottles either!
The Interaction Between Coeliac Disease, Hay Fever and My Stroke
I had the stroke about twelve months ago and I thought that by now I would be starting to feel better, but as time goes on, I seem to be feeling worse and worse.
Take today, I got up just around six and felt reasonably good after about eight hours of sleep. I used the hay fever spray on my nose, but when I left home about eleven, I felt that the optimism of the early morning had disappeared. My left shin was tight, as it often is and my nose was blocked solid with the hay fever. After lunch with a friend, I returned to the Angel to do a bit of shopping and could hardly walk back from the bus to my house, such was the tightness in my shin and the pain in my left arm. I checked my e-mails and then lay on the bed, where I fell asleep for a couple of hours. I feel reasonably bright now, although there is a pain in the back of my left shin. What is strange is that I only get pains in my left shin and left arm. I know that was the side of the stroke, but I’ve always had occasional pain in my left arm from where a bully broke it at school and over the past couple of years, I’ve had pain in the back of my left shin, since I trod on a razor shell on Holkham Beach. I couldn’t be sure, but these pains could have been worse in the spring, or should that be hay fever time.
In trying to find out what is wrong, an MRI Scan has shown problems in my neck, where a nerve might be trapped. But it’s nothing serious that good physiotherapy shouldn’t be able to sort out.
If I go back a few weeks, when the pollen was low for a few days, all of the pain disappeared. So it does seem that the pain is partly caused by the pollen levels, which at the moment are moderate. But then they have been for several weeks.
Another point is that at times my gut feels not quite right. It’s almost like being glutened and it feels as though something not too nice is upsetting my digestion. In some ways, it’s something that may have plagued me for years. So do histimines created by the pollen upset your digestion system? Especially, if you’re a coeliac.
I have a feeling that the only solution is to take a gluten free cruise.
Is This Good News?
I went to see a new doctor yeserday as I have a couple of issues after the stroke.
He prescribed two things; an MRI scan and an increased level of exercise. As the MRI scan is to be on my left arm, rather than my brain, I consider that good news. He also thought that I should up my level of fitness training and perhaps see a personal trainer.
Am I right to consider that to be good news?
I’ve certainly felt more upbeat today!
The Anonymous Widower 