New meds made me feel worst than ever , never again i need a break!

After starting trying the new meds for the first time  can honestly say i will never take them again not only did they leave me feeling so ill i couldn't believe it. I couldn't find things that  had put down five minuets earlier and talk about total confusion. Then to start shaking violently and my eye balls started to move on their own accord i think it must have been several side effects ate the same time.

U think i give  this meds a miss as it may be confliction with something else i am taking and made me so ill its was crazy. Every hour i would go through what i can only describe as a full blown panic attacks and took several hours to calms me down just to end up having another one. I can go through hat every day. It would do me in once and for all.

I would rather put up with the painful attacks and that is saying something. Maybe if i concentrate on my fishing a bit more i may not get so many attacks so i am now planning my first trip to the back and my local carp fishery and maybe even book a full week there just to get rid of some of the stress.

U know my blog is short this week as it took a lot out of me and this new medication has shaken me up really good so maybe a week away fishing is juts what i need.

Attack from the Beast but feeling a bit more positive !

Unfortunately my break from the Beast has only lasted two days as i was again woken at 3am this morning with another strong attack. Once again it has left me with a sore neck and painful back. When i was at the doctors i did bring up my neck and the problems i was having but she old me its nothing to do with the nerves and would require physiotherapy. Sometimes i feel like i am banging my head against a brick wall and wonder sometimes why i don’t as i would probably get more sense from a brick wall than i would from my doctor. How she thinks it has nothing to do with the head i don’t know as it only plays up after i have had an attack and no other time. OK i agree with her that my back problems are something other than my nerve problem and i need an MRI on the base of the spine to make sure everything is as it should be and point out where the problems are coming from.

Today is the first day i will be on my new meds and am am praying that this medication will be the one to put the beast to sleep once and for all but there is part of me that is reserved fro disappointment. I know it won’t happen overnight and will take time to build up in my system so lets hope it will make a difference and it won’t be long before i can get my life back to as normal as it could be. I understand i will suffer this condition for the rest of my life controlling it with medication all the time but i think i could handle that as long as i don’t have the attacks all the time. I have had to learn to live with bi-polar disorder all of my life and being lucky as it wasn’t very bad and i only used to have mild mood swings until i became ill when it started to become very bad.

I have still managed to control my condition and over the last 10 years i have had help with medication as i did have one year where i went completely off the rails but thankfully with the help of my mother and the doctors i was put back on track and managed to gain control again. I am sure i can do the same with this condition. As long as i have the correct medication and am told what i must do i can manage myself on a day to day basis. Every now and again i do go through what i would call “my down time” witch is where i suffer from very deep depression and end up shutting myself away from the world not being able to face every day tasks that you would find normal. Even spilling milk whilst making a cup of coffee can set me off into an uncontrollable fit of depression and tears. Luckily i don't get so many of these periods like i used to and only had one down time last year where i felt every thing was getting on top of me and all the different things that where going wrong with my health really had an impact on the way i was living.

Thankfully my fishing has been a godsend and has helped me to focus on more positive things rather than my illness and doom and gloom all the time. This year i am hoping that with the help of the medication i will be able to get out a lot more and will be able to go over night fishing and even go for a week at a time if i feel like it. The only thing stopping me at the moment is the cold weather and the attacks i have been getting. I still have 5 years to go on my fishing tour of Wales so i really need to get myself together and get well as quickly as is possible. I am still having trouble when i eat and drink and it keeps trapping in my chest. The doctor has done the bloods and have sent them off to be tested so now i have a 5 day wait to see if i have this rare stomach bug that i could have caught whilst living in Cyprus. If i do have it then i will have to go on to some very strong antibiotics and may be very sick for a couple of weeks as when my mother had it and had the treatment it really made her ill for a while.  If i don’t have it then we have a serious problem and it needs to be investigated as it is getting worst and worst each month that passes.

Apart from the head playing up and pains going down my left hand side on my back i am actually feeling better than i was at the end of last year. Lets hope i get even better and finally get myself back to the old me. I do need to start exercising as i have started to grow a bit of a gut and being slim and athletic all of my life having a bit of a gut is a new and very disturbing experience for me. I have never had a belly on my like i have now. I did used to be quite built when i returned back to the UK from Cyprus in 2001 but i seem to have shrunk in the wash. All of my muscles have disappeared and any definition has gone. My arms are no where as strong as they used to be and i can no longer walk as far as i used to.  So this year i think is the year where i will re-invent myself and try to make something out of the remaining years of my life rather than just waste away hidden behind a door too scared to go out in case of an attack, it has to stop. So fingers crossed and chin up and watch this space…….

The Beast is still asleep but is trying to wake….

I was lucky to have a lay in this morning and not get woken by the beast even though it did try and set off an attack when i did wake up but thankfully i was able to ride out the start of it and it decided to stop before it became too unbearable. I had my meeting with the specialist a on Monday and we discussed everything that had been going on with me and the side effects of the medication i was on. He agreed with me that we needed to change the medication quickly as it was causing me too many problems. He has now decided to put me on Topiramate, a licensed drug that is used to help with epileptic fits and also helps to relax the nerves and muscles in the brain. He mentioned that the side effects that may appear are occasional tingling in the hands and feet and possible memory loss. I was also told that i should have someone check up on me as i can also have sudden mood changes and mood swings due to this medication but it may stop my attacks completely. As soon as i can get to a dose where the attacks are being held off i can slowly come off the Pregabilin once and for all.

I am so hoping this new medication will be the one that does the trick and that i don;t get any side effects off it. I am so glad i have finally seen the specialist and will see him again in 4 months as log as they don;t cancel another appointment on me. I informed him about the bowel problems i was having and the problems with food trapping when i eat and he feels the same as the doctor that i may be suffering from some kind on stomach bug so only blood tests will be able to tell us what is going on. Thankfully i am booked in to see the doctor this morning as when i tried to go to the toilet yesterday morning it was difficult as usual and took a bit of straining to get myself t open my bowels and then when it did blood came out. As you can imagine i panicked as soon as i saw the blood but it could just be a pile that has burst from straining too hard. I them tried to go to the toilet this morning and it has turned into runny brown water with a little blood still in it.

I am praying to god that it is just the piles as my mother said it could be and not something connected to all the side effect and medication i have been on. The last thing i need now is the medication to have caused damage and give me even more problems than i already have. I am still getting problems with my neck and left shoulder with a pulling sensation down the back and pins and needles plus when i get an attack it spreads down the left side of my back about half way down. I have been assured this is NOT the nerve in my head causing it and is something else that is causing it and could also be aggravating my attacks making them worst than they normally are. Lets hope the doctor will be able to help me today and i can get some answers and put my mind at rest.

First i have my blood tests at 9.15 to 9.30 and then i have an emergency appointment with my doctor at 9.50 so its going to be a busy morning for me and i hope this will finally put me on the road to recovery and getting my health back to normal. When i reported the problems i was having eating and the pains in the chest i was told to stop all my stomach medication so that i cold have these blood tests today but now i can’t eat or drink anything with out it getting trapped right in the centre of my chest and when it does it feels like i am choking or drowning and struggle to get air. Then i can feel it very slowly move down what ever pipe it is in and then suddenly pop as it releases and moves into the stomach. Surely i shouldn’t be able to feel my food and drink like that and it shouldn’t get trapped all the time i know that much so lets hope we will get the answers we are looking for. If it is what the doctor thinks it is then i will have to have strong antibiotics to get rid of the condition. Apparently she believes it is a rare stomach bug that you can get from eating barbecued chicken abroad in the middle east and because i lived in Cyprus for over 10 years i am a prime candidate for the condition. It’s crazy as my mother actually had the same condition when she returned from Cyprus so for me to end up getting it as well, what are the chances of that…..

Screaming in agony at 3 am this morning ……

Once again the Beast has decided o wake me up at 3am this morning and with an attack that was so strong it over powered the injection and i had to put up with the agonising pain for well over an hour. It was so bad i could feel a sharp throbbing behind the eye like i was being stabbed in the eye over and over again and again. The left side of my face felt like my skin had melted and everything was drooping despite the sharp pain behind the eye and over the top of the head. As i run my hand over the head i could feel the welling like a ridge over the head and into the back of my neck. I was praying so hard to god for him to take away he pain as i just couldn’t take it no longer. The sharp pain travelled down my back from my neck causing my left side to light up in pain.The ringing in my ears became so loud i couldn’t hear outside sound.

The pain just kept on growing stronger and stronger and by the end of an hour i was on the deck rolling in pain banging my head on the floor wishing it would just crack open and release the demon that was causing this agony. Once again the injection did nothing to ease the pain and i had to ride the attack for the full duration praying to god that this wasn’t the attack that would finish me off. It was a while before it stopped but when it did it was as sudden as throwing a switch. The pain in the head was gone and the agony over but it still leaves the back in aches and pains all day long. The pain you get in the back then threatens to set off another attack or after shocks as i call them , smaller but just as painful.

Thank god i have my appointment with the specialist later today as i don’t know how much more of this i can take. It’s ok saying you have injections and oxygen to help you manage but i would love to see them suffer as we CH sufferers do all the time, scared to go to far from your home in case of a big attack. Scared to go shopping as carrying heavy bags hurts the back and then end up setting off head attacks later in the day. Constantly fighting constipation due to all the medication you have to take and having stomach problems and side effects. I didn’t mind it so much when it was only a couple of attacks a month as i was able to hide away, drug myself up to deal with the pain at the time and then back to normal for a while. Now that i have attacks every day, and sometimes with out any warning, has destroyed my quality of life and tried to snatch away my future.

It has been so hard coming to terms with the fact that i will suffer for the rest of my life, be it long or short, with a condition that will give me more pain than actually chopping off a limb with no aesthetic and there is no cure. All they will be able to do is try and put it into remission using a combination of drugs and treatment. This does give me some hope but the down side is that i will end up having side effects from the medication and maybe even big problems later in life. I am now in my 40’s so the body doesn’t repair itself like it used to when you are young so its going to be hard. One thing i did decide was that if i do have to suffer his condition and put up with these attacks all the time then i wasn’t going to let i rule my life any more and 2014 is the year that i really start to fight back. I have my fishing and friends to help me so i don’t really have any excuses other than my health. This is why i can’t wait for the cold snap to come and go so i can get out and do some fishing once again as this helps me to deal with the beast and keeps me calm and focused on something other than illness all the time.

More attacks, strength fading fast, how much longer ?

Friday:

After a couple of days rest, including staying off the computer, my chest is finally starting to feel better. I still get a sharp pain every now and again to remind me that i had a problem but it seems to have calmed down so the ibuprofen must have done the job and i am starting to feel better. Unfortunately i am still being woken by the beast in the early hours and end up staying awake as i just can’t get back to sleep with a sore head and neck. The attacks i have been having over the last couple of days have been real nasty ones. I always end up with my eyeball feeing like its about to explode and the left side of the head feels like it has been split open. When i run my hand across the left side of the head i can feel a swollen line from the forehead right back to the neck, This must be the nerve that is causing all the problems and it must be swelling up when i get the attacks.

Thankfully it’s only a couple of days until i see the specialist Mr Pickersgill. He actually suffers with the same condition as me apparently but has his under control with medication but still has his bad days. It has been almost a year since i last saw him and i have loads to tell hi and update him as to what has been going on with me. I never knew someone could have so many problems over such a short period of time. Even the nurse i saw at the hospital regarding pain management said i had been through the mill and my chemist said if i was a car they would have scraped me by now. I have to admit 2013 was a year that i would rather forget apart from my fishing as  did have a great time when i was out fishing last year but the rest i can forget. I am hoping that 2014 will be totally different and i will start to get this condition sorted and under control. Let’s see what the specialist has to say and what medication he will try next.

I have had to put my fishing on hold through December 2013 and January 2014 due to my head being so bad. It’s a shame as December was quite mild and i could have got out and did a bit of winter carp fishing. January has turned nasty with the storms we had at the beginning causing terrible flooding across the country and making it impossible for fishing. The winds were also strong at the start of the month and have only just started to calm down but the cold has decided to pay us a visit and most mornings are now a frosty start to the day. The temperature drops during the night and the early hours and that seems to start my attacks so imagine if i was out in a tent night fishing. I think i would end up having quite a few attacks and would spoil the fishing trip. My self and my fishing partner John are hoping to get out during February as long as the frost clears a bit but we could end up waiting until March before we manage to get out and start our new fishing adventures.

I sometimes wonder if i will ever get these attacks to stop and get my condition under control as i feel although the attacks are not as many as when they started ,due to the medication i am now taking and the injections helping me to cope with the painful attacks, i am getting worst. The attacks seem to have become stronger and also spread over my head and down the back a small distance. Just under the shoulder blade. Its not quite all the way down the back but i fear that it will eventually be right down the left side of my body and when i have an attack it will be so painful it may end up my last attack ever. The amount of times i have had an bad attack and actually though that my number was up and i was going to die i cant remember. I have even had them bad enough to make me pass out as the pain level was too much for the body to bare and has made me loose consciousness for several minuets. It’s not until i read back over my blog that i realise just how many attacks i have had and how many times they have been really nasty ones. I don’t know how some people can live with this condition. I can understand the ones that only have a couple of attacks a month and can live normal lives but what about the others that have to deal with them almost every day? how on earth do they manage? and where do they get their strength from because mine is fading fast.

Saturday / Sunday:

I am still getting the early morning wake up calls despite taking as many precautions as i possibly can. I even take a woolly hat to bed with me so if i get the cold feeling around the top of my head i put it on and hope it will help to keep away the beast in the early hours. It doesn't always work but has made a big difference to how many mornings i do get woken up so it must have some effect. I have known for a while that the cold weather is one of my main triggers and that it can differ from person to person so what my stop my attacks might actually set someone else off. Keeping my head warm seems to work wonders for me and helps to keep away a lot of the big attacks but i still get the really bad ones. I have to admit i didn't think it would work and when i was also put on the Pregabilin tablets i had my doubts then. Thankfully although i have had to half my dosage due to side effects of the drug i have still managed to half the amount of attacks i get. I am now hoping that with the meeting i have with the specialist on Monday we will now be able to try a different approach and hopefully some new medication that will help me to deal with this monster and even put it to sleep for a while.

I have to say that i am a bit nervous of seeing the specialist as the last time i saw him it was mostly bad news. Being told that you are suffering from a rare condition that there is no cure for and not much known with regards to the treatment was an awful lot to take in at the time. It has taken me over a year to accept my future and has taken me a while to get it to sink in. I think out of stubbornness i didn't want to accept that there was nothing they can do about the attacks and the pain and for years i was running around trying to treat the pain instead of the cause of the problem, mind you it didn't help back then being told it was all in my imagination and no one can suffer with such pain all the time. Now that the doctors have witnessed the attacks and i was finally referred on to the correct person, my specialist, i am now getting the treatment that i should have been getting over 10 years ago. The last 2 to 3 years have been hell as that is how long my attacks turned chronic and i now get daily attacks apart from the odd day here and there where i manage to get a break from the beast and am able to recharge the batteries and regain my strength.

Unfortunately i am still suffering pains in the chest area and now i have had to stop all stomach medication as the doctor believes i could have a rare stomach virus that can only be caught abroad and in some rare cases in the UK. Apparently this virus comes from chicken. Mainly barbecued chicken for some reason. One of the most favoured dishes in Cyprus used to be the spit roasted chicken and i am assuming if i have the virus then that is where it has come from. I will be having blood tests on Thursday so they can see if i do have this virus and that is what is causing all the pains and a feeling like you have constant indigestion. If my tests are positive it will mean i will have been suffering with this virus for well over 10 years and would explain for a lot of strange thongs that have been happening to me.

More attacks from the Beast and no sleep…..

So much for pain free starts to the day as i was again woken up at 2am and again at 3 am by attacks from the Beast. The first one wasn’t so bad but the second one was really big and has left me very sore and in pain. Not only did it effect the left side of my face and head but also the left side of my body. Even now that the pain has eased and the injection has worked i am still getting sharp stabbing sensations in my back half way down behind my shoulder blade.

I have noticed it getting colder the last couple of mornings and again i had a cold band around the top of my head when the attack woke me up. I am sure it is the cold weather causing it to be bad once again. The first attack this morning was started by an ache in the top jaw. I actually dreamt i had a bad abscess or tooth ache and then when i woke up the pain started behind the eye and the attack had begun. The second attack i didn’t dream of anything i just woke up and then suddenly the attack started after i noticed the cold band around my head and a feeling of pressure.

Thank god i am due to see the specialist on the 20th of this month and hopefully get some more help and medication in order to try and get these attacks under control. Again i have been shut indoors all the time and haven’t been able to go out anywhere due to the attacks being so bad. It doesn’t help that i get problems when i am walking and pains in the chest as that seems to put me of going out as well as the attacks. I just wish i could get my life back in order and not be such a reclusive.

I am hoping that when i have seen the specialist and have updated him of what has been going on over the last year he will prescribe some new medication that may help to stop these attacks from appearing. Again it could take another couple of years to get the medication and the right combination of treatments to start working so i have to stay strong and positive. It’s so easy to feel bad all the time and low as the depression side of my illness has really been playing up lately and i find i start crying for no apparent reason and then just break down. I have been through a lot over the last few years and its starting to take its toll.

Normally i try and concentrate on something other than being ill all the time like my fishing but with all the bad weather and floods i haven’t been able to get out yet this year. For some reason the fishing seems to keep my mind calm and stops the attacks from building. OK it doesn’t stop all the attacks and is no way a treatment for my condition but it really helps when it comes to my mood and state of mind/ It also helps keep the depression from building up so i am hoping next month will be a bit different and we will be able to get out and do some fishing.

The weather is about to turn nasty next month as the temperature will drop and the freezing weather will start. I don’t know if we will get any snow this year but looking at all the rain and floods we have been having i have a feeling that when the cold snap starts we are in for a shock and i may not be doing any fishing until the end of March when the freezing weather has passed by. I really hope i am wrong and that we don’t get any snow but the chances of that are slim to none looking at the weather.

At last a bit of good news and new appointments..

I was lucky to have a full night sleep last night and wasn’t woken by the beast as i normally am in the early hours. I don’t know why i managed a full night i am just grateful and actually feel a lot better for it. Being woken in the early hours really drains the energy out of you when it all the time. The doctor was brilliant yesterday and has started to help to chase up all my outstanding appointments and hopefully the start of this year we will be able to make some sort of action plan.

The doctor as assured me that the chest pains i am getting are nothing to do with the heart and are something to do with an infection i had. She also feels that i may be suffering from a rare type of stomach bug that i may have caught in Cyprus and that i may have been suffering from side effects for all the time i have been back in this country so that’s almost 13 years total. Every time i eat i always get food or liquid stuck in my throat and takes ages to go down almost suffocating me. I now have to wait another 2 weeks and not take any medication for the stomach so they can do blood tests and see if i have this bug.

My walking is still bad and has been like this ever since the weather became cold and wet again. In the summer and spring periods i don’t seem to get the problems walking so i think it is something to do with arthritis or the nerve that is playing up when i have attacks. Maybe the nerve swelling up is what is causing the problems and when i walk i always seem to have a constant ache in the middle of my back and then when it gets very painful it seems to spread into my bum cheeks on either side. If i am carrying shopping back from a supermarket and carrying a heavy bag in one hand then the opposite side cheek become very painful and if i swap hands with the bag then the pain will swap sides. They have booked me an appointment to have an MRI scan on the back neck and spine but again we are still awaiting the appointment so i will have to chase it up today and tomorrow and see if i can get seen soon.

I managed to chase up the specialist after all these months waiting for an appointment. I got so fed up with waiting and cancellations i decided to ring the hospital and kick off. Now normally if you did this they would just put down the telephone on you as its not really their fault as they are only the booking office, If your specialist is busy then there is no way you will get seen but for some reason it seemed to work and within 10 minuets of screaming at them about the cancellations and the state i was in they finally gave me a new appointment for the 20th of this month. Thank god i will finally get to see the specialist and hopefully new medication that will help me get these attacks under control.

Painful start to the year and still waiting for appointments….

Another painful and horribly tiring start to the week by being woken by the Beast again at 2.30am this morning resulting in sharp pain not just in the head and down the left side of the face but also down the left side of my back again and under my shoulder blade. As to why it keeps doing this i am unsure but what i do know is it is definitely the nerve that is causing all the agony and problems as i can actually feel it when it swells up. When i first started getting the attacks they were normally located around the eye area and the top of the jaw on the left side. I used to think i had bad tooth ache or an abscess but then it spread to above the eye and over the left side of my forehead.

I never forget the first attack i ever had as i was rushed to see a dentist as we thought it was the teeth or a tooth and even though nothing showed up on x-ray and the tooth looked good they still ripped the tooth out of my mouth and boy was that a painful experience. Even though they had numbed the jaw up and i couldn’t actually feel the tooth being extracted i could feel the nerve and as it was the nerve that was in trouble i could feel every bit of the extraction resulting in me screaming in agony. When it was over the dentist couldn’t believe the level of pain i was in and that's when the investigations all began.

13 years down the line and i am in so much trouble and pain all the time its starting to become tiresome. Having attacks every day and having to take medication for the rest of my life is not something i ever thought i would be doing. I have always been healthy when growing up and until i had my first attack i would rarely find myself ill. The only time i really would get ill was if i got the flu. Then i would get so bad and have such a high temperature i would start seeing hallucinations. I still suffer from high temperatures when i get a cold or the flu even to the point of hallucinating and even though i have the flu injection i still seem to suffer badly with a cold.

The last bad cold i had was just before Christmas and it has left me with what the doctor said was Tendonitis of the chest. The muscles and tendons of my chest seem to be swelling and are very sore and painful. I don‘t have any problems breathing and i don’t have any mucus on the chest or a cough. Each time i move about i keep getting sharp stabbing pains and ripping pains in different areas of the upper back and chest but mainly around the left side. I fist though it was linked to the nerve as the pain i get when i have an attack is similar and in the same place on the back but it could just be a coincidence and its the after math of an infection.

I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow so will ask her advice as it has really been scaring me with the stabbing pains especially when they are at the front and feel like it is my heart causing it and not the muscles. I forget that the heart is actually one giant muscle and would be affected slightly and the doctor i saw over a week ago assured me there was nothing to worry about and all i had to do was take medication that would stop the swelling and  slowly i would get over it and the pain would ease. So far it has been a week and i have been taking the Ibuprofen every day but still it is no better and in fact has got slightly worst. Lets hope it will get better soon.

I have to admit the attacks i have been getting lately have been scaring me as they have been very bad. Not only has the pain been so strong that it over powers my injection o i have to ride the attack for a period of time but they have also spread from the head into my body now and seem to be getting worst and spreading further as time goes on. It seems like it is overtaking the left side of my body and it wont be too long before the attacks will cause pain in the entire left side of the body making it so painful it will really be unbearable. They are bad enough now as they are stronger than any pain i know and are classed the most painful thing we can endure. Imagine the whole of my left side in that amount of pain for a long period. I really don’t think i could live like that all the time as they are bad enough now. I am hoping my appointment will come through for the specialist or at least for my scan and maybe we will find out why they are getting so bad and spreading so fast.

Woken by pain but not from the beast…….

I started the year on a slightly sore side this year. Not from over indulging in drink i should add as i no longer drink alcohol and haven’t done so in over 10 years. The soreness and pain (i should add) is in my chest and it is from the Tendonitis i have got from after a very bad cold that i had just before Christmas. One good thing is i haven’t been woken by the beast in the mornings as at the moment it is the chest pain and ache that wakes me before any attack tries. Each day it seems to be getting worst no matter how much i try and rest and no matter what medication i take. I am now taking 400mg Ibuprofen on top of all the other medication i have been taking. I am hoping this year i will be able to sort my medication out and only take what is needed.

Today i had another little scare this morning as i thought my cluster attacks had decided to change side on me. Instead of getting the pressure and pain build on the left side of the head it started to build on the right side. I have never had an attack on the right side of my head so you can imagine it was panic stations this morning but thankfully it was only slight and disappeared after about 5 minuets. Either it was just a bit of a head ache or the muscles in the shoulder and neck that are swollen from the Tendonitis could have caused something to pull and make the muscles and tendons in the head start to hurt. Thank god its gone now.

Just received an e-mail from a delivery firm saying the have a parcel on its way to me that will be delivered today so i am hoping that it is my new net handle i bought for the new landing net i won in a Facebook competition over Christmas. If its not my Net pole then it must be one of the other competitions i have won. i am really made up as this is the second year in a  row i have won lots of fishing tackle from online competitions. It all adds to my tackle collection and equipment that i am really proud of. It has taken me a while to get all the stuff i wanted and needed for my fishing tour over the next 5 years and i can’t wait till i get out and try out the new gear.

This month will just be way too cold and wet for me to get out as it will just set off too many attacks to deal with. I don’t mind having the odd one or three at the water edge as i can just nip inside my fishing bivvi and take my injection and as soon as i feel better i will then continue to fish. It helps to have bite alarms when fishing for the larger Carp that way i can lay on my bed and wait for the bites so even if i am in pain its not as bad as being sat there with a rod in your hand trying to deal with an attack at the same time as trying to land a fish. This year i am hoping to beat all my personal bests and try and get myself one of these record size fish that have been pulled out of our local lakes. Fingers crossed 2014 will be a great year for fishing.

I am also hoping that this new year will also be a start for me to get my condition under control and maybe even get it into remission for a while. There are lots of other medications and treatments i can try according to the specialist at my last meeting, last year but i have still been waiting for news of my new appointment. I was actually supposed to be seen in June 2013 but the specialist was ill for a while. Then i got my appointment in September but shortly after i received a letter of cancellation and they would contact me as soon as a new appointment could be made. I have heard nothing since. I will have to chase them up this month and see if i can kick them up the backside and get my new appointment and treatment sorted out at the start of the year rather than waiting months until i see them again. Lets hope this year will be a bit better as last year was just one complete nightmare for me.