Yet again i have been neglecting my blog not due to laziness but actually due to illness once again. Both sides of my neck suddenly became painful and i was so run down i couldn’t find any strength to do anything. I also found i had loads of small blisters on the back of my tongue and my mouth was becoming sore. I decided to make an emergency appointment to see the doctor but my normal doctor was unavailable so i had to see the locum. I reported to her what was wrong and with out even examining me she said i had some sort of virus and prescribed antibiotics to me. I think this is crazy using antibiotics as an answer to unknown illnesses, surely she should have done a proper examination.
Well i started the antibiotics on the Monday and by the Friday i was 100 times worst. I was so ill that i was passing out on my feet. I had no strength , i could hardly swallow and i kept burning up every now and again. My neck was so painful on both sides not only did it keep setting off my cluster attacks and was also unable to move my head from side to side. I decided to ring NHS direct who advised me to see the out of hours doctors on Saturday so i went down there and was shocked when they decided to send me to hospital. The doctor that examined me thinks i had one of the worst bouts of Flu she had ever seen and was coming to the end of it but my heart rate was very high and she was worried so made an appointment at the hospital for me.
My mate Brian rushed me to Llandoch Hospital just outside Barry in Wales, and i was taken straight through to the emergency examination ward where they asked me the important questions and gave me a quick examination. I was then rushed down to x-ray for a chest and neck x-ray to make sure something more serious wasn't going on. The doctors were confused and didn't know what was going on. My bloods came back OK and there wasn’t any sign of infection or problems, my x-rays came back clear so they started to do other tests and consulted other doctors to see if they could find out what was wrong. At one point i scared the doctors and nurses half to death as my heart rate raced up to between 150 and 200 bpm and set off every alarm in the ward. I have never seen so many medical staff rush to my bed side and suddenly i was feeling like a pin cushion as they were taking blood and giving injections and putting lines in.
After a few scary hours i started to calm down and my heart rate returned to a steady pace although still fast but that was probably down to the pain i was getting in my neck and the ill feeling i was having. My skin on my forehead and under my eyes felt as though i had sun burn not to mention my eyes were extremely sore. The doctors came to the conclusion that i may have had a nasty virus or an extreme case of the flu but had gotten over it as i was no longer showing any signs of infection and they put the neck pain down to muscle spasms. The soreness in the mouth and the ulcers on the back of the tongue are from thrush, a sign of being run down or recovering from illness and gave me some mouth wash medication to deal with that. They prescribed me 3 days of diazepam to help relax the muscles even though i told them i shouldn't take those sort of drugs but they insisted and said they would write to my doctor to let her know what had gone on.
I am still getting over what ever it was that caused all these things to happen and i still have sore skin and mouth every now and again. My neck is still in pain and i can’t move it as much as usual but its a lot better than it has been for the last couple of weeks. As to what it was that started all this i don't know and the doctors are still investigating but i can tell you one thing for sure, i will make sure i have my flu injection next year instead of missing it like i did this year. It just goes to show how important those injections really are/ As to what else is going on i am clueless and just hope that i continue to get better over the next week as i don't think i could cope going through all that again. It bad enough having to deal will the cluster attacks every day and all the time but to have other illness on top just drains all of your energy. How much more can my poor body take… only time will tell….!
