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MEGA POST: What’s Been Happening To Me – The Welsh Mountain Zoo, COVID Positive, Certificate in Counselling Skills & A Double Ear Infection

By Adventures, Education, Friends & Family, Health, LifeNo Comments

In June, I visited the Welsh Mountain Zoo with my good friend Simon. Here are some photos from the day:

In June I also tested positive for COVID-19. It floored me. I didn’t have any of the usual COVID symptoms: no cough, no temperature and no changes to my sense of taste or smell. Instead I had the following symptoms:

  • Exhaustion
  • An intermittent rash
  • Lumps on my hands
  • Headaches
  • Insomnia

I had been double vaccinated, used the face masks and remembered about social distancing. It made me so ill, I was off work and generally out of action for nearly 6 weeks.

Part of the reason I haven’t blogged recently, is as following COVID I had to catch up on a Certificate in Counselling Skills I had signed up to at my local college. I am pleased to announce, that subject to external moderation, I’ve successfully passed the course. I’m now about to start undertaking another course a Certificate in Mental Health Awareness.

The great thing about these courses offered at my local college, is that they’re free. Unless you don’t complete them, then you have to pay £125 – a good incentive to get them done.

At the moment I’m struggling with a double ear infection, meaning an infection in both ears. Its been very painful. But thankfully I’m on some antibiotics now that seem to be doing the trick.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Saturday 18 September 2021

Speaking Up, Being Heard and Insulin Resistance

By HealthNo Comments

I’ve been living with type 1 diabetes for over 14 years. I’m also a Nurse. Yet sometimes I struggle to speak up and be heard when it comes to talking to health professionals about my health.

Sometimes I find myself repeating the same things only to leave with the impression that it’s my fault for not managing the diabetes well enough. This is extremely demotivating, especially when you’re trying your hardest.

But today I wanted to write about a refreshing change. For a while now I’ve been injecting enough insulin after meals to fell an elephant, yet still having high blood sugars. I’ve worked closely with a dietician to work out my carb to insulin ratios. But after injecting over 90 units of Novorapid insulin for an average carb meal, I decided I needed to get some advice from a Diabetes Specialist Nurse. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised.

The Nurse I spoke with listened. That was the key. She heard what I said and diagnosed me with insulin resistance. Insulin Resistance, it sounds like a super power doesn’t it? Unfortunately it isn’t. More a complication of being on insulin for a long time and your body getting resistant to it.

Diabetes.co.uk explain it better:

What is insulin resistance?
The role of insulin is to allow cells of the body to take in glucose to be used as fuel or stored as body fat. [282]. It also means that glucose is more likely to build up in the blood and this can lead to too high blood sugar levels. When the body becomes resistant to insulin, it tries to cope by producing more insulin. People with insulin resistance are often producing too more insulin than healthy people.

(From: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/insulin-resistance.html, Last accessed: 21/03/21.)

The symptoms of insulin resistance are:

Tick Box Bullet Point Tiredness
Tick Box Bullet Point Hunger
Unticked Box Difficulty Concentrating
Tick Box Bullet Point Weight Gain – particularly around the belly
Tick Box Bullet Point High Blood Sugars and HBA1C
Tick Box Bullet Point High Blood Pressure
Tick Box Bullet Point High Cholesterol

I’ve had every symptoms except for difficulty in concentration levels.

The Treatment
The treatment is to start Metformin. Metformin is a drug that will lower my blood sugar levels and hopefully make me less insulin resistant. I will keep you updated on how I go on.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 21 March 2021

World Mental Health Day 2020: The Benefits of Investing in Mental Health

By HealthNo Comments

Today is World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme is investment in mental health, so with this in mind, here are some benefits of investing in mental health :

  • A healthier populous. 1 in 4 people experience mental illness at any one time . That’s a quarter of the population. Just imagine if we could reduce this statistic.
  • It would reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and mental illness.
  • A better quality of life for people with mental illnesses and their families/friends.
  • Improved mood, self-awareness, coping strategies, self-esteem and relationships, for any individual with a mental illness.
  • Less people presenting in crisis due to earlier intervention.
  • A reduced suicide rate. Suicide is the biggest killer in men under the age of 45 here in the UK according to CALM.
  • Less working days missed due to mental illness. This would lead to a productivity boost.
  • More research into what interventions and medicines are effective in the treatment of mental illnesses.
  • It is cost effective, according to the World Health Organization (pages 18 & 19 ). Meaning that money invested would be returned back into society through cost savings.
  • Increase equality . Access to Healthcare is a Human Right, see my post The Human Rights Act (1998) Explained. The Human Rights Act (1998) was designed to increase equality.

I’m a strong advocate of increasing investment in mental health education and treatment.

Want to know more about mental health and mental illness? Then check out my book Mental Health Wisdom:

mental-health-wisdom-banner

Write soon,

Antony

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Saturday 10 October 2020

A General Life Update – June 2020

By Health, Life2 Comments

Hello Dear Readers,

How endless does this lockdown feel? It feels like it has gone on forever. It feels like the rules of lockdown have permeated every aspect of our lives. In some cases the rules feel like they have taken our old lives hostage. No longer can we take anything for granted. Not even the simplest of things like exchanging a hug with a loved one.

With experts are expecting a 2nd wave, it looks like the relaxation of lockdown maybe reversed. Possibly made even stricter.

With all this going on, it’s not surprising that for some, this has had a tole on their mental health. So I would like to remind you that you can purchase my book Mental Health Wisdom from Amazon for just £7.49 paperback (or £1.99 Kindle) here. It’s full of strategies to help people to deal with adversity and improve their mental health.

mental-health-wisdom-banner

Now let’s talk about me. It been a bit of a difficult time. First there was an international shortage of Depakote, one of the medications I take. So I had to switch to Epilim, basically the same thing but a different brand. However nobody at the Pharmacy or GP knew there was a shortage of Depakote, so it took nearly two weeks without any Depakote to get the Epilim prescribed and started. This led to manic and mixed moods.

But before this and underlying I had been struggling with depressive symptoms, that even the maximum dose of Venlafaxine wasn’t helping with. So my Consultant Psychiatrist has taken me off Quetiapine and started me on Mirtazapine.

I’ve never had this mix of medications before, so it is uncharted territory. We just have to keep trying until we get the right balance in my brain. Even though I know this, it is sometimes frustrating.

In other news my iMac (photo below) has died and gone to Apple heaven.

February Photo Challenge 10th
My iMac finally died.

It had been really slow for a while and since getting a laptop I haven’t used it that much; but it is still disappointing.

This week I’m off on annual leave. I’ve taken a few days to rest and recharge. Next I’ve got a few days seeing family and friends – social distancing. Then at the end of the week Steve and I are going to South Lakes Safari Zoo.

I’ll be sure to do a blog post about my visit to the Zoo. Blog soon,

Antony

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Wednesday 1 July 2020
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