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Polyps Pain

By HealthNo Comments

“You’ve got polyps.” – The Doctor said to me, after he peered up my nose with a bright light.

Polyps are growths within your nasal cavity that can:

  • Cause your nasal cavity to swell, resulting in the worst pain I have ever experienced. Pain in your nose, across your cheeks, forehead, jaw and teeth.
  • Cause swelling of your sinuses.
  • Make breathing through your nose extremely difficult.
  • Give you a runny nose or blocked nose.
  • Make snoring worse.
  • Reduce your ability to smell and taste.
  • Sadly, doesn’t get better on its own. But instead gets worse as the polyps grow.

Here is a photo of just one of my nasal polyps (apologies, it isn’t pretty):

The treatment is surgery to remove them. The problem being that the National Health Service (NHS) here in the UK is really stretched at the moment. And when I say really stretched, I mean it is stretched to breaking point. This means that the surgery I need, I would have to wait several months for. That’s several months of ever increasing pain as the polyps continue to grow.

Waiting several months clearly wasn’t an option. I was unsure if I could tolerate the pain for that length of time. I also had to consider the impact of being unable to work on my life. So I’ve had to go private.

The NHS is a wonderful organisation. It has saved my life and the lives of people that I love on more occasions than I care to recall. But it is essentially becoming an organisation that only delivers emergency and crisis driven care.

It’s very sad to see the state of the NHS today. Over the 11 years of a Conservative Government, they have made efficiency savings (cuts), had no plan and not invested in the NHS. The state of the NHS can only be blamed on those in power.

Write soon,

Antony

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Friday 15 December 2023

2023 – The Year of Antibiotics

By HealthNo Comments

For most of 2023, I’ve been unwell with bacterial infections. I’ve had an infected knee, an abscess on my arm, pneumonia, a dental abscess, tonsilitis and sinusitis. As my mum would say: I’m surprised you don’t look like an antibiotic, with the amount you’ve taken.

Here is a list of antibiotics I’ve taken in 2023:

It is known that people living with Type 1 Diabetes, like me, have a weakened immune system. But to spend the majority of the year fighting bacterial infections and taking antibiotics is exhausting.

I’ve been trying really hard with the self-care including: regularly washing my hands, getting plenty of rest and sleep, drinking plenty of fluids, eating well, getting vaccinated for COVID-19 (plus boosters). I’ve even tried taking Vitamin C supplements. But nothing has seemed to make any difference. It’s like my white blood cells see bacteria coming and decide to go for a nap instead of fighting. Either that, or my immune system is made up of passivists, rather than warriors.

Every time I get an infection, it spikes my blood sugars. They go high and as much as I try to manage this by eating less and injecting more insulin, managing diabetes feels like having a full time job, on top of having a full time job and out of work commitments.

These regular periods of illness have affected my work and home life. I’m so lucky that Type 1 diabetes is classed as an unseen disability under The Equality Act (2010), otherwise I’d probably be out of a job.

I’ll be really honest, 2023 for me has been about managing illness after illness, whilst trying to maintain my employment. These two tasks haven’t left room for doing the things that I like to do, such as reading, writing, seeing friends and family, etc. That’s why the blog has been pretty quiet as of late.

Being on these different antibiotics has also got me worried. I’ve noticed that some of them haven’t been as effective for me as they previously have been at dealing with bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance is something I’m noticing and with no new antibiotics on the horizon, what’s going to happen when antibiotics stop working altogether?

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 10 December 2023

Pneumonia Recovery

By Health, ThinkingNo Comments

I tried. I really did. After being admitted in hospital for three days with pneumonia (a chest infection), urine infection and in diabetic ketoacidosis, I had a week off work to recover. I managed the week, then went back off sick.

I’m constantly beyond exhausted, needing to sleep all day and night on a bad day. My blood sugars are all over the place, which isn’t helping matters. I just don’t feel right. I’m being really honest – I don’t know exactly what’s wrong. I can’t pinpoint specific symptoms any more than I have explained.

I went to see my GP today and he said:

Just what made you think you could return to work after 1 week? – My GP

He had a point. I’m not twenty any more. At thirty-seven years old, I now have to accept that infections have a bigger impact on my body. Having diabetes also means my body takes longer to heal. The bigger the impact, the longer the recovery time. This has been my main lesson from my GP today.

I’ve never really have to taken more than a week off work to recover from infections in the past. So this is new territory for me. But I have to listen to my body. It’s crying out for recovery and time to heal. And it is always wise to listen to your doctor – especially if you’re lucky to have an amazing one like I do.

My GP has requested some more urgent bloods. Given me a sick note for two weeks and strict instructions to rest, recuperate and not to return to work before being reviewed by him again.

Despite knowing that I can’t help getting sick and that it isn’t something I have any control over, I do feel guilty for taking time off work. I feel like I’m letting everyone at work down. My manager, my colleagues and my patients. But I hope they understand.

I really have no choice. I’ve been very poorly and I’m not fit enough to get through a day without a nap (or several) due to exhaustion. The littlest things, like for example taking a shower wear me out.

My GP was very tactful, but he basically explained that if I don’t take weeks off from work to recover now, in the long term it might take me months to recover. My GP explained that I will have good and bad days during this period of recovery. He warned me about good days and the assumption I could make that one good day means I’m fully recovered.

So here I am. Sat here writing this post. Accepting that I need a period of recovery to allow my body time to heal. Not knowing how long it will take. Not being able to do much to help it apart from self-care: eating well, resting when required, keeping a good sleep routine, you know, the basics but essentials.

I would like to thank all the people in my life that have and continue to support me. Thank you. Without you, this would be so much more difficult.

Write soon,

Antony

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Thursday 8 June 2023

Back to Blogging

By Friends & Family, Health, LifeNo Comments
Back to Blogging

I can honestly write, that at the moment I’m going through the toughest time of my life. At the moment, all aspects of my life are difficult, challenging and frustrating. A lot of the difficulties and challenges are due to circumstances that I don’t have any control over. I can only control my response to situations as they arise.

A good example, was that for my birthday this year I found myself admitted to hospital with a chest infection, urine infection and diabetic ketoacidosis. The NHS staff were wonderful. I was really proud of their care, kindness and compassion.

Over the past year, somewhere along the way I’ve started exsisting, rather than living. I stopped doing all the things I enjoy and even most of my hobbies, such as blogging.

But now that I’ve recognised this, I’ve done something about it. So here I am back to blogging, one of my hobbies. Making plans for the future and getting my life back into some sort of order – at least in the areas that I can.

My support networks have been amazing throughout this difficult time. They have listened, empathised and understood. They have offered support, sometimes in the most unexpected of ways.

Write soon,

Antony

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Sunday 4 June 2023
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