Occupational Health and other adventures...

On the advice of Debbie Jackson I booked an appointment to see Occupational Health. Apparently there isn’t anything that can’t be organised from Robin Lane Surgery. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this chap, and sadly after my first (and only) encounter, it wasn’t a great deal.

Meeting with Debbie

It was time for me to make another appointment with Robin Lane Surgery. Prise aside, I never take time off work. If I’m ill, I’m ill, nothing that a Lemsip won’t sort. And if that fails there’s always solphadol! The prospect of taking an extended period of time off to get well never occurred to me, as I was prepared to soldier on.

Relief, Respite and Improvement

Relief was my main thought having received the results of my MRI, undeniable relief. Also, for the first time in some weeks my symptoms began to abate. My legs didn’t feel so heavy, the tingling sensation in my hands drastically reduced. My grip even seemed to be showing the smallest signs of improvement. After feeling unsteady on my feet following my fall outside the hospital a week or so earlier, I even surprised my family by walking 4 or so miles around Temple Newsam Estate as an Easter Sunday treat. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the newborn animals in the estate farm and walking around the ponds and orangery.

Monday Morning follow up!

So Monday morning came around and although still shaken up by the weekend’s events, I went back to Robin Lane where I was seen in the emergency care walk in clinic (a brilliant idea) by Dr. S. DeMowbrary. Regaling her with the story of what happened on the weekend she showed obvious signs of concern and asked what I wanted to do. I said ideally (and from what I’ve read) an MRI would certainly rule out any disk herniations, or more specifically spinal lesions associated with MS. Seeing that I was still unstable on my feet and finding it difficult to stand on my tip toes, jump or jog, she requested an urgent MRI to try and advance my situation.

Secondary symptoms – What a pain in the leg

It was around the beginning of March that I started to develop another symptom. My calves began to ache dully after walking any distance. They felt like you would expect them too after a colossal calf work out in the gym, but after no exertion at all. I put that down to lack of physical activity. Having moved house, I had gone from walking a few miles every day to driving everywhere in the last 6 months, so I hoped a bit of light exercise would rectify the issue.

Bloody bloody bloods

A few days after my appointment with Dr Hambridge I had my blood taken, and as the title of this post suggests, they took a lot! But as I was surprised to discover, there are a whole raft of other potential ailments and illnesses that present with a tingling sensation in the extremities. Not particularly encouraging, (especially as the on-going joke between me and my partner was that “I never get ill”) but I wanted answers!

I hate needles...

The Beginning

The end of December 2012 saw the onset of my initial symptoms, which began with a very faint numbness in my fingers. Not a pins and needles sensation but a buzzing feeling in each of my fingers, as well as a progressive weakness with my grip, but fortunately no sensory loss. I didn’t think anything of it for some time...