Appts, physio and eyes

I had a routine bone density scan at Hosp A on Sept 13th. I haven't heard the results of that yet but I'm not expecting there to be any problems with them. I just have to have these scans regularly because I take steroids which can thin your bones.

My next post transplant clinic appt at Hosp A is on Oct 18th. That day I'll also be having a kidney function test to check my kidneys as sometimes the immunosuppressants can harm them. And then I'll be having my annual scope there in Dec. My consultant at Hosp A has also arranged for me to see a psychiatrist who is linked to the small bowel transplant team, so my first appt with them will be 15th Nov. It was originally an earlier date but they gave me a 9am appt so I changed that because it takes me an hour and a quarter to get there. That's not quite what I asked for as I actually wanted to see a psychologist for some CBT for my ME. But I'll see the psychiatrist next month and see if they might be able to refer me on to someone better suited to me.

I had my annual flu jab yesterday morn. Dad and Alf have both had bad colds this week but lucklily they cleared up. Alf had his flu jab with me but mum and dad will have to have theirs later this week because both of them went out for the day. I've managed to stay free of the cold despite them both being full of it. Think my immune system must be quite hardy despite me being immunosuppressed - I've not had a cold for 20 months!

Back in June my dad had shingles. He wasn't in pain with it though. I contacted Hosp B to ask their advice and I had to take a 3 week course of antivirals as a precaution to stop me catching shingles. That went fine and I didn't get it.

Mum has had a few health problems recently. When she went to give blood on the 5th July she was turned away because she was anaemic. This doesn't seem to have affected her but she was disappointed that she couldn't give blood. In July mum had problems with the vision in one of her eyes and was diagnosed with Posterior Vitreous Detachment. This has left her with lots of black floaters in her vision in that eye, but luckily she hasn't had any of the complications that some people get. Then last month mum suffered with severe migraines, but luckily she hasn't had any for a few weeks now. And she has also hurt her back.

I started doing my physio exercises regularly just after my last update but when I returned to my physio she wasn't very happy because I'd only been doing them for a fortnight rather than a month. So I told to continue with them and was given an appt to see her again a couple of months later. I had a few lapses from doing my physio exercises daily but did manage to do them regularly most of the time and built up the duration of time I was doing them for. When I returned to see my physio she was very pleased I'd been doing them and that I'd noticed a bit of an improvement in my ME which may or may not have been related. She was moving on to another job so discharged me but said I could return to the physio department there at Hosp H within 6 months if I needed to. She just said to continue with my exercises.

I've recently struggled to motivate myself to do my physio exercises. I thought I'd try using my Wii Fit Plus for the Wii instead but haven't been doing that either so am not doing daily exercises at the moment. I know I ought to be though :P

When I originally saw my physio, as well as her giving me the exercises to do each evening for my general fitness she also gave me some calf stretches to do as she thought that stretching my calf muscles would make them less tight and as a result should ease the pain I was getting in my heels (plantar fasciitis). I think the stretches worked a little bit, but didn't make the difference I'd been hoping for as I still find that when I go out for the day I'll have to stop walking before I get tired because my feet are so painful. When I returned to see my physio she gave me some slightly different stretches to do but they didn't seem to help. I also asked my GP about my heel pain and although he confirmed that is is plantar fasciitis, he said that nothing can be done about it.

I saw my GP about the rash I was getting under my eyes (and sometimes on the backs of my hands) after I went out in the sun wearing suncream. He said because it was always in the same place it must be caused by the sun, but he was puzzled as to how the sun was getting through to my skin as I was wearing factor 50 suncream. He gave me some cream to put on the rash when it came up to settle it down more quickly and said he'd see if there was a different factor 50 suncream I could get on prescription. I used the new cream once so far and was amazed at how quickly my rash went away. I've got a new suncream now but I used it this morn and still came out in a rash. Mum suspects the rash might be due to the sun's rays being magnified through my glasses lenses so I think I'm going to try her big sunglasses (that fit over her glasses so ought to fit over mine) and see if that helps next time it's sunny.

I'm happy the hot weather is over because that made me feel very lethargic, but now the weather is a bit chillier I'm often uncomfortably cold as I can't control my body temperature very well. I've got an electric blanket and a convection heater though :)

Recently I've had a few periods of a couple of days where I've struggled with eye ache. I spoke to my GP about this who said that he couldn't see any problems with my eyes, so I ought to get my eyes tested to make sure my prescription hadn't changed. I usually have my eyes tested annually and last had them checked in Feb, but I booked myself an eyetest for 29th Sept. In the run up to the eye test I started to suffer from more frequent headaches so was pleased I was getting my eyes checked out.

The eye test went well and I was reassured that my eyes were fine and my prescription hadn't changed. They did adjust my glasses to make them sit further up my nose, but now they've slipped back down again :P The optician confirmed my thoughts as she said that she thought my eye ache might be due to ME or it might just be one of those things. At least it's nothing to worry about. I've not had any problems with it over the last few weeks.

I'm still struggling with headaches and it seems like they might be related to eye strain as they usually come on in the evenings, but I'm not sure. I think I need to try drinking more in case it is related to dehydration. I've also been continuing to feel quite ill with the artificial lighting in some shops.

I did look into getting some sunglasses as I thought that they might be a worthwhile investment now my prescription has finally stopped changing and I thought they might help in artificial lights and possibly with the rash I get under my eyes too. But because of my complicated prescription I was quoted between £170 and £200 for a pair of prescription sunglasses. So I decided against it for this summer and thought I'd think about it again next year.