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Iona's adventures with neurology, vol. 1.
I have now had a stabbing headache for eight days, eleven hours and counting. Alongside it, I have dizziness, insomnia and strange, transient dysphasia. Last night my parents were trying to convince me not to go to Edinburgh, but rather just go to London for a job interview on Monday and come straight back. Which is all very well - it's sensible, when you have stabbing pains in your head, not to do, you know, stuff - but I was pretty much just... no. No, I do not want to do that. So I woke up this morning, stumbled around looking for codeine, found it, went back to bed, got out of it again and rang up my GP, and my parents, who by dint of being themselves, got me referred to neurology. So I dragged myself out of bed for the third time and I went. It's a little disconcerting, going into a hospital you've lived in for years as an actual outpatient.
My mother said, last night, "It's a ninety-five percent chance you don't have a brain tumour..."
...which was very handy to know, yes indeed. The neurologist was very nice, though. Did not talk too loudly, which endeared him to me. He flashed lights in my eyes whilst asking about the fog in San Francisco - I've given up asking how people know the things they know - and then wanted to know what my degree is in. "I ought to check it's not in medicine or physiology," he said. "I wouldn't want to talk down to you."
I found this, also, endearing. After a while he sat back and said, "I'm pleased to tell you that you don't have a brain tumour."
Hurrah. Also, I do not have migraines, sinustis, hormone imbalances or space-occupying lesions of the brain. The only other serious thing it could be is, apparently, renal failure, so I had several quarts of blood removed for the purpose of discovering this. It's unlikely, I am told. So were all the other things. But apparently I have just the right symptoms for a lot of unpleasant conditions, so I didn't complain at the pricking.
In absence of further investigation, I have an unspecified neuralgia. I have, thus, been prescribed more codeine, beta-blockers and diclofenac. (Most of these are in my parents' medicine cupboard already.) And I can go away next week without any trouble as long as I keep taking the pills, so all is well, save the part where I still have a headache. And the mild dysphasia, which I'm not sure whether to actually give that name to - it is mentioned as a symptom of migraine-related conditions, so it came up - but it might just be a result of having been in a lot of pain for a week. It's weird, but I can't spell. I couldn't spell "appropriate" or "maintenance" yesterday; I had to look up "diclofenac" a moment ago; I keep falling over words. I don't know. I imagine it will pass. (But yes, that is a just brilliant symptom to have just before a job interview, well done that universe.)
In other news. I am very tired of living at home. My parents are still upset that I didn't get a first. I'm... unsure what to do, about that. I mean, it's not as if I can go back in time and do the degree again. I'm not really sure what to do at all about that, actually; I don't know what they want from me, other than Not Being A Fuck-Up With A Constant Headache, but that's sort of a problem. Also, when you have a headache, and a doctor asks you, are you on any hormonal contraception, it's sensible to answer truthfully - migraines are a known side-effect, and I knew this - so I did. But only after getting up to close the door in case my mother was pottering about. For heaven's sake, I am tired and in pain and I'm sick of this.
In short: I do not have a brain tumour, hurrah, I am still leaving soon, hurrah, 48mg of codeine per day, hurrah.
My mother said, last night, "It's a ninety-five percent chance you don't have a brain tumour..."
...which was very handy to know, yes indeed. The neurologist was very nice, though. Did not talk too loudly, which endeared him to me. He flashed lights in my eyes whilst asking about the fog in San Francisco - I've given up asking how people know the things they know - and then wanted to know what my degree is in. "I ought to check it's not in medicine or physiology," he said. "I wouldn't want to talk down to you."
I found this, also, endearing. After a while he sat back and said, "I'm pleased to tell you that you don't have a brain tumour."
Hurrah. Also, I do not have migraines, sinustis, hormone imbalances or space-occupying lesions of the brain. The only other serious thing it could be is, apparently, renal failure, so I had several quarts of blood removed for the purpose of discovering this. It's unlikely, I am told. So were all the other things. But apparently I have just the right symptoms for a lot of unpleasant conditions, so I didn't complain at the pricking.
In absence of further investigation, I have an unspecified neuralgia. I have, thus, been prescribed more codeine, beta-blockers and diclofenac. (Most of these are in my parents' medicine cupboard already.) And I can go away next week without any trouble as long as I keep taking the pills, so all is well, save the part where I still have a headache. And the mild dysphasia, which I'm not sure whether to actually give that name to - it is mentioned as a symptom of migraine-related conditions, so it came up - but it might just be a result of having been in a lot of pain for a week. It's weird, but I can't spell. I couldn't spell "appropriate" or "maintenance" yesterday; I had to look up "diclofenac" a moment ago; I keep falling over words. I don't know. I imagine it will pass. (But yes, that is a just brilliant symptom to have just before a job interview, well done that universe.)
In other news. I am very tired of living at home. My parents are still upset that I didn't get a first. I'm... unsure what to do, about that. I mean, it's not as if I can go back in time and do the degree again. I'm not really sure what to do at all about that, actually; I don't know what they want from me, other than Not Being A Fuck-Up With A Constant Headache, but that's sort of a problem. Also, when you have a headache, and a doctor asks you, are you on any hormonal contraception, it's sensible to answer truthfully - migraines are a known side-effect, and I knew this - so I did. But only after getting up to close the door in case my mother was pottering about. For heaven's sake, I am tired and in pain and I'm sick of this.
In short: I do not have a brain tumour, hurrah, I am still leaving soon, hurrah, 48mg of codeine per day, hurrah.
no subject
Cannot do any kind of hormonal pills, they will make me madder. Thankfully a distance of two hundred miles is a very effective contraceptive.
(OHGOD DYSPHASIA. how do you spell "contraceptive"? Contraceptive. Contraceptive. Oh woe. What do you mean, God's plan. If God had a plan, it would be omniscient and godly and thus would not contain little versions of me.)