First time!

Hi again,

So it occurred to me that I should write a bit about what's going on with my health, so you can share any similar experiences or ask questions. I don't claim to have any medical qualifications, I simply have years of experience of being ill and as such, have a store of coping mechanisms.

I began with abdominal pain problems around ten years ago. I went through years of being told the pain was due to water infections and other minor things before being diagnosed with gall stones, around 4 years later. I had my gallbladder removed, continued having pain, more clear tests, then another stone removed from the bile duct. I continued to have pain and had reconstructive surgery to my bile duct system. I still have pain to this day and have a tentative diagnosis of recurrent cholangitis due to my new plumbing and Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome.

I also seem to have ME/Chronic fatigue syndrome. I have recently been diagnosed but have suffered with fatigue problems on and off for nearly 20 years, becoming debilitating in the last couple of years. I also get frequent migraines, tension headaches and have other random symptoms such as joint pain, pins and needles, poor memory etc.

I tend not to place too much emphasis on the name or origin of the fatigue problem as I feel that the way to proceed is the same. I try to follow a pacing programme to manage my symptoms. I will talk more about pacing later.

After years of being ill and eventually not being able to go out to full time work and do the things that i would like to do, I have experienced various mood problems, such as depression and anxiety through frustration.

Well, that's me in a nutshell. I'll post further on particular aspects of living and coping with illness and hopefully get to chat about your experiences.

Pixie

Hi,

this is my first blog so this is really a test run, to see if I've pressed all the right buttons lol.

I hope to start a blog that can be of some help to those of you with long term health problems. I have had various chronic conditions over the last 10-15 years and am now left dealing with pain, fatigue and the inevitable mood issues that go had in hand with always being ill.

There are times when I feel less positive about my life and my future and I find myself imagining what I would say to a friend in my position. 9 times out of 10, I end up feeling better and realising that for one thing, there are lots of things I can do to help myself and for another, I'm not doing too badly really, all things considered.

Thinking through things in this way and sometimes writing it down can be therapeutic for me and it occurred to me, that if I were to share these thoughts in the form of a public log, other people might well benefit from it. I hope so.

Well that should do for a start. Let's see if it works!

Jazz