Tuesday 31 January 2012

The doctor with a special interest

Early in the new year, I went back up to Peterborough clinic.  Not to see the O/T though, this time.  I had a specialist appointment with their 'doctor with a special interest' in CFS/ME.

He was somewhat horrified that I'd never been diagnosed by a specialist, so we went through a whole pile of questions/symptoms.  I tested out as mild/moderate on pretty much everything except IBS, which I am very happy not to suffer from.  ('Mild' means you have the symptom.  'Moderate' means it becomes worse on exertion, or that you cannot work because of it.  'Severe' means you are housebound or bedbound due to the symptom).

We also went through the long list of supplements that I take daily.  I have to admit: I was really hoping that he would tell me that half of them were useless.  That I could safely stop taking them with no effect on my health.  Unfortunately, he was enthusiastic about most of them, and even suggested another, additional one.  Darnit.  Those supplements are probably my biggest expense outside the mortgage and household bills.

He also suggested other things that I might want to talk to my GP about.  But this post seems long enough, so I'm going to leave it here for now, and come back to it another day.

2 comments:

  1. I remember him. :)

    What supplements are you taking, out of interest? I've not really tried any, apart from Echinacea, which seems to have no effect on me.

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  2. One of the many hidden (or perhaps not so hidden) costs of being unwell! :-( Sounds like it was quite a useful visit though, so that's good!

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