In February 2014, I began feeling really tired. Hot flushes became more common and I could feel pins and needles in my feet and hands while I was asleep. I thought it was just a result of the high dosage of steriods I had taken in December last year. However, my condition only got worse. A weird pulse erupted in my head which used to get unbearable in the evenings. I was all alone in London without my family and knew very little about the medical system there. I did not want to call home and worry my parents so I just went to see the GP at my university.
Unfortunately, like most other doctors, he had nothing to say. He referred me to a neurologist but that appointment was for May.
My symptoms developed in the next few weeks getting progressively worse. I finally told my parents about my struggle and made several trips to a close by hospital's emergency when I felt that the pressure behind my eyes was just unbearable. The doctors there had nothing to say despite me telling them my history. In fact that hospital did not have a neurology department. Every day was a horrible nightmare. I skipped university for about three weeks and ultimately my Aunt flew to London to help me out.
She took me to the emergencies of a number of hospitals but the process was unbearably slow. We had no choice but to look for some advice privately. I made my first visit to an insurance hospital in London because I had heard that the neurology team there was quite good. There, I consulted an Arab doctor who looked at my past reports and my MRI from December. My LP results made it clear to him that I did not have MS. He then mentioned the acronym NMO as something that he suspected. However, he told me that he did not specialise in this area and would refer me to a brain inflammatory specialist.
This doctor was a Pakistan chap. He was born and raised in Britain but I felt more comfortable around him. I told him that I was diagnosed with ADEM a few years ago. He dismissed it telling me that ADEM only occured once. I was worried and almost about to cry when he told me that I should not be too scared. At least it wasn't cancer or something like that. He told me that I must skip university and get admitted to a NHS hospital where he was a consultant.
His words seemed like sentence of being imprisoned but I was impatient to know what I was going through and what I had. I rushed to the hospital where I was to be admitted.
My Aunt called my parents and asked them to fly to London. They took the next flight and made it right away. Over the next few days I had a number of scans, MRIs and blood tests. The MRI showed some inflammation on my optic nerve but there were no leisons to suspect MS. The other bloods were sent over to some specialist lab in Oxford. The results were only going to come in a few weeks time.
I was discharged from hospital with a dosage of steroids. However, my headache persisted. I went over to my Aunts house towards the North with my parents over easter. I was constantly thinking what I had and what was going to happen with me. I was really cranky and often a complete pain for my parents. I tried distracting myself by studying for my exams 24/7. I had missed so many classes and catching up was not easy. Every night I would cry whilst trying to sleep because I could not cry in front of my parents. I prayed for the nightmare to be over. However, every morning I would wake up with the same persisting headache.
Half way through the holidays I travelled back to London to meet the neurologist. He said that all the bloods tests that had come back were clear. On that basis, he ruled out the chances of me having Lupus. One more blood test was left. That was of some auto-immune disorder called NMO. I had heard of auto-immune before. A coupe of people in my extended family had been diagnosed with various variants of it. However, there was nothing else that he could say. The doctor prescribed some heavy anti-depressants because he could see that I was miserable (I took them for a couple of days but stopped because they only made things worse and because I knew I could control my psyche If I wanted to)
I went back up North and then returned to London in May for summer term. My mom and Aunt decided to come with me to London seeing that my condition was always fluctuating. I went back to London hoping that my university life would be back to normal. However, I could not have been more wrong..
In February 2014, I began feeling really tired. Hot flushes became more common and I could feel pins and needles in my feet and hands while I was asleep. I thought it was just a result of the high dosage of steriods I had taken in December last year. However, my condition only got worse. A weird pulse erupted in my head which used to get unbearable in the evenings. I was all alone in London without my family and knew very little about the medical system there. I did not want to call home and worry my parents so I just went to see the GP at my university.
Unfortunately, like most other doctors, he had nothing to say. He referred me to a neurologist but that appointment was for May.
My symptoms developed in the next few weeks getting progressively worse. I finally told my parents about my struggle and made several trips to a close by hospital's emergency when I felt that the pressure behind my eyes was just unbearable. The doctors there had nothing to say despite me telling them my history. In fact that hospital did not have a neurology department. Every day was a horrible nightmare. I skipped university for about three weeks and ultimately my Aunt flew to London to help me out.
She took me to the emergencies of a number of hospitals but the process was unbearably slow. We had no choice but to look for some advice privately. I made my first visit to an insurance hospital in London because I had heard that the neurology team there was quite good. There, I consulted an Arab doctor who looked at my past reports and my MRI from December. My LP results made it clear to him that I did not have MS. He then mentioned the acronym NMO as something that he suspected. However, he told me that he did not specialise in this area and would refer me to a brain inflammatory specialist.
This doctor was a Pakistan chap. He was born and raised in Britain but I felt more comfortable around him. I told him that I was diagnosed with ADEM a few years ago. He dismissed it telling me that ADEM only occured once. I was worried and almost about to cry when he told me that I should not be too scared. At least it wasn't cancer or something like that. He told me that I must skip university and get admitted to a NHS hospital where he was a consultant.
His words seemed like sentence of being imprisoned but I was impatient to know what I was going through and what I had. I rushed to the hospital where I was to be admitted.
My Aunt called my parents and asked them to fly to London. They took the next flight and made it right away. Over the next few days I had a number of scans, MRIs and blood tests. The MRI showed some inflammation on my optic nerve but there were no leisons to suspect MS. The other bloods were sent over to some specialist lab in Oxford. The results were only going to come in a few weeks time.
I was discharged from hospital with a dosage of steroids. However, my headache persisted. I went over to my Aunts house towards the North with my parents over easter. I was constantly thinking what I had and what was going to happen with me. I was really cranky and often a complete pain for my parents. I tried distracting myself by studying for my exams 24/7. I had missed so many classes and catching up was not easy. Every night I would cry whilst trying to sleep because I could not cry in front of my parents. I prayed for the nightmare to be over. However, every morning I would wake up with the same persisting headache.
Half way through the holidays I travelled back to London to meet the neurologist. He said that all the bloods tests that had come back were clear. On that basis, he ruled out the chances of me having Lupus. One more blood test was left. That was of some auto-immune disorder called NMO. I had heard of auto-immune before. A coupe of people in my extended family had been diagnosed with various variants of it. However, there was nothing else that he could say. The doctor prescribed some heavy anti-depressants because he could see that I was miserable (I took them for a couple of days but stopped because they only made things worse and because I knew I could control my psyche If I wanted to)
I went back up North and then returned to London in May for summer term. My mom and Aunt decided to come with me to London seeing that my condition was always fluctuating. I went back to London hoping that my university life would be back to normal. However, I could not have been more wrong..