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dizzy spells

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Welcome everyone again to ‘Brain Lesion and Me’ for those just joining me, welcome. Throughout April I will be writing a new blog post everyday as part of WEGO Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge – ’30 Days, 30 Posts’. The posts will be inspired by the prompts given by WEGO Health. The prompt for today, the 26th day of the challenge reads as follows:

Health Tagline…Give yourself, your blog, your condition, or some aspect of your health a tagline. Make sure it’s catchy!

I have given this some thought about what to choose as a tagline, and have come up with the following:

“Once Upon a Dizzy Spell…”

Why have I chosen this tagline? Well, for starters, the dizzy spells at the age of 8 was the beginning of the journey of my condition and the fight it took to get a definitive diagnosis. It was to some extent the first sign that there was something wrong – especially as dizzy spells amongst children seems to be an unusual symptom even though the doctors seemed to just brush them under the carpet and sent me on my way without referring me for further testing.

And another reason why I have chosen the tagline is that I am enjoying the new series, ‘Once Upon a Time’. The show is an American fairytale drama starring Robert Carlyle, Jennifer Morrison and Ginnifer Goodwin in which the fairy tales from our childhood and our world collide. And what is the first thing you think of when you hear the words “Once upon a…”, a story, right? Well, that’s exactly what my blog is about – it’s my story of living with my health condition and how it affects me, so think the tagline fits in perfectly with what I am trying to achieve with writing the blog.

So, “Once Upon a Dizzy Spell…’ is my chosen tagline! What do you all think? Should I use it on the blog?

If you had to choose a tagline for yourself, what would it be? Again would love to hear from you – please feel free to leave any comments and thoughts…

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Well, thought it was important to give some more information regarding my journey of me and my condition.

I was born in 1986.  Odd thing was, that when I was first-born the doctors thought there was something wrong me then… a nurse noticed that I held my legs rigid, which apparently is something which newborn babies are not supposed to do…

The doctors sent me for a brain scan when I was 2 days old… but nothing was found.

So, in any case had a pretty normal childhood, well, apart from my intense phobia of heights.  All of the experts say that phobias are learnt, however, I never had a bad experience with heights… strange thing is when I was a baby, my Mother took me for a check-up at the doctors.  When she tried to put me on the bed that you have at doctors’ surgeries, I started to scream and instantly grabbed onto my Mum  and wouldn’t let go.  Instinctively, she put the baby mat on the floor and laid me down… and I stopped screaming!!  Seems as if I have had a problem with heights from birth.

I remember from childhood, I also had a problem with standing on anything which is even slightly high up – even those long benches you find in gymnasiums which aren’t even that high from the ground… it was like whenever I stood on one I was unable to focus properly and felt like everything was moving sideways…

Then at 8 years, old during a trip to a DIY store I had my very first dizzy spell… felt as if everything was moving and that if I hadn’t grabbed onto something I would surely fall.  Had a few attacks after that, so was sent to the doctors’ for tests… all came back normal.  Noticed that the majority of dizzy spells that were happening to me was brought on in places which had wide open spaces and especially those with high ceilings.  Even now I have major problems being in places which are very open and those which have high ceilings… the current train of though of why these type of places bother me is some a problem with perception and how the brain processes information being received from my surrounding environment.

Anyhow, as it became more frequent I became panicky and anxious when these attacks would occur – I was only 8 and hadn’t a clue what was happening to me?  And as the doctor’s couldn’t find a cause I was labelled with an ‘anxiety disorder.’

Fast forward several years, and the dizziness had become much more frequent and wasn’t able to go anywhere without the aid of another person – managed to complete a Psychology Degree but had to have support to do so, such as having a ‘Buddy System’ in place taking me from lectures and a designated place where I was picked up by someone.  As the dizziness became more frequent, I knew deep down there was something wrong other than an anxiety disorder and had to fight to get referred to a neurologist who eventually diagnosed the long-standing brain stem lesion.  And in terms of the spastic paraparesis – have always felt stiffness and weakness in legs especially during sports at school and when walking – but always thought it was normal as I hadn’t know anything different!!

Anyway, that’s all for now.  Please feel free to leave a comment below.

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