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The personal story of Gill Dobson - a story of hope!
In 1981 my husband and I decided to start a family. The next 6 years brought the
heartbreak of 3 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy. Though I visited a number
of gynaecologists and an infertility specialist, no one seemed able to tell me why
I had the recurrent miscarriages.
Eventually, in 1986, we adopted a beautiful baby boy.
Some months later I found myself pregnant again. I started on a course of hormone
injections and strict bed rest for the first 3 months of the pregnancy as all previous
miscarriages had been at early stages. Miraculously, everything seemed to go well.
Then, in the 5th month of the pregnancy, I developed a large clot in my thigh and
was put on to Heparin injections to dissolve the clot. At 35 1/2 weeks, my water
broke and I went into labour. My daughter was born after an epidural Caesarean as
my cervix would not dilate.
Praise God, she was fine.
After the birth, the doctors put me on Warfarin for a couple of months until the
clot was fully dissolved.
Years passed with seemingly no more problems, although I did suffer from occasional
migraines, and then in 1999, over a period of a couple of months, I became very
ill with a number of peculiar symptoms. I developed numb patches on my feet, suffered
from a terrible vertigo which was exacerbated if I went anywhere where there was
a lot of colour, noise and movement (like a supermarket or shopping mall), became
hypersensitive to noise and bright light, and suffered from terrible pressing pains
in my upper back and shoulders - very like Fibromyalgia.
The pain was so severe that I couldn´t bear to stand or sit up for more than
about 10 or 15 minutes. I developed severe muscle weakness and couldn´t lift
a teapot or cut a piece of meat. I also noticed my mind seemed to be severely affected
especially my memory and ability to concentrate. This became so bad that I eventually
couldn´t hold a conversation for more than about 10 minutes as I would forget
what someone had said at the beginning of a sentence by the time they got to the
end of it. And, couldn´t remember the topic of the conversation!
At night I struggled to sleep as my leg muscles twitched constantly. I was also
very fatigued.
I started out visiting my GP who did all sorts of tests which came back negative.
He was puzzled as to what it could be, and referred me to a specialist physician
who ran more tests, which also came out negative. At this point the physician suggested
I might be depressed!
After living with a mother, who suffers from Bipolar disorder, I pretty much knew
what depression looked like and had quite a time trying to convince him otherwise.
He eventually suggested I go home and wait for more symptoms to develop!
I spent the next 6 months in bed, then finally decided to go for a second opinion
to a physician friend who had just gone into private practice after a number of
years break. Fortunately for me, he had other patients with APS
and had also overseen
my Warfarin treatment years before, and he was able to do the right tests. Unfortunately,
his other patients were people who suffered from both Lupus and APS, and he knew
little about treating primary
APS. He put me on high doses of Cortisone, and daily
aspirin, which I took for the next 6 years. The Cortisone brought almost immediate
improvement - within 3 months I was back to about 85% functioning - and within 2
years I felt almost normal.
Last year, though, I finally began to learn more about APS and the correct treatment.
I now have a new physician who knows quite a bit more about the treatment of APS.
He has put me on to Warfarin and is slowly weaning me off the Cortisone (which is
quite a mission!).
I am hopeful that I will have complete recovery of my adrenal function and will
be able to get off the Cortisone completely within a couple of years.
Blessings,
Gill Dobson
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