The personal story of Karin Nieuwhoudt
I was diagnosed about 2 years ago with the Antiphospholipid Syndrome.
It followed a neurological episode which I had suffered in a Pick & Pay store one
Saturday morning. I had woken up that morning with a visual disturbance that was
strange. I told my husband that my vision to the sides was absent and that I could
only see what was directly in front of me.
Whilst shopping later, I had severe pins and needles in my fingers. I collapsed
and was babbling half-formed words. I experienced something like I was standing
and looking from outside my body; a very surreal feeling, indeed.
For two to three hours I could hear everything people were saying around me but
could not respond. I felt like I had fallen into a deep black hole and I could not
get out. At the Trauma Unit I felt them pinching me, but I still couldn´t respond.
To make a long story short, the neurologist at the N1 City hospital did some nerve
tests on my arms and legs and diagnosed that I had suffered some kind of injury
or trauma to my brain.
At the next appointment there was an 80% recovery. I had no diagnosis, but with
the little knowledge that I now have of
APS, I believe that that episode was possibly
a
Transient Ischemic
Attack. I continued to suffer from "brain-episodes" after that,
which, although less severe, felt to me like a shutdown of a computer. I would go
deeper and deeper into a black place and just couldn´t react to people when they
spoke to me.
I have since been diagnosed with
APS and am very thankful to the doctor for discovering
it. I take an Ecotrin every day and those type of episodes have disappeared. I am
glad that I could discover what happened to me that morning. I do have other symptoms
which I now realise are a result of the
Antiphospholipid
Syndrome and I am very
curious to know all I can about
APS,
its symptoms and what help there is for
APS
sufferers.
I am a 39-year old mother of one boy, now nearly five, who was born after years
of infertility and one miscarriage. His birth was a miracle, as I also nearly lost
him at the beginning of the pregnancy after heavy blood loss.
I am an Honours Psychology student at Unisa and I am very hopeful for the future.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Before today I didn´t realise that a
site like yours existed. I was using the Ananzi search engine for some research
on APS, when I came across your website.
Eureka!
Cape Greetings,
Karin Nieuwoudt
