Gastroscopy

I’m posting this bunch of bullet points as is, otherwise this ain’t going to get posted at all… :-s

I’ve got a photo of my duodenum, but need to find it and scan it…

Cast

• Pam, the super efficient ward sister with the excellent bedside manner
• Lesley, the lady with the scanner (radiographer??)
• The good Doctor
• Caroline – who took me
• My Mum, who picked me up

Chronology

1. Admittance into Gastro-enterology
2. Own cubicle, cubicle’s own hand wash
3. Explanation of choice between
   1. Throat spray
   2. Sedation
4. Explanation of procedure
5. Chose throat spray
6. Doctor arrives, I sign disclaimer
7. Go into ‘operating room’
8. I marvel at the gastroscopy equipment
   1. Looks like something out The Matrix 
9. Doctor gives me throat spray
10. Bed, turn on my left hand side
11. ‘Bit’ to go between my teeth – aargh!
1. It’s a plastic thing with a hole big enough to have the ‘camera’ put through it, and so you don’t damage the equipment by biting on it - yeeuch
12. Gizmo fed into my mouth
13. Deep breathing, steady breathing
14. Suction thing like dentists
15. Swallow
16. Swallow again
17. Gizmo into my stomach
18. Further down, into duodenum for a look around
    1. Makes me feel a bit sick
19. Air being pumped in makes me burp a lot
20. Gizmo used to take samples – duodenum
21. Back into stomach for a look see
22. Concern because of saliva & breathing
23. Back out again
24. Thanks heavens!
25. Lesley gives me photo
26. Recuperation
27. 45 minutes after spray
28. Mum comes to collect
29. Rather tired last night
30. Have a sore throat today – unsurprisingly. Rather like a ‘sore throat’ caused by illness.

Initial test results

The biopsy taken from my duodenum was put into some ‘agar jelly’ containing lactose, along with a colour indicator. Apparently those with lactose intolerances normally turn the indicator a sky blue colour. I managed to turn it navy blue, which means a severe lactose intolerance.

The good Doctor also mentioned I have mild gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (apparently). Although looking at the symptoms, I don’t seem to suffer from this…

Results of blood test? Need to recall / check documentation

Reflections

• Would have been good to have some kind of hand signals to communicate
• Lack of control
• Anxiety over pipe in mouth, & breathing
• Throat spray vs. sedation

Deep joy – not.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.

The [un]funny tummy saga continues

Introduction

Last week I went along to our local Hospital to speak with the Consultant Gastroenterologist. I took Caroline along to give her perspective (it was she who suggested I might be have an intolerance to lactose as couple of years ago).

This is a part of the continuing saga of my digestive system. So, look away now if you’re of a sensitive disposition.

We both felt that the good Doctor (name on application) was pretty impressive:

• He has a good bedside manner / interpersonal skills
• He seems open, knowledgeable, approachable

My Backstory

Not sure if he expects to be quoted (hence anonymity), but I recounted my story

History

• 2 Years ago - Caroline suggested I might have a dairy intolerance
  
  • Not sure, take a bit of convincing!
• Went to the local GP, pretty useless really
• Went to see the Practice Nutrionalist, pretty useless
  
  • But did give me a link to www. Lactose.co.uk
  • I bought some lactase pills - helps, buy some more on eBay
• Aunt had been treated by Nutrionalist, Angela Beecroft
  
  • I (eventually) go to see her
• She gets me to do a stool test – result points to Dientamoeba fragilis
• She recommends complementary therapies
  
  • These help, but after treatment has finished, symptoms return
• After taking these she suggests I have a course of anti-biotics
  
  • I go to the local Doctors (different from first ones, as we’ve moved since then)
  • I've had two courses of Metronidizole - which is why I went to see the Consultant

Thoughts

• I think I've had this condition for ages
• When I was on the anti-biotics
  
  • I felt more clear-headed
  • I felt rested, I slept better
  • My tummy was quiescent
  • I was less snappy & more pleasant

Symptoms

• Diarrhoea
• Gas / wind
• Tummy rumbling
• Need to open my bowels soon after meals [I did say…!]
• Better - taking lactase tablets
• Worse - having dairy, but this is not the only story

The Opinion

• The Good Doctor reckons it is IBS probably – he thought they were classical symptoms
• Doesn’t have a very high opinion of most complementary therapists
  
  • Has been involved in IBS study for 15 years
  • No candida or parasites found in his experience
  • Parasite (from previous test) is probably a red herring
• We discussed link between stress & stomach – certainly I used to have pretty serious ‘butterflies’ in my stomach when I was a child

Next Steps

• I go back in a couple of weeks
• Tests for
  
  • Parasite – blood & stools
  • Endoscopy (argh – literally & metaphorically…)
    
    • Coeliac
    • Um something else
• Treatments to be determined, depending on test results

Wash up

Caroline has also felt that the complementary stuff is bunkum, and (quite possibly) has probably been right all along ;-) :$

It's fair to say that I'm rather taken with the complementary stuff, but in the hospital, I managed to conjure up the following John Maynard Keynes quote:

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

It’s been an ongoing saga, so I don’t want to get my hopes up. However, if anything like the positive effects of taking that anti-biotics is a guide, this could be promising…

This is a shortened set of notes as I want to get this post up & not spend ages deliberating…

And finally:

Tummy-related Tweets

• Due to dodgy tummy, couldn't make the second half of journey home. Being looked after by my Sister and her Family :-D Need to sort logistics 11:34 AM Aug 26th, 2008 from twhirl
• fyi, I used Imodium to stop the tummy, dioralyte for re-hydration, & ibuprofen to stop the stomach cramps, but please use your own judgement 10:40 AM Aug 27th, 2008 from web
• Have now finished the birch bark & lotus rhizome pills, now for a dose of flax seeds http://twurl.nl/olqokv 2:29 PM Feb 13th from twhirl
• Just about to start my second course of Metronidazole for my [un]funny tummy; background here (if you're interested!) http://twurl.nl/lh4p28 12:22 PM May 19th from twhirl

Technorati Tags: ibs,health,digestion,irritable bowel syndrome,treatment,progress

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.

Deadwater MTB trail - Kielder Forest

A post to commemorate taking the afternoon off last Thursday, and taking my bike up to Kielder. As per my tweet:

First piece of Leave this year - taking the pm off, & the MTB up to Kielder

Named after Deadwater Fell, part of Kielder Forest, and more about which is here. Most of the trail has been built by Kielder Trail Reavers, supported by The Bike Place.

Learning points

The trail is bearing up well, but has become quite uneven, with lots of stones, where the surface has been worn away.

• My fantastic Marzocchi Bomber fork needs pumping up – it was slightly hairy going off large rocks / bumps and the forks compressing more than I’d have liked. Where is that shock pump?! Gah
• My skills & stamina definitely need a big improvement!
• Also, my brakes needs sorting / bleeding & new brake pads installed

btw, if you double-click on the photo of my bike and the associated gear, you will open a browser window at Flickr, as I have annotated the photo (and the next couple…).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.

Dan Hannan lays into the BNP

In the immediate aftermath of the European elections, I thought it useful to repeat this rather fine clip which sums up why I don’t like the BNP [although there are many other reasons].

From Dan Hannan’s blog at The Daily Telegraph

Can you suggest any other links / reasons etc.?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

GoodReads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, or WeRead?

I’ve read a few cyberpunk and popular science books over the last few years, and I thought it’d be fun to catalogue them online and see whether there were folks who might suggest close matches to the micro-genres I’ve enjoyed.

To that end, I started looking around for websites that might provide this service.

This should probably be seen in the context of similar searching a while back, which lead to checking out Collectorz to catalogue my CD collection [so last century I know! ;-)].

• GoodReads
• Second most established
• LibraryThing
  • Seems to the most established
• Shelfari
  • Owned by Amazon (altho others get book data from Amazon)
• WeRead
  • Is this the most recent of the 4

Links

A google search for comparisons of the four yielded these:

• http://booksellerchick.blogspot.com/2008/10/goodreads-librarything-shelfari-one-to.html
• http://booksellerchick.blogspot.com/2008/10/goodreads-shelfari-and-librarything.html
• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=librarything+or+goodread&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
• http://wochan.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/my-librarything-barcode-scanner-and-i/

However, this post looks like the clincher. I have therefore signed up with this account at GoodReads.

CueCat

Whilst checking out Collectorz, I found that one can scan the barcode of the CDs (and hence books) to more rapidly upload the details to the Web / desktop application.

The scanner of choice seems to be CueCat. Initially LibraryThing had this post and I thought LT would be the way to go. Happily this help item on GoodReads shows GR do the same, so CueCat is now on my birthday list!

If I go with Collectorz for CDs, I will let you know. I see there is discussion on GR re cataloguing CDs, but it’s not mainstream.

Technorati Tags: collectorz,goodreads,librarything,shelfari,weread,CDs,books,saas,web2.0,community

Where we live

I wanted to write a brief paean to where we live, as we have enjoyed it so much.
Unfortunately we are moving when our lease expires in July because of circumstances beyond our control. So I thought I’d post whilst the going was good.
You’ll find a fair few photos of the countryside around where we live via my Flickr account.

My home office

We used to live in North Shields, so to move out into the lovely Northumbrian countryside has been a literal and metaphorical / metaphysical breath of fresh air. :-D
Other plus points is that where we live:

• It’s not too far from Newcastle upon Tyne: about 30 mins from the Metrocentre & central Newcastle
• It’s good for mountain biking
  
  • I can hit the country roads and green lanes from straight out the back door
  • It’s closer to Kielder forest, where there is all manner of cross country mayhem courtesy of Kielder Trail Reavers
• There’s a brewery half a mile away, which we can drink at the the Black Bull
• It’s nice and quiet and it gets pretty dark in the evenings (if the light from Newcastle & Gateshead doesn’t reflect off the clouds)
• Towards the North West, the sky at night is very clear and it’s possible to see some amazing stars (and a few shooting ones)
• There is a varied slew of wildlife out and about, including:
  
  • Deer
  • Bats
  • Cows / Sheep
  • Kestrel
  • Badgers
  • Foxes
  • Mice
  • Song birds
  • Toads
  • Sundry insects
  • Rats
  • Feral cats
  • All manner of birds
  • There’s a few horses knocking about, too

Jarvis, our dog, loves it as he chases the pheasants, partridges etc. that lurk in the cover around and about. We get to walk him in various places, which keeps us fit, too.
There *are* downsides:

• Winter can lasts for 4-5 months, can we windy, wet & snowy; it can be expensive to run an oil-fired central heating system
• Broadband is pretty hopeless – we’re at the end of a 9km line, at the limit of usability really
• The pigs being reared next door can get a bit smelly!

So that’s it. We’re hoping to move down the road, so watch this space.
UPDATE: This is new house [ok, so it’s the garden at the top-left corner, but you get the drift ;-)]

Technorati Tags: northumberland,north east england,nice,wildlife,broadband,home

Schizophrenia – disambiguation

I have a long-term interested in Psychology, having graduated in 1992 as a Bachelor of Science from the University of Bristol.

The point of this post is to say that (IMHO) it is wrong to view Schizophrenia as being synonymous with split personality, as the quotes from Wikipedia (below) attest.

I get frustrated when the word schizophrenia is used when ‘split-personality’ would be more appropriate.

Schizophrenia is defined by Wikipedia [accessed 25/5/09] as:

“Schizophrenia (pronounced /ˌskɪtsəˈfrɛniə/ or pronounced /ˌskɪtsəˈfriːniə/), from the Greek roots skhizein (σχίζειν, "to split") and phrēn, phren- (φρήν, φρεν-, "mind") is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality.

Distortions in perception may affect all five senses, including sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, but most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking with significant social or occupational dysfunction.

Onset of symptoms typically occurs in young adulthood,^[1] with approximately 0.4–0.6%^[2][3] of the population affected.

Diagnosis is based on the patient's self-reported experiences and observed behavior.

No laboratory test for schizophrenia currently exists.^[4]”

The entry continues:

“Despite its etymology, schizophrenia is not synonymous with dissociative identity disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder or split personality; in popular culture the two are often confused.”

Wiktionary defines it thus [accessed 25/5/09], and thereby shows there is an informal use of the term:

Noun

schizophrenia

1. (pathology) A psychiatric diagnosis denoting a persistent, often chronic, mental illness variously affecting behavior, thinking, and emotion
2. (informal) Any condition in which disparate or mutually exclusive activities coexist

For the purposes of balance, I am including the Wikipedia entry on Dissociative Identity Disorder [again, accessed 25/5/09]:

“Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a condition in which a single person displays multiple distinct identities or personalities (known as alter egos or alters), each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment.”

I realise this is probably a hopeless cause, but nonetheless worthwhile!

Technorati Tags: psychology,schizophrenia,split personality,disambiguation

Blackberry add-on applications

I’ve just installed Blackberry App World on my Bold, and thought I’d do a review of what’s installed so far.

Most of these were before installing App World, so good that BB / RIM have made it easier to find appropriate apps.

Doing the individual links to all these apps would take ages, so I’m afraid you’ll have to Google them… :$

• Twitter
  • Twitterberry – serviceable, lacking functionality
  • Twibble – nice look & feel, but usability & functionality are pretty poor
  • Tiny Twitter – probably the best of the lot, but doesn’t seem to work in the UK properly (worked in the US when I was in Texas recently…)
• Google
  • Mobile App – search
  • Maps, including Latitude – excellent
  • Sync – for sync’ing calendar with desktop
• Facebook – came already installed
• WorldMate Live – great if you’re a frequent traveller: trial version was great when I went to Texas
• BBPlacemarks app for Brightkite, could do with a bit of extra functionality
• Amazon App for Blackberry – good, would be even better if I had the option to use it with Amazon.co.uk
• Opera browser – useful when Blackberry browser doesn’t cut it
• Flickr app
• Remember the Milk
• Blackberry App World
  • Bloomberg
  • Shazam
• NeoReader
  • Use the camera on my Bold to photograph barcodes and the new square ones – and turn that into something meaningful
  • Can’t get it to work properly, but fantastic idea
• Vodafone SatNav
  • Not bad, but sometimes takes wacky options

Since compiling this list yesterday, I found that all the system memory  was taken, and therefore the Bold was running slow all the time.

I’ve therefore uninstalled Bloomberg, Shazam, and NeoReader [I think], to free up enough space.

It would be good to be able to install the apps on my micro SD card – which is 8Gb.

Technorati Tags: flickr,facebook,blackberry,blackberry app world,remember the milk,NeoReader,Vodafone,Satnav,WorldMate,Google,Amazon App for Blackberry,Opera,Bloomberg,Shazam,applications