Ailments, we all have them, some more than most! I am in the more than most category! Or as my husband likes to call me the queens of ailments. 

My aches and pains, conditions and issues are something I do not wish to have! I do not choose to get up and have an ailment, I wish that I could have a day without one. When I was in my 20s I remember not having much to moan about at all regarding my health! But it seems as soon as I turned 30 I started complaining of this and that, although minor things. Then since the age of 33 the ailments seem to have taken on a more major form, resulting in endless hours of ailment discussion and debate!

My husband even turns to me in the mornings now and says, so whats the ailment today then? He is not free of ailments himself I have to say but certainly has far fewer of them then me.

I do not do it to gain sympathy, as I just want to enjoy my life, I air my ailment laundry because it helps me offload and share my issue with whoever is close to me at the time! Sharing is caring isn’t it? The problem is, then I feel guilty that I have weighed their mind down with my ailment!

I joke to my mum that I could write a book about my ailments, but have to say I have enough ailment facts and information that I could fill a small paperback. Over the years my ailments have come in all different forms. It all started in January 2010 when I would feel faint and sometimes would actually faint on my walks in to my local town. Then I started to get dizziness in May 2010 which Drs put down to bouts of labrynthitis….

Throughout 2010, I had colds, chest infections, dizziness, fainting and other minor ailments. I also had severe backache, due to weight I had not lost after being pregnant, my back actually decided to go suddenly in the July, perfect timing NOT for our trip to Ireland to see my parents. It was a very long uncomfortable journey in the car whilst weaning my twins onto Annabel Karmel pouches in the back seat!

Then in 2011 thats when I started to get all my bouts of tonsillitis, the year started off with a nice range of itis’s, with a nasty case of sinusitis, then conjunctivitis, then cystitis, then tonsillitis! It coincided with the girls starting nursery and bringing back every illness under the sun for a time. The year continued on as the itis year with 10 more bouts of tonsillitis to boot! I also got strep throat and throat thrush to add into the mix.

2012 was a year full of more dizziness and my nasty new comer the vertigo attacks! I spent most of my time fallen off chairs after vertigo attacks (pings in my head I used to call them!) Until I found Dr J my wonderful consultant who diagnosed me with vestibular migraines and referred me to get my tonsils out for good! Unfortunately it was too late for my right ear nerves as they had been attacked by all the viruses I had been experiencing, and also all the continuous use of antibiotics had damaged my nerves, so much that they decided not to respond! The last antibiotic I had was in Lanzarote in December 2012 which put the nail in the coffin, I later found out it had been taken off the shelf in many countries! Great! Thanks for that!

Come 2013 the right ear nerve damage became clear, I went for a vestibular test at my local hospital and sure enough they were not responding to any of the tests done (2 hour long test) I was put on VRT (Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy) and attended the sessions for just over a year. At the same time I started CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) as my new enemy had come along in the form of anxiety and depression, born suddenly in April 2013! Little did I know they were to remain with me for some time to come.

Since 2013 I have had nerve pain, debilitating headaches, backache, constant dizziness, vertigo, aura, floaters in my eyes, pins and needles issues in my extremities, IBS, twitches in my eyes that can last 2 months at a time, terrible ovary pain, extremely painful periods, acne, sciatica, neck pain, shoulder pain, throbbing legs, bunion pain, chest infection, throbbing temple, peribronchial thickening in my lungs, asthma, chest pain, skipped heartbeat etc I could go on and on!! Oh and Anxiety, depression, vestibular migraines and vesitibular neuritis…Oh dear when I write them down there are quite a few! No wonder my husband’s ears bleed!

To bring you all up to date, my gynecologist now thinks I have endometriosis as my left ovary is attached to my uterus and possible my colon/bowel. I have been getting ovary pain for some time now and I get very painful periods anyway since I was young. But the pain has been ramping up in my left ovary region for some time now and its pretty much peaked now! As I type this I am in terrible pain and I was up most of last night with it, woke my husband up at 2am to announce I was getting a taxi to A & E but luckily my strong prescribed painkillers kicked in eventually. I am having the coil fitted next week and hoping that will sort things out, I have to leave it 4 months and if still not sorted it will be a laparoscopy by the summer. Oh the joys!

I am sure some people reading this will think….oh what a fuss!! We all get ailments….but trust me having vestibular migraines is enough on its own, without having all these other things on top. But as I have said before I am luckier then a lot of people out there. Since starting this blog I have met so many lovely, kind individuals that are suffering with so many debilitating conditions who have reached out to me. What some humans have to deal with is unbelievable and so unfair and my heart goes out to them.

I read something recently and it said – PAIN IS REAL BUT SO IS HOPE, I thought that is a really good statement. I believe in hope, even when I was in my dark days, without it I would not have been able to get out of bed and on with my life. I try and be as positive and hopeful as possible and surround myself with likeminded people. Negative people drag you down, you cannot change them, I have tried before!

Do you constantly have ailments? Do you drive your loved ones around the bend with your constant ailment chatter? I would love to hear from you so I know I am not alone in my constant ailment laundry airing!!

So as I reach for more pain killers I bid you goodbye for now, I am off back to bed!

Lara x