No bashing the NHS in this thread please, some areas of the country are better than others.

A bird I've been seeing started blacking out 5 months ago and has only recently had an MRI plus EEG. It's been a week and the results still havn't come through. However today she's developed positional vertigo, headache and has been sick.

This scares the **** out of me as it sends up all sorts of red flags, my favourite area within biomedicine being neuroscience. She's a fairly stubborn sort and likes to play down symptoms, stoic and hates people making a fuss. So I need to try and convince her to go to the doctor and tell them this without scaring the living bejesus out of her as it's not my place to do so.

Any ideas?

quote:

Originally posted by Aimail101:
Any ideas?

Have her get a tick panel. Other than the blacking out, you describe the symptoms I had exactly.

I was diagnosed with a rare (for my area) tick-borne illness that was presenting with neurological symptoms. Vertigo and dizziness were parts of my daily routine for the better part of a month (not to mention extreme confusion and disorientation.) Before I was diagnosed, I had serious concerns that I might have developed a neurological condition.

I don't know if that's what she's dealing with, but it's worth a look, particularly if the current tests don't turn up anything. Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by GoToAway:

quote:

Originally posted by Aimail101:
Any ideas?

Have her get a tick panel. Other than the blacking out, you describe the symptoms I had exactly.

I was diagnosed with a rare (for my area) tick-borne illness that was presenting with neurological symptoms. Vertigo and dizziness were parts of my daily routine for the better part of a month (not to mention extreme confusion and disorientation.) Before I was diagnosed, I had serious concerns that I might have developed a neurological condition.

I don't know if that's what she's dealing with, but it's worth a look, particularly if the current tests don't turn up anything. Good luck.

Yep there could be all sorts of reasons that are causing it. I can't make a diagnosis or even a suggestion as I'm not a doctor, I have my own suspicions but all I want to do is make her go to the damn quack with the list of symptoms to present to him in the context of whats already happened. I don't think it's a tick born disease as she's had the works in terms of blood tests.

Tough call, hard to convince a stubborn someone they need checked out quick without scaring the crap out of them as generally that will be the only thing that gets them moving. You are right that this is indeed a big deal and she needs checked out ASAP. Just give it straight I guess, tell her if it's nothing then you wasted a few hours of time, if it's something there could be permanent damage if not caught early.



And like Aimail said, no commentary on NHS, that's his request and the moderators will enforce it. This sort of thing happens in the US system all the time too, I've seen it happen.

Thanks Urufu. Yeah I don't want to scare her, but 90 percent of people shut down or panic when life's big hurdles or disaster strikes. She's shut down and put it to the back of her mind (some of the possible diagnosis would completely alter her lifestyle), when I had vertigo I was so forceful with the docs that they had me checked out in no time comparatively.

I have my suspicions that when your laid back about something like blacking out, neuros tend not to take you seriously thinking its a somatic disorder. Especially if your female.

You have to keep laying on the concern till you annoy this person into going (I've been on the receiving end, it works), might not help the the friendship but what's more important?

Maybe go with her to the doc or see if she can get a family member to go, sometimes it's easier for the patient though you'll have to wait out in the waiting room, but you can talk to her afterward, drive her home, etc. She needs to get this sorted out.

Thanks chaps, I'll annoy her until she goes. Again this was one of those life things that I don't have much experience with. Adult stuff, bloomin swear being 16 was good now LOL. I think I've got enough charm to get away with it.

My mother had the same symptoms and what finally got her attention is when she had a blackout and drove off the road at 70 mph. Diagnosis was a brain aneurysm. After a 45 minute procedure and a over night in the hospital she is doing great.

Aneurysms are nothing to laugh at either they can be very much fatal if not treated

Get her down the A&E if you are worried mate, the worst that can happen is you sit around and waste some time (and look abit silly).
Also please tell her not to be brave and stoical, I did that once it nearly killed me, the pain I didn't want to make a fuss over turned out to be bowel cancer. If the Dr asks her to rate the symptoms tell her to be 100% honest or they can't make a correct diagnosis.
On a more upbeat note, my understanding is that MRIs are hot at spotting anything proper bad and when it comes to medical results no news tends to be good news.

Take care.

There is also this sight (EDIT: Oops site) if you are worried with information, helplines etc.

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Whirlin_merlin,

I hope everything works out ok. If she's already been scanned you might find that those results will come through before she can keep an appointment with the doc. So you might be as well to give it another few days. As Whirlin says, no news is good news. However, if she has developed new symptoms a visit to A&E wouldn't go amiss.

Good luck.

Sorry to hear about this Aimail101, perhaps as someone else suggested above you could (assuming all else fails) contact her GP yourself, explain to them your concerns and that your efforts to persuade her to visit have failed and ask them to contact her?

You wont be asking them for any information so I dont see any reason why they shouldnt at the very least hear your concerns and handle it the best way they can from there.

Whatever happens though I hope it gets sorted out for you all

Well I packed her off to A and E, she took a girl friend of her's with her. She doesn't like people making a fuss and refused to let me come along. Females are irritating, blokes get seen as loafs with no idea. It's highly irritating when ones better at judging and reading peoples reactions and emotions than 99.99 percent of women I've met. Rant over.

She blacked out earlier, banged her head pretty hard and did her shoulder in badly it seems. A few on the spot tests through up couple of oddities and she's been having a fair few mood swings recently out of her normal range. Which have been getting worse. So I got her friends involved.

Not a happy bunny, fingers crossed they chase these bloody MRI scans up which were at her hospital back home instead of the one near uni.