Neurological symptoms
After experiencing some unusual neurological symptoms, my son was sent for a brain scan. The results of that came back negative on Friday. It is pleasing to say he can now rule out any kind of brain tumour.
I do, however, know that there are a number of diseases that wont show anything on the scan, so I am hoping that he is not succumbing to any of these nasties. My guess is that he is over-tired from his long commuting each day and his symptoms are a reflection of this. I have told him to monitor what is happening to his body anyway to see if the symptoms are decreasing, staying the same or lessening. That way he’ll know if there is anything to be concerned about, which would require further checking.
In today’s environment we are exposed to so many toxins, that it is easy to develop unusual characteristics from time to time. And working on a building site, I am sure he would be exposed to glues and other kinds of toxic materials, that, if not in a well-ventilated room, might sometimes cause concern.
I have had a tremor my whole life and when I was a child, if I was doing heavy work, would shake uncontrollably. My oldest brother had it too as did one of my children. That tremor has always been with me and becomes worse with physical activity or illness. My brother saw a neurologist once and was diagnosed with a benign essential tremor. I haven’t bothered seeking any medical advice for mine, as I figured his diagnosis would suit me as well. I think if anything major was going to result from this tremor, it would have done so by now.
As children, we were exposed to a lot of the now-banned toxic chemicals, such as 245T. When we dipped the sheep, it was our job as children to plunge every animal’s head into the arsenic mix, which would splash all over us, so that too was something we were exposed to on a yearly basis. And all of us from that era, had our mouths filled with the amalgam fillings, some of which I still have today.
I have learnt to live with my tremor. When threading a needle, for example, I will hold my palms together, enabling a bit of stability, so the thumb and forefinger can do the threading. When I was nursing, it was difficult drawing up the vial for an injection, because I was unable to stabilise my palms in this way. It was hard getting the needle into that tiny hole. I know people over the years have thought that it is my nerves when I have shaken like this and yes, when I am nervous, that exacerbates the tremor too. When I was a child and on stage for speech nights, I would shake terribly.
Even little things have been difficult. When I was doing acupressure on clients, my arms would shake as I held the points. I did an acupressure workshop once and I noticed one of the women I was teaching started shaking on the point, thinking that was what she was meant to do. Using binoculars when I was on the farm was another difficulty, because often my tremor would be bad from the physical activity. My arms would shake so much that I wasn’t able to see a clear picture. I used to love tennis as a youngster too, but I found, as I got older, that the game would deteriorate quickly, as soon as I became physically tired. Trying to throw the ball straight up for a serve was near impossible. That was another frustrating thing.
I had a client once and she started developing unusual neurological symptoms. She was not one to see a doctor, but I persuaded her it was something she should do. I was suspecting multiple sclerosis from what she was telling me. She did see the doctor and then a specialist and was told that whatever was going on was nothing to worry about. I left to move up here and it was only a few months later that I heard she had died. She had had an unusual form of motor neurone disease, hence the lack of a proper diagnosis. She wasn’t even 50.
So whilst I do respect any symptoms of a neurological nature, I do know that many are nothing to worry about and will generally disappear in time.
Regardless, it is a good idea to monitor what is happening to one’s body, just in case.