11 Mar, 2025 | Admin | No Comments
I thought I was hallucinating every day – then came my surprising diagnosis
I was diagnosed with temporal lobe focal epilepsy when I was 19 (Picture: Katie Spencer) The first thing that happens is a feeling of déjà vu. I get tingling sensations throughout my body, and it feels like I am slowly being mentally separated from it. This feeling is also called an aura – and it is one […]
There are numerous ways to support those around us living with epilepsy (Picture: Getty Images) Imagine the scenario: a loved one has just been diagnosed with epilepsy, a much-misunderstood brain condition that can manifest in unpredictable ways. You are probably feeling concerned, frightened and almost certainly powerless. In fact, there are numerous ways to support […]
Andrew (right) was fit and healthy, so I was sure he could survive (Picture: Milica Davies) ‘I am really sorry because you are a young man and this is a life limiting condition.’ After months of waiting for answers, the neurologist delivered them with crushing clarity. It was October 2024, and my husband Andrew had […]
I knew my life was at risk (Picture: Donna Green Photography) Lying in bed next to my husband, John, I writhed in agony. Something was horribly, terribly wrong. ‘John, I’m dying,’ I managed to cry out in pain. It was 4am in March 2009 and our then-four-year-old son was asleep in the house so John jumped […]
My speech came out slurred and all of a sudden, I wasn’t making any sense at all (Picture: Tayler Laycy) Three months after the birth of my second child, I was home alone with my three-month-old baby son, talking on the phone to my best friend, Melanie. Ever since we’d bonded at work as administrators […]
2 Mar, 2025 | Admin | No Comments
No-one prepared me for what would happen after eating disorder recovery
It was not easy, but then I never expected it to be (Picture: Duncan Lindsay for metro.co.uk) Defeating my eating disorder has undoubtedly been the biggest achievement in my life to date. I say ‘defeating’ – and that’s very much what I identify it as – but anyone with the illness will know that it […]
Pink mould thrives in an English winter (Picture: Getty Images) Everyone knows about the dangers of black mould, but what about its pal, pink mould? The pinkish-reddish-toned bacteria – yes, bacteria, not technically mould – loves the moist, damp conditions of an English winter. And while you may have spotted it and decided it’s an […]
I decided to give up eating in front of anyone entirely – even those closest to me (Picture: Photography by Tracey-Louise) Shakily biting into a small spoonful of paella, I silently prayed that my partner, Piyus, wasn’t watching. Even though we’d been dating for a whole year, I hadn’t dared eat in front of him […]
I can’t imagine myself with hair now (Picture: Reid Rolls) ‘I don’t want you to feel insecure,’ my mum said, as she looked at me with pity, ‘we will pay for a hair transplant.’ I was only 18, which is young to be balding but the process had actually started a few years before that. […]
Caption: Sir Nick Partridge (Picture: Sir Nick Partridge / Alan Davidson/REXShutterstock / Getty) As I picked the photograph off the desk, my heart stopped. There were seven of us in it – but I suddenly realised, within five years of it being taken, only three of us were still alive. It was taken in the […]