My name is Elizabeth, I am married with 5 small children. During the birth of my second child, it was so horrendous that I agreed to have an epidural.

As soon as that needle went in, I felt it hit the nerve (the feeling that you get when you knock your funny bone) Immediately, I began to freeze and my body was shaking violently. This was ignored.

I was discharged from hospital a few hours later, and I had excruciating dragging pains in my pelvis, hips, and back, that were going right the way down my legs. They made my afterbirth pains seem like a tickle in comparrison.

The hospital didn't want to know!!!

A few weeks later I began experiencing auras, and this developed into petit mal seizures.

I went to see a neurologist, who reassured me that this happens to a lot of people at least once in their lives and would not happen again!!!!!

To cut a long story short, I have been batteling with this disease for nearly eight years now, and there are times that I cannot even stand unaided as I look like a puppet on a string.

I have passed out with the pain, fall without warning, have myoclonic seizures that affect every part of my body, and they can go on all day for weeks at a time.

I also have full generalised seizures that last for approx. 1 hour,

I get excruciating electric shock type pains running up and down my spine and going down as far as my feet, with violent muscles spasms. Sometimes the electric shock type pains run over the top of my head.

There are times that my speech is slurred, and at others I just cannot articulate my sentences.

Sometimes when people are talking to me, I can hear the words, but they mean nothing, as I cannot connect the sentences.

I have bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction.

I get confused and disorientated, and can lose my core body temperature very easily.

I have hand and foot drop and can fall without warning. There are times that I also stagger and misjudge things, as a result I am forever bumping into door frames.

I also lose my balance and can find myself toppling even when I am standing still.

I also have headaches from hell.........to call them migraines would be an understatement to say the least. These literally blind you. They can last for days or weeks, sometimes my head feels so tender to touch.

There are times that my spine feels as though it is on "fire" and nothing will relieve the pain of this.

There are many other little bizarre symptoms but if I were to mention them all we would be here all day

Before I had my second son, I was a healthy young 26 year old,

I used to do horseback riding, play tennis, I loved swimming and aerobics and played netball for my local area.

I am not the same person as I used to be and every six months or so I am robbed off a bit more strength and stamina.

There are times when I am housebound for 6-8 months.

I used to be so energetic and now I get tired so easily. If I find the strength to shop one day, I can be housebound for a few days afterwards as a result.

Previous to my labour, I didn't have any health problems whatsoever, I just went into hospital to have my baby, and the incomptence of the staff led to me having to have an epidural.

Just one deadly injection, that has eaten away at my nervous system and is continuing to do so.

After 8 years of fighting and being told that I needed a phychiatrist, I have now finally been told that I have damage to the spinal cord.

I no longer care, what name they give this disease, we still have to live with it.

What sickens me is that as long as this disease remains "hidden", there will be no research and no help for those of us who are suffering daily with this debilitating illness.

Something has to be done!!!

 

Regards Elizabeth