Remember me?

Still alive, kicking, and whinging! <_<

But I might not have been. In late February I had a major car accident. Long story short: doing 70mph on the dual carriageway, oil, skidded, car, meet crash barrier, crash barrier, meet car. Short story long: I had just overtaken a car and was looking to move back into the slow lane, when the car began to wobble ominously. I didn't even see the oil (was told later there was oil spilled). I tried to straighten it, but it didn't work: it span round once, really fast, then made its way onto the grass verge and hit the central barrier reservation head-on. Physically, I was absolutely fine. I got up and walked out of the car w/o a scratch. Not only that, but another lady was even more lucky. 'Cos I lost control of the car, everybody else behind me had to brake sharply. Nobody hit anyone, but one driver lost control of her car and ended up upside down in the ditch! She, apparently, only sustained a few scratches however.

Honestly, that's the sort of scenario which can end up in a multi-car pile up, with several people dead :/ I'll always be grateful that nothing worse came out of it. I did, however, write my car off. RIP 1999 Daewoo Matiz. I won't bore you with details with the aftermath, but simply skip to the present to say that I was without a car for two months, but bought a car 3 weeks ago. '51 reg Skoda Fabia. I was pretty nervous about driving it at first, but I'd say I'm okay with driving again now. It's a nice car: like driving a BMW compared to the Matiz, bless the Matiz's heart >_>. But god, on money grounds alone, never have a car accident. Unless you're rich and money doesn't matter. I couldn't have afforded the Skoda w/o financial help, tbh :-/

What else? Well, I'm finally at a different hospital. Had an appointment a few weeks ago. I'm reserving judgement for the time-being, but first (braindead - it was an early morning appointment >_>) impressions were that it's definitely better than the last place, which was almost completely and utterly useless. At the new place, they do appear to have an IBD team of sorts in place. For example, there's an IBD nurse you can phone in between appointments. And an IBD psychologist you can talk to. I only met the GI that time. He seemed quite nice. Perhaps a teensy bit condescending, but I haven't really met a doctor who wasn't to some extent. He at least didn't presume to tell me there was no cure for Crohn's, after I've had it for 10 years, but he did tell me how much Remicade cost - argh, that's my new bugbear <_<. To be fair, there's no particular reason why I should know how much Remicade costs, except the docs at the previous hospital kept on going on about it; it got on my nerves after a while.

Anyway, Remicade wasn't ruled out, but the doc also mentioned Methotrexate, so it's almost a dead cert I'll be be put onto that first. MTX scares me more than the Remicade, tbh. If I had a choice, I would rather go on a biologic. But whatever. I've decided to cooperate with whatever I get given.

I'll know more Tuesday, as I've got a hospital appointment then. He should have got my test results from the last hospital back by then, but I reckon there's about a 70% chance that the last hospital will have lost my tests to some mysterious void that all NHS hospitals lose important info into. I did get several blood tests done, though - apparently they do check for nutritional deficiencies, amongst other things. I also had to give a stool sample. That was something I've not had to do since diagnosis. Fun! <_<

I'm seriously wilting here, so I'll be buggering off for now. Ivy, Choc - so sorry for not keeping in touch; I'm the world's worst email correspondent :/ Oh yeah, almost forgot: I'm finally on an antidepressant, venlafaxine (generic Effexor). I will leave it up to the folks of this board who remember me to decide if it's done any good or not. *hugs to everyone* :p

Hi Nicecupoftea, and welcome back!! You most definetly have been missed:)

So sorry about the car accident, but thankful that you and no one else was hurt.

And triply happy that you found new docs. You are right the last ones you had were rather sucky:)

Hope the MTX and the anti-depressant do the trick for you and you get feeling much better soon. Giant hugs!

I've been wondering where you went. So sad to hear about the car accident - that must have been quite the shake-up. Miracle that you walked away without injury, not to mention the folks behind you.

And I'm glad to hear that you have a new team. It is really wonderful to hear from you and I wish you the best with whatever treatment comes your way. I posted a link a couple of weeks ago to an article that was recently published. It summarizes all the current treatments for IBD and provides a score for research and publishing on these topics based on the quality of the study and the potential bias of the researchers. You might be interested in seeing what there is to see about MTX vs. Remi. And show it to your medical team, too.

so pleased to read your post but sorry for your dramas <sheesh> ;P

good luck with new hospital certainly sounds promising and I certainy share your wariness of those drugs but sometimes we just have to take them to stay well.

lovely to have you back
Lesley in NZ

Yay! NCOT's back! The forum hasn't been the same without you, my dear.

You do sound in a much better place, both physically and mentally. How are you coping with the antidepressants so far? None of the terrible side-effects you were worried about?

Glad you're at a hospital with at least the beginnings of an IBD team, too... not to mention a nurse and a psychologist! That sounds far better and much more suitable than the people you were seeing before.

I have bad fatigue at the moment so am not up to writing much, but wanted to send you an enormous hug, and let you know that I'm thrilled you're back

Ivy.

Argh. *sigh*

I'm so sorry, NCOT. It really shouldn't have to be that hard... and they really shouldn't be that hopeless or inefficient.

I'm cynical. Here's my translation of what happened:

Instead of briefly perusing your file as soon as you were referred, and chasing up the necessary doctors and hospitals to make sure your records were on hand for your first appointment, they probably opened your file two seconds before your appointment began, and realised that none of the necessary records were there.

Hopeless. Utterly hopeless. It's... what... sixty years since the NHS began? They really should have policies and procedures to deal with this sort of thing by now.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Ivy.

NCOT, sorry about your car accident, but glad you're okay and back here with your crohnie friends.

And hey, NHS has its issues in Canada too, but I'm so thankful I don't have to deal insurance companies refusing to pay my bills. Too much stress for someone who is ill. IMHO.