Day thirty seven

A few weeks ago I had a funny thing happen at the medical centre. The GP looked at my PSA results (prostate) and said the score was too high for someone my age. A little later he was talking about my high cholesterol levels and said that changing my diet and lifestyle would make no difference to someone my age. In the same appointment I was both too young and too old!

And that is one of the things that people dislike about illness - being told, “It’s just your age”. No professional has yet said that to me, but the number of people 10-20 years older than me who have said it! So following on from yesterday, I have seen my medical records and not everything is there, because my records were lost between Belfast and Taunton in 1996. But, I know, because I remember, that in 1981 I had severe abdominal pains for several months. I was an apprentice at ICI at the time and I didn’t get time off. I was 19 years old and it wasn’t given a diagnosis, but no one suggested it was my age. Then, in 1999 when I was diagnosed with coeliac disease (from which I was healed) I was also diagnosed with oesophagitis, and I was given no medication. At this time I was 37. No one suggested it was my age.

I am currently on tablets for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I’m not convinced, but that GP couldn’t think of anything else. I’ve been taking the tablets for a week now and they have made no difference. The received wisdom says if they don’t work after two weeks, stop taking them. I’ve checked up on CT scans and there’s plenty more things that could still be wrong. One of them is not my age!