I was told I was suffering
from The Suicide Headache, or “cluster migraines”, and the journey took a new and improved different direction. I was prescribed the right medication and I
had outpatients’ appointments with neurology – but the attacks still kept
coming. During this time,
my pharmacy submission for replenishing medication was a full
scale military operation; I needed my medication, injections and oxygen. It was
my lifeline, and it still is.
For six long years now I have battled with ‘the beast’ with
the support of my carer, and luckily for me, two great GPs who have supported
me from the day I was discharged from the hospital. The black dog theory
and mental scars Throughout this journey
I did not realise the mental damage being inflicted. It can be hard to realise
or understand, hard to self-diagnose, but looking back I know that a level of
depression set in. As that happened my
weight got out of hand; clothes’ shopping was spent avoiding mirrors, buying
the big range in waist sized trousers and looking for the easy fix and
standardised clothing to get me through the working day. As time progressed, my
condition and behavior started to take its’ toll on everyone around me, and
this is what brought me to face up to reality. I realised I was mentally
abusing my loved ones and myself with my condition and if I didn't take action,
I was going to jeopardise everything I have worked for. I knew I had to get
motivated and get moving.
The Fix and Road to
Recovery I set myself what
seemed like a simple target – run to the office from the off-site car park. It
turned out to be anything but. Within seconds of starting my lungs were set to
burst and my legs felt like I was running with two blocks of concrete attached
to each foot.
My plan run to work
from the car and back at the end of the day - not even a mile each way – but physically
I couldn't do it. But I knew I needed to do something, so I persevered and kept
going every day in the week, and started using the weekends for long walks. After three months it
had started to get easier, so I extended my route and I started to notice the
weight dropping; not too fast, but enough to see that my appearance was
changing. Around this time, I
read an article about someone who used a FitBit watch to help reduce weight by
completing 20,000 steps a day, so I gave it a go and purchased a FitBit, hoping
to build on the work I was already doing. This really supported
my personal challenge by allowing me to set my own goals to achieve the minimum
recommended 10,000 steps and walk five miles a day. But it
had another side too – the Fitbit app has a social element where you can invite
friends to join challenges, to encourage others in their journey and I saw an
opportunity to extend what I was doing and make it something more people could
benefit from. So I set up the “Workweek
Hustle” through on the FitBit app, and began to encourage my work colleagues to
do more walking, activity and exercise. That group has been taken up
enthusiastically by a lot of my colleagues. My journey began with a terrible
setback, but I am privileged to be able to see that it has become something
positive for people around me.
Where am I today?
My medication has been reduced and I have had a pain
free year. Long may it continue! My asthma is under control and my
inhalers have been reduced and improving
my lung capacity.
I feel in a really good place, both physically and
mentally. The results of my active
lifestyle have highlighted savings against my medication reduction. I take regular exercise
and play a part in activities at work. It has made a huge difference having a
great support network around me and I no longer look over my shoulder waiting
for my next attack. If it happens, I feel
I am in a good place to manage it with the education I received for managing
pain. Since I started the
‘Workweek Hustle’ I have reached over 20,000 steps per day, and I take an
active role in the top group where we are each achieving more than 100,000
steps every working week. The‘Workweek Hustle’
has become the ‘Health and Hustle Group’ with more than 780+ active members and growing. We
have walking schemes, running schemes, we’ve even had a boot camp. Events are
running at multiple sites. I am going to manage this
scheme using our NHS Trust’s Listening into Action approach. The aim is to
embed activity into our organisation and so support staff to lead a healthy
lifestyle, both in and outside of work. I suspect the success of this may go even
further and allow other health partners to take part in future challenges.
What have I learnt? As an individual you
have to take ownership to make a healthy lifestyle change. Pushing someone to
become active will result in resistance; they will push back and find a hundred reasons or
excuses not to - just like I did. Encouragement and
support from colleagues, family and friends will help and support you once you get
started. The hardest thing, the absolute hardest thing, is getting started. But
in time you start to enjoy the ‘WOW Factor’ when people start noticing the
weight reduction and change of your mood from a negative to a more positive
one. When I discussed the
running group with individuals, the first thing going through everyone's mind, and
mine, was about ‘coming last’. But these activities are about being part of something, about a
team, about personal goals and bout injecting some fun into it. My focus is to
arrange a wide range of activities which are for everyone, no matter what their
ability or fitness levels are.
Where is this going and
what's next? No idea! But I hope to
carry on meeting inspiring people who I work with to keep me motivated and
provide encouragement to those who struggle like I did. Since starting this
network, I have met colleagues who have worse health conditions than me, which
has inspired me even more, not only to achieve my goals, but also to share my
knowledge and personal journey to support them in taking control of their
condition and lifestyle.
Acknowledgements One of the hardest
parts of my journey is revealing my personal account and taking responsibility
for changing my lifestyle. I hope I can
use this to inspire others who have been in the same position as me. It takes one step followed by another. Thank You for taking the time to read my journey to becoming active!