My Pain

Hi. My name is Abigail Kaushal. I am here to talk to you about my pain and why and how it has happened to me. Here is the information:

Abigail Kaushal’s Horrible Pain.

Why on earth did this have to happen to me!? Someone please tell me! I say in my mind.

Hi my name’s Abigail Kaushal. I’m here to tell you how and why this has happening to me. If you have it I know exactly how you feel. You may think that well that it’s really hard to trust in me, but pretty pretty please do. If you don’t then I will explain every single detail about why I’m writing this.

Falling On Rocks

Last year, 2011 June. I was at school walking to class on a wet day. My friends were with me, talking to each other when suddenly I tripped and landing on a HUGE bolder (rock) on my back. I couldn’t breath, walk well and even talk properly! My friends rushed to my side immediately! They were trying to make my stand up properly. I have such amazing friends. We walked slowly but fastly to the schools sick bay. The Office Ladys called my Mum Straight away. In a flash my wonderful Mum arrived and was looking at my back to see if she knew if there was something to do. No. My Mum carefully took me into the car and went to White Cross and we said to them that it was an Emergency and a couple of minutes we were seated into a Room when a Nurse and then a Doctor came to see me. The Nurse just took my blood pressure. The Doctor came in and they thought that my Hip was broken so they said come back tomorrow and they will take a X-ray and will sort it out.

We got up, had breakfast and went to White Cross about Mid-day. It wasen’t broken, thank goodness but I had to be in Crutches. I had to be in them for 1 week.

Gastroenteritis

A week after falling on the Rocks I had this really bad pain in my stomach. For 2 nights my Mum thought it was a appendicitis but she was wrong. My Mum called up Health Line and they said go to White Cross. We went there at about 8pm and said we need to go to Starship. I said NO! Because I hate going there because I don’t want to be sick, I want to be healthy again and go to school. We went to Starship by 10pm and we were at the Childrens Emergency Department. I had nothing to eat nor did my Mum and she had to go and get Subway for each other. Mum came back had Dinner and the Nurse came and had to weigh me and take my Blood test. We waited for them to come back. An hour after that they came back and said we need to get an ECG, X-ray and an Ultra Sound. OWW! The Ultra Sound ISN’T supposed to hurt BUT it did because an American Doctor pushed REALLY hard onto my stomach and after that he said well done and we were sent back to our room. We didn’t stay the night but we did stay till 2am in the morning. I had a Play Specialist and she was REALLY nice to me. We did making Bracelets and playing games and making cards. We got sent home and they said that we would have to have visits for 2 or 3 days. Finale! They diagnosed me with Gastroenteritis. It really hurts!

Chicken Poxs

 About 5 days after the Gastroenteritis I had a really bad case of the... Chicken Pox. It started like this: My Little Sister goes to my Mums best friends house for a day and my Mums best friends children had the Chicken Pox which catched to Kezia, Sushant and then me. My little sister Kezia had a little bit of Chicken Pox, My little brother Sushant had a bad case as well then a few days it came to me. I woke up in the morning with a little bump on my stomach and I didn’t feel very well, at Mid-day they started spreading ALL over my body- Every single inch- even my Mouth. I had my Left arm completely Infected! It was a night-mare looking at it- for real. I couldn’t eat so each day for Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Dinner and Extras I had a yummy Milkshake with Strawberrys, Rasberry Sorbet and Milk. I could barely walk. My body was so overwhelmed that I had HEAPS of stye. Guess what time I went to bed, well you wouldn’t know so I’ll tell you I went to bed at 5pm because of all of this. YAY! I’m over with the Chicken Pox! It lasted about 3 weeks.

Weird, Weird Pain

On the end of my Chicken Pox I had a really sore pain, not an ordinary pain but worse. It was on my Right side. I went to Starship to try and find out what it was. They were testing me with all sorts of things me or my Mum neither knew like: Migratory Arthritis and all sorts of other stuff. Starship gave up and sent us to Waitakere Hospital. Waitakere said that it’s major so they needed to let me stay in the Hospital. I stayed there for 1 week and they diagnosed me with somatoform disorder and then they discharged me. Because I was going to India and I was up walking again they said that a change of scenery would be good for me. We came back from India in January and yet the pain still haden’t fully gone away! It started getting worse, worse and worse. It had gone ALL over my body including parts that never had been there before. Like my head, nose, mouth and bottom. We went to Joe Sutich to see if he knew anything about it. He took a Blood prick from me and placed it under this Blood screen thing. He thought it was a nerve damage. My Mum agreed with him but I didn’t because of having so many Doctors and other people like that telling me that it was in my head and I was lying I couldn’t trust him. After that I did. We went to a Paediatrician his name was Simon Rowley and I was having some luck thinking that he would help with this and find out what it was. NO! He wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t listen to me OR my Mum. He said- again that I was lying and if I keep on staying off school my Friends won’t want to be friends with me anymore because I’m not seeing them and I should go back to school and I will be alright. My Friends see me ALL the time and their the best anybody could imagine. Anyway after a Netball game, I stopped walking and we had to get a Wheel-chair. We went to this Pain Clinic team with Ross Drake. They decided that it is called Central Pain Syndrome and here is the details:

What is Central Pain Syndrome?

Central pain syndrome is a neurological condition caused by damage to or dysfunction of the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain, brainstem, and spinal cord. This syndrome can be caused by stroke, multiple sclerosis, tumors, epilepsy, brain or spinal cord trauma, or Parkinson's disease. The character of the pain associated with this syndrome differs widely among individuals partly because of the variety of potential causes. Central pain syndrome may affect a large portion of the body or may be more restricted to specific areas, such as hands or feet. The extent of pain is usually related to the cause of the Central Nervous System injury or damage. Pain is typically constant, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and is often made worse by touch, movement, emotions, and temperature changes, usually cold temperatures. Individuals experience one or more types of pain sensations, the most prominent being burning. Mingled with the burning may be sensations of "pins and needles;" pressing, lacerating, or aching pain; and brief, intolerable bursts of sharp pain similar to the pain caused by a dental probe on an exposed nerve. Individuals may have numbness in the areas affected by the pain. The burning and loss of touch sensations are usually most severe on the distant parts of the body, such as the feet or hands. Central pain syndrome often begins shortly after the causative injury or damage, but may be delayed by months or even years, especially if it is related to post-stroke pain.

Is there any treatment?

Pain medications often provide some reduction of pain, but not complete relief of pain, for those affected by central pain syndrome. Tricyclic antidepressants such as nortriptyline or anticonvulsants such as neurontin (gabapentin) can be useful. Lowering stress levels appears to reduce pain.

What is the prognosis?

Central pain syndrome is not a fatal disorder, but the syndrome causes disabling chronic pain and suffering among the majority of individuals who have it.

What research is being done?

The NINDS vigorously pursues a research program seeking new treatments for chronic pain and nervous system damage. The goals of this research are to develop ways to more effectively treat and potentially reverse debilitating conditions such as central pain syndrome.

They said that they would do a Physio Therapy and treat me like trying to stand up and other stuff like that. I stood up on the 2^nd of July and was walking better but I couldn’t run, jump and walk down stairs. After that I’m hoping for NOT going back to Hospitals and stuff like that. I hope I’m going to do well.

To be Continued

Abigail Kaushal