Appleton man’s battle with dyspraxia

2:00pm Saturday 12th November 2011 in News

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THIS week is Dyspraxia Awareness Week.

Jonathan Levy, a 20-year-old living in Appleton, whose interests include football, politics and showbiz, has a mild form of the condition. This is his story…

“I HAVE a mild form of dyspraxia, a neurological condition which can make even the simplest tasks a struggle.

“Dyspraxia is thought to affect up to 10 per cent of the population and can run in families. Males are three times more likely to be affected than females.

“I’ve always been slower than most in reaching milestones such as learning to ride a bike.

“Upon reaching school age I avoided games, was unable to tie my shoelaces and stood out with my ‘chicken scratch’ handwriting.

“English and foreign languages were two of my strongest subjects but I struggled greatly with maths, science and anything practical.

“I got through GCSE maths with a D but despite private tuition and resits was unable to advance to a C. I still vow that one day I will.

“I enjoy socialising and have good friends but many people with dyspraxia have poor social skills and struggle to keep up with their peers.

“Teenage life can be particularly challenging as the high school language and chatter is often fast, witty and difficult to keep up with.

“This can be the time when friends desert you and bullying may creep in, as it becomes obvious that you are different.

“With awareness in autism and dyslexia increasing, I describe dyspraxia as the ‘forgotten cousin’.

“Dyspraxia overlaps with both conditions due to the implications it has for skills like reading and writing. Dyspraxia though, has its own symptoms.

“Children often encounter late development in motor skills like standing and walking then later, difficulties in running and catching a ball. I certainly encountered these difficulties.

“Adults may experience communication and motor difficulties such as learning to drive but, as with many medical conditions, it can affect different people in different ways.

“There is no known cause of dyspraxia nor is there a cure but when facing challenges such as following oral instructions or using office equipment I tell myself that I will succeed, I’ll just have to work much harder.

“My condition hasn’t stopped from me succeeding in exams and entering employment so I’m proud of what I can do and never talk myself down. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is probably the most famous dyspraxic.”

l Dyspraxia Awareness Week runs until Saturday. if you think you or your child may have dyspraxia, visit dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

Appleton man’s battle with dyspraxia

2:00pm Saturday 12th November 2011

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(1)

THIS week is Dyspraxia Awareness Week.

Jonathan Levy, a 20-year-old living in Appleton, whose interests include football, politics and showbiz, has a mild form of the condition. This is his story…

“I HAVE a mild form of dyspraxia, a neurological condition which can make even the simplest tasks a struggle.

“Dyspraxia is thought to affect up to 10 per cent of the population and can run in families. Males are three times more likely to be affected than females.

“I’ve always been slower than most in reaching milestones such as learning to ride a bike.

“Upon reaching school age I avoided games, was unable to tie my shoelaces and stood out with my ‘chicken scratch’ handwriting.

“English and foreign languages were two of my strongest subjects but I struggled greatly with maths, science and anything practical.

“I got through GCSE maths with a D but despite private tuition and resits was unable to advance to a C. I still vow that one day I will.

“I enjoy socialising and have good friends but many people with dyspraxia have poor social skills and struggle to keep up with their peers.

“Teenage life can be particularly challenging as the high school language and chatter is often fast, witty and difficult to keep up with.

“This can be the time when friends desert you and bullying may creep in, as it becomes obvious that you are different.

“With awareness in autism and dyslexia increasing, I describe dyspraxia as the ‘forgotten cousin’.

“Dyspraxia overlaps with both conditions due to the implications it has for skills like reading and writing. Dyspraxia though, has its own symptoms.

“Children often encounter late development in motor skills like standing and walking then later, difficulties in running and catching a ball. I certainly encountered these difficulties.

“Adults may experience communication and motor difficulties such as learning to drive but, as with many medical conditions, it can affect different people in different ways.

“There is no known cause of dyspraxia nor is there a cure but when facing challenges such as following oral instructions or using office equipment I tell myself that I will succeed, I’ll just have to work much harder.

“My condition hasn’t stopped from me succeeding in exams and entering employment so I’m proud of what I can do and never talk myself down. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is probably the most famous dyspraxic.”

l Dyspraxia Awareness Week runs until Saturday. If you think you or your child may have dyspraxia, visit dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

i get really bad stomach pains on and off for periods of about a month, but they've never been as bad as they are this time.

i guess the list of symptoms simplified is this:
intense cramping and/or sharp pains in lower left and/or right abdomen (always after eating, sometimes even without eating)
vomiting an average of three times a day, more after eating meat (also, i haven't been able to eat beef for a few years now. it makes me so sick)
constant exhaustion, no matter how much i sleep
headaches, probably from all the pain
near-black diarrhea almost every bowel movement, which are usually once every 2-3 days
6 pounds lost last week, even though i've been eating much more than normal to try to maintain my weight

i have no symptoms of just simply being sick.
i don't have a fever, but i feel feverish. my temperature has been constantly below normal.
might i emphasize how the abdomen pain is constant and intense? it interferes with my daily life.

this has been going on for two or three weeks for this time.
also, i have a doctor's appointment tomorrow.
i just want to have an idea of what's wrong ahead of time.

Your symptoms sound so similar to mine except everytime I go to the dr they say it's acid reflux. I'm constantly in pain not just the lower stomach but in between my rib cage at the top, gas, belching and bad indigestion. It's driving me crazy because all the dr's want to do is give me meds and I'm tired of being sick!!! I hope everything works out for you. Please keep us posted. take Care and God Bless.

There are so many things that could cause your symptoms, you should really see a doctor. Black diarrhea is an indication that there is blood in your GI tract. this is serious. It could mean ulcers or much worse.

Get help immediately.

but my ultrasound shows it isn't gallstones….anyone have any ideas of what it can be??

ONE WAY YOU CAN TELL IS CUT WAY BACK ON FATS & OILS FOR a WEEK TO 10 DAYS AND SEE IF YOU FEEL BETTER IF SO IT'S GALL BLADDER…….

If you have all the symptoms of gallstones I would suggest you cut out all fat from your diet and see if that helps the symptoms disappear. This will take several days to weeks before you see an improvement. I would also Suggest taking lecithin powder one to 2tsp. three times a day before eating. This will act like a soap and clean the gallbladder.

sometimes the gallstones don't show on an ultrasound because of being extremely small. I don't have an answer as to what other condition you could be having.

okay see i dont really know what it is, but some times, on random occasions recently (like the past month or two)
i randomly throw up. its happened three times so far. could this be allergies? i havent really tracked if it only happens when i go outside or what…but i know it happens.

no it doesn't sound like allergies. allergies are more like sneezing,runny nose, stuffy nose,itchy watery eyes,coughing.and things like that.

The person who wrote an answer above me is half way there. Allergies can also be swelling, itching and random spots coming up.

5 weeks ago I was diagnosed with pancreatitis, I have been back to the hospital three times as a inpatient, if anyone has ever had this illness could you tell me how long the symptoms last, eg stomach ache, not eating etc

Men and women in the lowest income bracket are three times more likely than those in the highest income bracket to have kidney disease and to smoke. the disparity in health between England’s richest and poorest is particularly marked amongst women, with those in the lowest income bracket four times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and twice as likely to be obese than women in the highest income bracket.

Vasant Hirani, Senior Research Fellow in UCL’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, and co-editor of the study, said: “This important survey provides an annual health check for the nation, and shows that there are still marked inequalities in health between different socio-economic groups. there is a clear social gradient, with people with lower incomes much more likely to experience poor health than those that are more affluent. We need to reduce inequalities and improve health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable groups in our society – a real challenge in the current economic climate.”

Rachel Craig, Research Director at the National Centre for Social Research, and co-editor of the study added: “The Health Survey for England gives us an excellent picture of how health changes over time, allowing us to accurately monitor the problem areas of health inequality in Britain today. As the coalition takes a new approach to public health during a time of high satisfaction levels in the NHS it will be vital to monitor how outcomes develop. in particular, it will be interesting to see how successful the government plans are to ‘nudge’ people towards making healthy lifestyle choices.”

Key measures of health covered by the latest report include:

Kidney disease

The Health Survey this year provides the first national picture of chronic kidney disease. Results show that between 5% and 10% of adults have symptoms of kidney damage, although only around 2% report a doctor’s diagnosis of kidney disease.

Three times as many men in the lowest income bracket have kidney disease than men in the highest income bracket (2.4% compared with 0.8%) and nearly three times as many women in the lowest income bracket (1.4%) than women in the highest income bracket (0.5%).

Diabetes

Overall, 9% of men and 6% of women aged 35 and over reported doctor-diagnosed diabetes. the biggest disparity in prevalence is between women in the highest and lowest income brackets. Women in the lowest income bracket are much more likely to suffer from diabetes (8%) in comparison with women in the highest income bracket (2%). Amongst men the prevalence rate is lowest for those in the highest income bracket (7%) and highest for men in the middle income bracket (11%).

Adult obesity

Obesity has been on the rise for 20 years but we are beginning to see the trend is slowing down. however nearly 2 in 3 men and women in Britain are overweight, with 22% of men obese and 44% overweight . 24% of women are obese and 33% overweight.

Women in the lowest income bracket are twice as likely to be obese, with a 33% prevalence rate for this group in comparison with 17% of women in the highest income bracket. this is important because being overweight increases a person’s risk of developing health problems such as heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and some types of cancer.

Smoking

For both men and women, smoking prevalence was around three times higher among those from the lowest income households (40% for men and 34% for women) than among those living in the highest income households (14% for men and 11% for women).

Alcohol consumption

In contrast to other health measures, alcohol consumption is one area where lifestyles are less healthy among the better off. Men and women in the highest income bracket were most likely to have drunk alcohol in the last week (86% and 72% respectively); the proportion that had drunk in the last week declined in line with income, so that just 54% of men and 47% of women in the lowest income bracket had drunk alcohol in the last week. Men and women in the highest two income brackets were also more likely than others to have drunk alcohol on five or more days in the week.

Fruit and vegetable consumption

Adults in the higher income brackets were more likely than those in the lower income brackets to eat the recommended five or more portions per day: 32% of men and 37% of women in the highest bracket did so, compared with 18% and 19% respectively in the lowest bracket.

Longstanding illness

Both men and women in the highest income bracket were less likely to report a longstanding illness than those in the lowest income bracket (38% of men and 37% of women in the highest income group compared with 49% of men and 52% of women in the lowest income group). Examples of longstanding illness include asthma, diabetes, arthritis and stroke.

Self-reported general health and acute sickness

Both men and women in the lowest income bracket were most likely to consider their health as bad or very bad (18% of men and 15% of women compared with 3% of men and 2% of women in the highest income bracket). Men and women in the lowest income bracket were most likely to have cut down on the things they usually did in the last two weeks because of illness or injury (17% of men and 23% of women compared, with 10% of men and 12% of women in the highest income bracket).

Hi, I am Pernita from India, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis about three years back. I am a mother of two young kids.  I was on wysalone tablets 60 mg for two years , whenever i was told to taper it off my condition became worse. i think my system started depending on it a lot. my doc wanted to put me on azoran but my hemoglobin fell to 4 and had to go for transfusion . it raised to 7 and finally with amway folic subsitutes I tried to raise it to 11 . finaly 5 months back it raised and i was put on azoran. but as told by the doctor that it will react in 3 months approximately… I waited . But nothing happened.  I developed fissures as was taking enemas too. every thing became painful. was on 25 mg wysalone , 1500 mg rowasa three times a day (4500) , three azaron, codine sulfate three times a day, twice enema and my system gave up.  Had no energy left to face the day. Blood was spurting out on every trip to loo. the pain was unbearable. was even getting cluster head aches ev ery two three days. Then worst came my skin started getting boils. they were full of mucus and left deep holes all over my waist line. As i was trying to treat one the other came up next day. that was where i became totaly fed up. in us hindus we are told . God gives you that much pain which you can bear. i started crying looking at myself in mirror and trying to tell the al mighty above that he made mistake in ng to bear all.judging me. am not that strong enough. Went to my doc and told him that am going off arozan and tapering off most of the drugs as they are nt working. he told me to continue with rowasa . So finally I am off from most of drugs with all the pain and flare up still there and now am lost where to go from here. Can’t give up as my kids are my only hope to hang on to my life.

Other traumatic events such as a road accident or sexual abuse can also trigger the condition. NO two people experience PTSD in the same way and while in some cases symptoms can occur weeks after the event, in others it doesn?t happen for months or years. ?It?s not inevitable,? says Lincoln University psychologist  Roderick Orner. ?Major incidents happen in the lives of around three-quarters of people in their lifetime and very few actually develop PTSD.? However for those who do, it can be overwhelming. ?I felt a real need to defend my home and family in an obsessive way,? says 31-year-old Ram, who carried out security checks on his house three times every night. ?I even took it to the extent of cutting the grass outside the front door very low to the ground to enable me to identify footprints of anyone attempting to get near the house.? often underestimated is the impact of PTSD on loved ones says Nigel Hunt, associate professor in health psychology at Nottingham University. ?You can imagine how it affects families,? he says. ?One man leaves the house to go to war, a different man comes back. sometimes he is unrecognisable. In some cases there is aggression, violence and drinking.? Candice recalls the struggle of having to remain calm throughout. ?I knew it wasn?t his fault but his extreme stress affected every aspect of our lives,? she admits. Patricia Campbell-Hughes is a psychologist who has worked with many ex-servicemen suffering from PTSD and says: ?One of the most difficult things for families is that sufferers often have extremely frightening flashbacks as if they are actually reliving the situation.? Treatment has historically been hard to come by particularly within a military context. It is difficult enough for anyone to recognise they have a mental health problem, let alone in an environment where resilience is key. ?Prior to 15 years ago it was difficult to get the military to even recognise PTSD as that might lead to soldiers claiming compensation in terms of their duty of care as an employer,? says Professor Hunt. Today it?s a different story Largely thanks to the MoD and NHS working closely with the Royal British Legion and other armed forces charities, treatment is becoming increasingly available and innovative. Treatments range from cognitive behavioural therapy which works on identifying and challenging thoughts and behaviour that may be maintaining symptoms and eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing where the  patient tracks and follows a moving object while recalling a stressful memory or event. Newer narrative techniques focus on people telling their stories. ?As soon as it became apparent that I needed help, it happened really quickly,? says Ram who reports that in his nine months of therapy he was able to work through the causes of the problem, not least his difficulty in coming to terms with the lives Afghan children had to endure. ?Having a young daughter exacerbated this especially because my daughter was fortunate enough to have both parents who loved her and had the means to provide for her. there was a mental and emotional turmoil within me  which often left me guilty, frustrated, angry and helpless.? ROYAL British Legion head of welfare Sue Freeth says: ?People with PTSD can feel very isolated and they may be a risk to themselves and others. People who have served their country should not have to feel lost.? keen to give something back to those who helped him Ram has organised the March for Honour (marchforhonour.com). Four teams consisting of former and serving members of the armed forces left from separate points in the UK last Thursday on a 250-mile march, culminating in them delivering the Book of Remembrance to the Royal Albert Hall on November 11 for Saturday?s Festival of Remembrance there. The march will also raise money for the Poppy Appeal and symbolises the struggle faced by everyone at some point in life, says Ram. we all hit a wall at some time, he adds, and the support of those around us and the realisation  others have overcome obstacles help us through. Candice has also managed to salvage something positive from their ordeal. ?I actually think it?s made our family closer,? she says. ?I knew when I met Ram that he was a strong person but seeing him overcome what he has still amazes me. I never take anything for granted now. ?I often stop and thank my  lucky stars for the normality of daily life that I longed for during that time.”