Me again. You know that I've been told I've got MS? Well, he didn't say what to do if I felt unwell. I'm feeling unwell (a little), NHS direct are not picking the phone up.

[FluffyBunnyGoneBad]

a little eye ache/blurred vision and some numbness in one leg. I don't know too much but can it wait or do I need to go to A&E for some steriods?

Glad you got through the exam ok. You really do need to talk to someone about what constitutes reasonable adjustments under the DDA. If you would have to work with blue screens and cream writing I am not sure where you would stand but from my (limited) understanding if it is a university thing rather than part of the job you are training for then they should try to provide the exam in a different format. Redlentil suggested the Disability Officer- have you met with them at all?

The personal tutor who was supposto get the screens changed has emailed me, asking me to see health screening at the uni to make sure I'm fit to practice. I saw them last week, nothing's changed except for the diagnosis. The course involves looking at alot of black and white x-rays which is fine, it's the blue and cream exams that's the problem. They have student services which make all of the adjustments for students with health needs/dyslexia, I need to get a supporting letter (another one) for them.

There's not enough hours in the day.

Fluffybunny - I would just ring the Disability Officer and explain that things are a bit tricky and you'd like to get support in place over the summer so that everyone is clear about what is going on next year.

She (for it will be a she) is there not to generate paperwork but to make things work in reality. Go to see her. Talk frankly about possible scenarios that might arise during the rest of your studies.

Be positive but firm about the support you might need.

You could also ask her to put you in touch with other students with MS, or with visual impairments, so that you can get a handle on what they have won in terms of support. Their tutors might well be able to offer support to your tutors.

Go to your favourite tutor, whatever their specialism. Prevail on them to be your advocate.

If they want to help (but also if they sound unhelpful), tell them brightly to seek support from their Subject Centre (part of the HE Academy) which has produced this report.

You could also show them this list The DEMOS site listed is particularly good.

The DDA is cleverly designed: inertia is prosecutable. They can't 'not get around' to changing stuff. They can't presume that a one size fits all method of examining provides a level playing field. They can't leave it all up to you.

Once you have disclosed your disability everything is up to them.

The question about whether you are fit to practise borders on discriminatory. It suggests that they are thinking 'how can we get out of helping.'

Ring the MS society, or the soc. of radiographers and get a definitive 'of course Fluffy can practise' from them.

Sorry to suggest you'll have a fight on your hands. You shouldn't and hopefully their initial response is a bit panicked rather than anything else.

Let me know if you need any more help of course. I haven't got CAT, but I'm generally loitering around on the August 08 postnatal threads.

If it helps at all, I knew nothing about disability issues until my students demanded support and now I'm passionate about all of this as you might be able to tell.

Also, before I finally stop talking, be clear in your own mind that is not just the student services who are there to help.

Lecturers are obliged to ensure that every sheet of paper, handout, lecture, website they produce is broadly accessible.

In a year of 100 students, I'd expect 6-10 students with visual impairment/dyslexia and I'd take that into account in terms of everything from powerpoint construction to the font I use on handouts.

Don't let them keep shunting you off for help from elsewhere.

Thankyou. I've got to go and see the same doctor I saw last week who said I was fit to practice, they knew I had post viral fatigue when I started the course so the condition hasn't changed, I still have the odd occasion when I'm tired. I ask for supervision on placement if I am worried, they have been told this enough times. I don't need anything, just a white background and black text on the tests. It can't be too much for them to handle

You'd think not, wouldn't you, but inertia is the king too often. The disability team at a place of study is usually fantastic. My friend is dyslexic and once she contacted the disability bods she had stuff thrown at her left right and centre - ended up with someone scanning all her research papers and books into a computer which then read them out to her! Brilliant. (She's just got her degree; she's so happy.)

Anyway, I am a bit worried about your eye pain. Have you been to an ophthalmologist? Does it hurt when you rub your eye gently? It sounds like the pressure might be up and you really (seriously) need to get that checked. If it is that, they'll give you drops which will bring the pressure down; it's easy to treat so don't worry about that side of things.

Glad the exam was OKish, but about the blue/cream combo. Hopefully that will change for you in the future.

(Waiting rooms are good for resting, I've found.)

I'm a stubourn, proud person so am the least likely to ask for help. It would be helpful for them not to have blue screens with cream writing though!

The eye pain's better at the moment. It comes and goes, it gets really bad when I've been sleeping alot, they feel as if they are going to explode and are so blurred it's hard to see. Words look as if they are holographic, almost like they are moving. Weird!

It has taken me 6 years to come around to asking for help, but if I don't I end up in bed for days just because I cleaned/wiped the fronts of the kitchen cabinets - or some of them Not worth it.

I had to go to bed at 7 on Monday because I had been unpacking some boxes and putting stuff on shelves and had a funny turn and needed to lie down. If I had just asked dh or dd to help, instead of lugging stuff about and climbing ladders etc I wouldn't have upset them both.

I felt guilty being given a Blue Badge thing at first, even though I couldn't walk round the supermarket, let alone walk out at the end of a shopping trip. I'd get less than half way through and have to sit down (except when I was already in a heap on the floor!), and couldn't get to the car unsupported, but I still felt guilty to be using a disabled space (still do, tbh).

Asking for a change of colour is actually no big deal, and they should be grateful to be made aware of the problem before they get prosecuted for not making their exams accessible (and one day that will happen). You are actually doing them a favour .

Glad your eye pain's better at the mo, but do get it checked out as soon as you can.

Yours sounds like a PITA. It's just ds and I at home. I keep thinking about who's going to look after him if I need to go into hospital. I do everything, I can manage but have occasional really tired spells. Ds is really understanding. He's 10 now, if I say I'm tired he'll get me a pillow and a blanket and order me to rest.

I'll pop and see the GP tomorrow and see about the eyes.

Good luck with it Fluffy. I hope it's nothing but if it goes on I would get to an eye clinic where they will have all the machines necessary to have a really good look inside. GPs and opticians don't have the equipment.

As a trainee radiographer, you must spend time in a hospital? Check out the eye clinic sometime and make friends with an ophthalmologist!

I'll try that. My GP's normally quite helpful, well, the one who finally referred me is. I'll stick with her from now on, I was being fobbed off with all sorts, 'sounds like a lesion but you wouldn't have one of those'

Your ds sounds fab.

DD is 10 next month. She has taken to rushing at me saying "you're limping, lean on me" and half carrying me home ordering me to put my full weight on her! I don't have the heart to tell her that it doesn't actually make a lot of difference, the pain is still there because it's moving my legs that causes it, not putting weight on them. She will then tend to me when I get home and make me a cup of tea and run around getting me things to make me comfortable. It makes me very happy that she's so thoughtful, but it makes me terribly sad that she needs to be.

I'm lucky in that I have dh around and my mum lives with us too, so there's always someone else there. Mind you, I've been in hospital twice since I was dx, but neither time had anything to do with ms. Hope your ms is the same.

Can't they give you crutches for a little while to help?

Thankyou.

How are you feeling now?

(My arms are actually worse than my legs, though that's partly muscle wastage and I'm working on that. Crutches would just hurt a lot!)

I went back to the GP, the neurologist hasn't written to her at all. Very efficient!
I feel a little ill today, lots of pins and needles, achey arms. I felt as if I was coming down with a cold earlier but this has passed. Oh well!

Sorry about suggesting crutches. Do you get any physio?

No. TBH I don't get much of anything, but that's because I was originally living in an absolutely useless and awful health authority, and have moved to a new HA which is much much better, but my GP has decided I would get completely overwhelmed if I saw everyone I could, so we're taking things slowly to give me a chance to get to grips with each new person and their - admittedly somewhat barmy - ideas and suggestions.

I have recently seen my neurologist, and he told me it would take at least 4 weeks for a letter to get from him to my GP and to leave about 6 weeks before I ask my GP to act on what he (the neurologist) has instructed. It did, indeed, take 6 weeks for the letter to arrive. Our NHS requires patience.

Hmm. Sounds like they need a kick up the arse!

I have been seeing a chiropractor, I'm not sure how but this helped. My legs did have a feeling of jelly for a while, there was some stiffness in the top of my spine picked up, it really helped. The legs just burn at the moment but at least they don't feel as if they are going to give way any more.

I'd go back to the GP and use the 'most affecting your life principle', if a physio is more use to you at the moment then a dentist (for example), see the physio. Demand it!!

Oh I know I should fight a bit harder for things, but, quite frankly, I'm too bloody knackered. I've just been put on these new pills which are rather nice - they've cut the pain quite a lot and they occasionally send me onto cloud 9 which I enjoy immensely, but dh finds embarrassing/worrying .

It's taken nearly a year to get them, and they're not actually the pills I wanted, but apparently I have to try these first, and ten maybe they'll give me the others.

The 'most affecting my life' was actually why my brain didn't work properly and which bits of it were affected so I've had a neuropsychologist who's been testing me, as it was driving me nuts being a different person and being able to feel my brain not working, not thinking etc. Finally, (5 years after I first started asking), I've done all the tests and we've found wonderful things like my short-term memory has been affected, my problem solving ability likewise etc and I am so happy, as it explains so much about why I behave in particular ways, when I didn't behave like that in the whole of my life before (like going completely blank and panicky when faced with a new person).

But my doctor is right, in that if I had had to do something else as well I would have been utterly exhausted and no good to anyone. As it is, I am now doing Tai Chi for MS once a week, and that's enough extra stuff for the moment.

They would do tons for me, but I have to take it slow, and can't cope with too much at any one time.

Do they really take people into hospital when they have a relapse and give them steroids? My old HA never even mentioned that (mind you my old MS nurse never spoke to me anyway!). Off to bed now. Sleep well.

I've no idea what they do. I think it depends on what's gone wrong that time.

I'm tempted to ask for some ritalin to help m memory and concentration. What do you recon my chances are??

Fluffy - when you had the MRI, did they put any extra cages etc over your head?

I am booked for a scan of MRI & spinal cord and preparing for worst experience (have had scans of legs before, but never head).

Oops - that should be: an MRI of brain and spinal cord!

They do put a cage over your head, it's OK though, they also give you headphones so you can listen to the radio. It's alot like sticking your head in the washing machine noise wise. It doesn't take very long, 20 mins. The cage is to keep your head still and picks up the radio waves. It's OK, honest

Thanks.

I didn't mind the noise before, but my head eas almost out the tube, so - even though I am not claustrophobic, just wanted to be prepared.

Anyway, I have a holiday to enjoy first as the appt won't be for another 4-6 weeks.

Close your eyes, it will help.

I know it's worrying but there's a number of things they may be looking for. It's over quite quickly, just think of the music coming through the headphones. It's never normally as bad as you think.

It is noisy. I just said my times tables to myself while it was going on! Had brain and spinal cord about 6m ago. There's a mirror positioned so you can see out of the machine to the nurses' station - I could just about see out of the window as well.