My Story, For Context

This website is based on a conversation I had with my neurologist in 2024. Following two years of diagnostic testing which kept finding some reasons for some neurological symptoms, but no reasons for others. This followed 15 years of diagnostic testing for gastric, nasal and cardiac symptoms, all for no answers. 

The neurologist explained that around 25% of all referrals to neurologists in New Zealand result in an "inconclusive" set of results. Having read my medical notes he said to me "look, people with traumatic backgrounds often end up with inconclusive diagnostics. 

His parting words to me were "if you can beat the traumatic stuff, you'll live happily well past retirement age". The real encouragement though was his letter to my compensation insurer (more on this in a separate section!) which asked it to prioritise my mental health therapy to accelerate my physical recovery. 

The insurer responded surprisingly (by quickly arranging a waiting list place for psychiatric assessments) which has given me a little encouragement. 

However...

while I'm waiting, it has dawned on me that a big part of my mental health recovery is about me keeping my own mood up, keeping an open mind about symptoms and learning about ways to cope. Also, finding and engaging in physical, mental, social and occupational therapy. 

This is my ground zero, I'll take notes and post them to this site. Thanks for joining me.