The anniversary of Chris’s death was last Bank Holiday Monday. He has been dead for 17 years. Sometimes I think I’ve got over it. Sometimes I don’t. Recently I’ve spent time on LinkedIn, connecting with suicide groups. The prevailing suicide prevention trend is to encourage people to ask their friends if they are all right, […]
When talking therapies don’t work Read More »
Artificial Intelligence is wonderful! I asked it three questions. Are long covid and growth hormone deficiency connected? Are long covid and suicide connected? Are growth hormone deficiency and suicide connected? Here are the answers I got. First question: “Viral genes have been found in pituitary tissue from some individuals that died from COVID-19, with pituitary
Long Covid, Growth Hormone Deficiency and Suicide – a Deadly Trio Read More »
Over the past month I have been asking people with growth hormone deficiency to tell their heart-wrenching stories to the NHS – about their long years of non-diagnosis and the medical scepticism about their symptoms, their suicidal feelings and attempts – and to urge that the A-Z of Health Conditions should at least contain a
The A-Z with something missing, Continued Read More »
GHD doesn’t stand for Ghastly Horrific Disease, but it could do. It happens after a sixth of concussions, and roughly a quarter of more serious head injuries and it makes you want to kill yourself. Interestingly, suicide risk is tripled after concussion, and four times after worse injury. There were over 100,000 people admitted to
The A-Z with something missing Read More »
Christine knew that she was not alone. There had to be other pituitary patients misdiagnosed like her with ME or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She told her story to them, ending with these words:.= “I put my heart and soul into my story. I wrote it to help you. I think of you all each and
The Test That Doesn’t Test, Continued Read More »
A must-read for anyone who thinks they may have cortisol deficiency or GHD Once upon a time there was a Yorkshire lady named Christine Wrightson. Here she is. You can see the kind of person she was: downright, valiant, not to be messed with. She got ill. She’d had arthritis for decades and in 2005
The Test That Doesn’t Test Read More »
You’ve had multiple concussions in sport. Do you have: Impaired concentration and memory loss? Lack of well-being? Depression and anxiety? Reduced energy? If so, you may fear you have early signs of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and that it’ll be downhill all the way with this incurable condition. But maybe it’s not as bad as
Maybe it’s not CTE after all? Read More »
A large Danish population study which looked at more than 100,000 hospital admissions for head injury for over a decade and examined the causes of death, found this: You are four times more likely to kill yourself after you’ve suffered bruising or bleeding to the brain. You are three times more likely after concussion. You
Head Injury and Suicide Read More »
On Monday 18th December 2023, the Telegraph ran an article headed WHAT CONCUSSION CAN DO TO YOU. The author listed the symptoms – headaches or dizziness, difficulty concentrating or remembering, anxiety, low mood, fatigue and difficulty sleeping – and was absolutely silent about the worst symptom of all, which is loss of libido. Shouldn’t parents
A Glaring Omission Read More »
Patrick, 49, had a plan if his test result was negative. He would swallow his blood-thinning pills and some diazepam, then run a hot bath, get in, and slice into his femoral artery. The blood-thinners would prevent clotting. “It wouldn’t have been a cry for help. I didn’t intend to fail,” he says. Luckily the
Head injury makes you four times more likely to die by suicide. Read more here.