Who is Seonai?
Seonai Gordon is a 40 something female battling TB. She is originally from Scotland, with no patriotic feelings therefore considering herself as a human being, address; The World. She is well travelled, quite smart and has never knowingly hurt another person in any way.
Seonai is a former nurse, turned journalist and you can Google her name - 'Seonai Gordon' - to read some of her other articles. She welcomes emails but cannot claim to be in a position to offer medical advice. She can, however, put you in touch with the right people if you ask.
Last week at a friend’s flat I was introduced to an international nurse just back from Afghanistan and I heard a terrible thing. TB is rife out there and the people with it are not taking their TB medication and do you want to know the reason for this? They don’t take the medication because they make them hungry and they can’t afford to buy food. How sad is that?
Before I was diagnosed with this round of TB in June last year I was down to one egg a day, TB just takes away your appetite. It’s a bacteria that literally eats away at you and takes away your own ability to feel hungry so that it can take a greater hold on your body and eventually kill you if you don’t get treatment. Consumption they used to call it. Around two weeks into treatment you start to feel hungry again. My experience of being on TB treatment is that I get cravings for certain things – beef, eggs, salmon, cold milk, ice cream, bananas, pineapples and strawberries. The cravings change every few days. But at least I can satisfy my need for these foods, not the same for those living in resource-poor countries.
By strange coincidence, the last few days have been quite bad for me regarding eating. Due to having coughed so much over the past year or so, my stomach or ‘gagging reflex’ now has a mind of its own. Every 20 minutes or so I need to cough up mucous from my chest, but now, when I cough I automatically gag and then baulk to vomit! It’s horrid. If I’m not actually sick I feel sick for a good 5 minutes and have to sit, swallowing and trying to compose myself. I’ve been sick in the street, in people’s houses and nearly on the bus. Now I carry a plastic bag!
And Finally…
At the moment… I look kind of normal and, as I’ve gained back the weight I lost through TB people assume that I AM normal. But I’m not. The disease and the TB medication can make you feel weird and make your joints so stiff that on the bus you can’t just stand up when you’ve rung the bell – you have to hang on to the rail and drag yourself up! Because I look normal people stare when I sit in the disabled seats, but I have a disabled person’s bus pass because my shortage of breath is a major disability. When I’m out in the street people huff and puff at me because I’m walking so slowly and they can’t get past. So I’m looking for suggestions please? Should I wear a sign? Email address below.
- Seonai’s World /Column 8/ 27-09-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 7/02-09-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 6/ 22-08-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 5/ 15-08-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 4/ 08-08-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 3/ 30-07-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 2/23-07-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 1/12-07-07
To contact Seonai by email click here
