Ian C S Watson's story

I was hit back in 1974 with the disease and spent a year in a coma at Joyce Green hospital, I did make a final recovery but for years afterwards I suffered from headaches and missing a year of school made it very difficult to return to education.

Two to three years ago, I started declining in my mental health and I lost the custody case of my grandson and had a full on nervous breakdown from which I have not recovered, with that my symptoms of confusion, memory loss, pain in joints, shoulders etc have grown, the memory loss is chronic and it caused my two daughters to leave home as they cannot cope with it any more.

My psychiatrist seems to think that the confusion and memory loss is linked to my nervous breakdown, yes I am very self harmful in mind and have little outward hope but the memory loss has become so bad I have to write notes to myself and I don't dare cook anything as I set fire to the place as I really forget

One small smile to add to this, I moved to the west country from London and my next door neighbour's mother look very familiar, in the middle of rural Dorset, I happened to meet the primary care nurse who looked after me at Joyce Green and she never gave up, she was determined she told me that I was going to survive, now isn't that a small world?

I am at a loss what to do for the future, is my current situation still the nervous breakdown or is the after effects of possible brain damage caused when I was a child or maybe a mix of the two... Every day is a challenge to carry on, it is horrible how it has become.

Ian Watson
June 2014