"What I can only describe as a miraculous recovery"

In May, due to a minor health issue, my husband discovered that he had high blood pressure and then a few weeks later high cholesterol.

He was prescribed daily medication for both conditions but was concerned that he would forget to take it. He had been diagnosed with mild COPD a few years ago and managed that condition well with prescribed medication and routine exercise.

Being a fit man, playing golf several times a week, this news of the HBP and high cholesterol devastated him and, compounded by his obsession with “Googling” these conditions, it served to heighten his anxiety levels. He enjoyed between 3-5 cups of coffee each day and when he got the HBP diagnosis he immediately stopped drinking coffee. This in turn contributed to him having sleep disturbance and was unable to get quality sleep.

The HBP and high cholesterol medication caused constipation and this contributed to his heightening anxiety as he imagined a blockage in his bowel. This meant that a laxative needed to be added to the ever growing list of medication and his further anxiety, particularly because he feared that the laxative would make him incontinent. He was also concerned about how he was expected to manage all this medication despite my reassurance of my help.

Over the next week his anxiety worsened and he agreed to arrange another appointment with his doctor which, after a wait of another week, seen the practice nurse and after another few days finally got a face to face appointment with his doctor who prescribed diazepam to treat anxiety and sleeping pills to help him get rest. An appointment was made by the doctor for him to see a mental health practitioner at the practice the following week. Following on from that appointment he was sent an email with links to self help tools to manage anxiety and depression. Due to his heightened anxiety, trying to access and understand this information overwhelmed him and only served to worsen his mental health condition.

As diazepam and sleeping pills are “controlled drugs” they are only prescribed in small amounts and he got anxious that he wouldn’t get a repeat prescription (which wasn’t the case). After another few days there was no improvement in his condition so I called to arrange for both of us to see the doctor and my husband was prescribed more diazepam, a higher dose of sleeping pills and an antidepressant. As the antidepressant would generally take between 4-6 weeks to take effect, and he didn’t feel any better after a week with sleep disturbances continuing every night, his anxiety was even more heightened so the doctor increased the dose of diazepam. This caused him to feel drowsy which he disliked so he was reluctant to take that medication during the day. These events also coincided with the anniversary of the death of his twin sister almost a year previously, and although he never mentioned it I know it was in his thoughts.

Before the onset of his heightened anxiety his appetite was reasonable but he wasn’t particularly healthy and he was quite lazy about making meals. (My diet consists of foods that he dislikes so we tended to cook separately but I would cook for both of us approximately 3 times a week.) During the course of the 6 weeks leading up to his admission to hospital his appetite was low and I was preparing more meals for him which he ate, however during the final 2 weeks prior to admission he only ate small portions and he was visibly becoming thinner.

I ordered a high calorie vitamin and mineral drink to help him maintain a reasonable nutritional intake. During the 5 days prior to admission he ate some porridge for breakfast but would eat very little else and his fluid intake diminished and was extremely reluctant to accept the diazepam and antidepressant. During this period he slept for shorter periods of no more than 2 hours a day and became extremely agitated, catastrophised what he would normally consider trivial matters, and was constantly pacing. His refusal to accept food, drink and medication in the 24 hours before admission led me to call NHS24 for advice at 10pm.

They advised me to call my local doctor in the morning. The call to the doctor got me through to the nurse practitioner who knew us and understood the situation and arranged for a doctor to come to the house within 2 hours. This was quickly followed up within an hour by a visit from a nurse from the mental health team who spoke to my husband and expressed concern that he was very unwell and needed to go to hospital for treatment.

In June, he was admitted to the Leven Ward at Murray Royal Hospital in Perth and, although I didn’t know it on that day, the start of his 7 week long journey to what I can only describe as a miraculous recovery. This is all thanks to the incredible team of consultants, doctors, nurses and support staff who have treated, cared for, motivated and encouraged him over these long days. He has had 8 ECT sessions and medication changes that have turned things around. The ECT was an essential life saving treatment.

It was an emotional rollercoaster for me to helplessly watch him being so ill but the staff were there for me too, kept me informed and reassured me he would get well again.

I know his (our) journey doesn’t stop at his discharge from hospital and there’s still a way to go but it’s now with an optimism that I never thought we would have again.

In hindsight my regret is that I couldn’t get help for him sooner that may have avoided hospitalisation. The process to access our local doctor was difficult and frustrating, especially when that treatment was urgent.

Although his illness was progressive and diagnosis possibly difficult, albeit there was previous history in his medical records.