Women's health concerns ARE WE BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY?

Let down by docs. Sharron did some digging to come up with the right diagnosis

- Cloe Willetts

When Sharron Gardner suddenly felt her legs and feet go numb last August, the 60-year-old’s life took a drastic turn. The gym-loving Manukau local couldn’t change clothes or go to the bathroom unassisted and for three months, she was misdiagnosed with a stress-related neurological disorder.

In reality, Sharron had rare disease transverse myelitis, caused by inflammation of the spinal cord.

“Before, I was at the gym three times a week and busy in the home. All of a sudden, I was useless,” recalls Sharron, who suffered numbness in her mouth and tongue a day before she lost feeling in her legs.

“My husband Lyall had to pick me up and help put me into a chair because I lost the ability to walk or balance.”

Sharron’s first visit to hospital ended with a diagnosis of functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition that affects body and brain function and can be caused by stress or emotional trauma.

Professionals tried to pinpoint reasons for Sharron’s possible stress, including overworking, and suggested she make lifestyle changes at home to help manage the condition.

But Sharron wasn’t convinced, believing something else was going on with her health.

“People with FND have fits and I didn’t. I kept querying it and they were shoving all these papers at me saying I had to come to terms with having FND.”

Seen by multiple neurologists and a psychologist, who shaped her treatment around FND, Sharron was told it was time to go home from hospital in early September.