Shoegirl: I agree, I think many of the little things that are indeed symptoms of a.n. we tend to ignore before diagnoses and then once we are diagnosed and find out these things are symptoms of being ill we notice them. I never knew pre-diagnoses that I was at 50% hearing loss, I thought nobody could hear while in the bars and dance halls, I didn't use my affected ear on the phone and somehow otherwise I didn't have a problem, post-diagnoses I realised how loud I had the radio in the car turned up (I looked at the volumne knob), I tried to talk on the phone on my affected ear and couldn't. The imbalnce I wasn't aware of, I just was tired etc..... I do agree that we become more in tune with our bodies, pre-diagnoses I knew there was something seriously wrong within my body however didn't know what and I found I have a hard time expressing my symptoms in a way the doctor would understand what I was feeling, as a medical professional I knew the medical terms for what I was feeling but if you go to the doctor and use thier language, espicially as a nurse, doctors are more likely to figure you a psychosomatic and I knew deep down inside that was what I had likely been labelled as. Try not to "panic" over every little thing you feel just be aware of it and know we all become very aware of our bodies through this experience. Kathleen
