Nicola was diagnosed with diffuse systemic sclerosis and Rayanud’s in 1997. Given a prognosis of 15 months, she was advised to give up her dream of becoming a barrister. Stubborn Nicola became a practicing barrister in March 2004. Nicola has worked as a patient advocate for the National Health Service, the European Medicines Agency, Eurordis, and the FESCA World Scleroderma Day event. When not advocating, she enjoys relaxing with her dogs in Southport, England.
I survived the holidays! As fellow patients living with chronic, degenerative, rare diseases know all too well, there is no holiday from our daily myriad symptoms. The holidays can be…
During Scleroderma Awareness month in June, the first national U.K. guidelines for the treatment of scleroderma (systemic sclerosis) were published in the international journal of Rheumatology, as well as on the British Society for Rheumatology…
Expert specialist centers are essential requirements in ensuring for the best care and treatment of scleroderma patients, as well as for the rare disease patient in general. The experience, knowledge, and understanding of a medical specialist…
Well, unless you had a month away from your internet connection, you probably know that June was Scleroderma Awareness Month, with World Scleroderma Day highlighting the end of the month on the 29th. However,…
Scleroderma is a systemic disease that can affect the entire body — the treatment of which requires a multidisciplinary approach in medical care, best provided by an expert specialist centre. As has been…
It is finally here! Having counted down the days and months since the spring, TODAY is finally World Scleroderma Day. To read my post ‘June is Scleroderma Awareness Month,’ click …
DAY 28 Scleroderma Awareness Month: Complications, Skin Discoloration, Soft Tissue Damage As discussed in the first few days of Scleroderma Awareness Month, systemic scleroderma can affect any part of the body. See…
DAY 27 Scleroderma Awareness Month: TELANGIECTASIA Telangiectasia are another symptom of Scleroderma, which although not life threatening as such, can be extremely distressing to the patient due to the change in appearance…
Today’s image and post focuses on the lower gastro-intestinal tract. DAY 11 Scleroderma Awareness Month focused on the gastro-intestinal tract in general. To read about this, click here. DAY 21…
Pain is a universal symptom with disease and illness, and especially so with the autoimmune arthritic conditions. I cannot remember the last day whereby I did not have any pain. As…
Digital ulcers are more often than not a scleroderma patient’s nemesis. They used to be extremely troublesome for me, until I started taking bosentan continuously in autumn 2012. This requires me to…