My name is Giselle and I live in Bradley Stoke with my husband and my eldest son and our dog Heidi, just 7 months old! My daughter currently lives in Manchester.
I grew up in Buckinghamshire where I started my career in the health service as an admin clerk in Windsor, then joined the civil service until 1993. I married a year later and relocated to Bristol to start a family.
I am half German, being brought up bilingual, by my late German mother. My hobbies include travelling, in particular Germany visiting family. I also enjoy reading and writing to relax. I started writing in the first lockdown of 2019 and have never looked back, I have since published my second book this October.
I joined the centre in January 2013, after being diagnosed with primary progressive MS in November 2012. Since then the centre changed its name to The Brightwell, offering treatments for many more people with other neurological disorders such as fibromyalgia, ME, Parkinson’s, to name a few.
My initial symptoms were muscular leg cramps, causing me balance and walking issues. I started with one to one physiotherapy and joined the group classes which I highly benefited from. During this time I did my own research, discovering many pain coping mechanisms, after realising that prescribed medication caused me too many side effects. Hence, I take alternative natural products, which agree far better with me, with less harmful toxins in them. These include Vitamin D3, turmeric capsules and more recently lion’s mane supplement for better focus and less brain fog. I must stress, however that everyone is unique, one size does not fit all. I also enjoy yoga for mindfulness and other exercises for improved strength and wellbeing.
In 2014 I started weekly hyperbaric oxygen therapy at the Brightwell which keeps me reasonably mobile and I would recommend to anyone to try it out for themselves. I find it helps me with both fatigue and balance issues.
One reason I love attending the Centre is for the social aspect it provides. I have made many good friends there and look forward to enjoying a cuppa and something yummy from the Brightwell Café, Paula and her team of Café Volunteers are absolutely fabulous.
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