Author: nautar

Blog, Medicine and Science, Neuroplasticity - using it to beat chronic pain

How to Ignore Chronic Pain and Hack your brain to beat it. A step-by-step guide.

I wrote this up for a friend recently. And as some of you who follow me know, I’m writing a book about my experiences through cancer, and the science behind the mentality which kept me going. But I realised recently that I hadn’t written up what I wished I did have when I was suffering most from chronic pain… A step-by-step guide which showed HOW you could beat this back. The thing is – when you have something like chronic pain… everyone around you has suggestions. Eeryone suddenly becomes an expert. When you’re already so drained, physically and emotionally, from […]

Blog, Humour In Hospital

Dad Jokes!

During my time in hospital, and the months, years now of near isolation afterwards, my mum was the heart and head of my whole treatment. Keeping me safe, making sure I was comfortable and never alone, coordinating EVERYTHING that came with the cancer treatment, all while working, completing her MBA and keeping the house in order too (I still don’t know how she did it)… all those things.  But if she was the heart, Dad was the soul of my cancer “battle”. He kept me smiling, organized surprises and events, just him being the larrikin, the easy going person he is […]

Blog

The Ultimate Cannulation and Venepuncture Guide!

Last post:                                      My Story:                                          Next One: Needles are a part of medicine. Unfortunately, despite having been discovered centuries ago, there is still no more elegant way of accessing your blood than stabbing a pointy thing through your skin – especially since Theranos turned out to be a huge bust ). An interesting story of how a startup that raised $9billion promising to avoid having to prick skin […]

Blog

Hallucinations

 Last Post                                     My Story:                                         Next One: Your mind is a powerful thing.   It’s your personality, your spirit, it’s every aspect on how you view the world.   It’s you.   It’s no surprise, therefore, that when your   mind gets affected by something and you lose control of yourself, it is often a torturous, traumatic experience.   During my treatment, I had a brush with that.    I developed […]

Inspiration/Motivation/Help, Medicine and Science

Why and How are Doctors and Medical Students so Depressed? And What Can WE Do About it?

The day I got into medicine, was the greatest day of my life.  I’m sure many medical students and doctors would tell you the exact same thing… For me it was personal.  I’d always wanted to study medicine. What better job was there? You could save lives and live in relative comfort your entire life. I’d get to emulate my childhood hero growing up, Captain Hawkeye Pierce from M.A.S.H.  But after leukaemia struck my life… it became personal.  I wanted to help people as I’d been helped. It was my doctor’s words; that “The Good News Is You’re 17 and […]

Inspiration/Motivation/Help

Cancer For A THIRD Time. When Will It Learn, IT CAN’T MESS WITH ME!

So… what’s been going on you ask? What’s with that chemo drug you were talking about on Facebook? I thought you said it wasn’t for cancer… and now you posted this? Well, let me explain. Recently I started a “chemotherapy” drug, but not for cancer. It’s called rituximab  – and it’s not only in brackets because it’s technically, in my case, not a chemotherapy, as it’s not “A chemical agent used in the treatment of cancers” (it was given for another condition I have – a side effect of my bone marrow transplant; chronic graft versus host disease. I’ll explain […]

Inspiration/Motivation/Help

How to build self confidence and become the happiest version of yourself!

I was diagnosed with leukemia at 17 and given a 10, maybe 20 percent, chance of living. And I was devastated… as any human being would be. But after a while I started to dislike that feeling. The constant depression. The tears. The gut-clenching dread. I wanted this to all be over. I wanted a way out of the hole that I’d found myself in. But with chemotherapy, uncertainty, and probable death in my future, there wasn’t much to really look forward to. In the end, what ended up helping me most wasn’t this spark of inspiration or willpower or bravery after watching some […]

Inspiration/Motivation/Help

Your Mind is the best way to Lose Weight and Get Fit. Not crazy, unsustainable, diets (or bootcamps!)

I talked about this topic on radio recently. Have a listen to it if you want (it’s at the bottom) Heaps of people around me have been saying how much thinner and healthier I’ve started looking, and almost all of them have been asking me how or what I was eating or doing to get there… a few even asked if everything was okay… healthwise. Well, no, I’m totally fine, and I did mean to lose this weight.  To be honest though… it wasn’t really that hard at all. Everyone talks about how they can’t stay on a diet and […]

Blog, Health Challenges and their Fixes

My Social Enterprise – How it’s going to save HUNDREDS of thousands of lives. Get To Sleep Easy!

My life changed a few years ago when I was told, “Nikhil, the good news is you’re 17 and you have leukemia, but the bad news is you’re 17… and you have leukemia.” Then I asked him the one question every cancer patient dreads: “What are my chances?” He looked at me, sighed and said, “10-20 percent that you’ll live the next five years.” Somehow, I got through that. But it did get close. Quite a few times actually. And now that I’m a medical student and cancer researcher, I can appreciate just how close “close” actually was. During my treatment, I suffered […]

Blog, Inspiration/Motivation/Help

Cancer Patient Plays Well, and Wins Big For Charity.

Last post:                                     My Story:                                         Next One Recently, I was given some pretty bad news. I’ve got bronchiolitis obliterans, a lung manifesation of the graft versus host disease that plagues me after my bone marrow transplant. Essentially, it’s my donor’s immune system (in bone marrow transplants, you inherit the blood making cells of your donor, which includes their white blood cells) attacking me. This time though, in the lungs. […]