Even though I'm a doctor, I dismissed my forgetfulness as just stress. But then it turned out to be something much more sinister By Adrian Monti Published: 12:12 BST, 8 August 2024 | Updated: 12:15 BST, 8 August 2024 e-mail View comments Like any GP, Dr Rob Lambourn would spend most of his working day listening to his patients describing their symptoms as he tried to diagnose what was wrong with them. Yet when it came to his own health, he was perhaps not always so diligent.
In fact he dismissed his own symptoms, such as forgetfulness and loss of fine control of his fingers, until they came to a head one day at work – and he was later diagnosed with a rare neurological condition which tragically shortens his life expectancy. 'I had a funny turn, my computer screen just looked like gobbledygook' says Dr Rob Lambourn As Rob, who had been a GP for 30 years, recalls: ‘Between seeing patients I suddenly had a funny turn. ‘My computer screen looked as if it was showing gobbledygook – it was just a page full of equations.
But I had other patients waiting to be seen, so I carried on and tried not to worry about it. ‘Then I had to order a chest X-ray for someone over the phone – which is a simple task and something I’d done countless times before, but I could not remember how to do it.’ Rob, 64, runs the practice in Wooler, Northumberland with his wife Liz, 50, who is also a GP.
He called her in from her next-door room to help. ‘I said to Liz I couldn’t remember ho.