WHEN you see a visibly disabled person, you see the wheelchair or maybe a walking stick or some other piece of equipment to help with whatever deficit the disability has given them.

What you most likely won’t see is the pill popping.

At the height of my rehab drug taking (how rock ‘n’ roll), I was taking 13 tablets twice a day. Thankfully that period has passed.

That said, I will most likely have to take pills every day for the rest of my life.

I won’t run through all the history but basically due to complications around my injury I have legs which have gone into spasm.

I have written about the benefits and irritants of these, but they form most of my medication with a few around the periphery.

There is surgery that would place a pump inside my abdomen which would deliver a tiny dose of drugs (therefore no side effects) to my spine via a fibreoptic needle.

It is supposed to be amazing and prevent the need for oral drug taking due to the finesse of spinal delivery.

In order to qualify for surgery, I have to exhaust the pill options.

Recently I have undergone two new medication regimes – both of which are fairly heavy neurological drugs.

One involves a crazy dosage regime which involves upping the doses every five days to a series of 300mg targets until I see the desired effect.

My maths A-Level was my least favourite but I did get a decent grade. However, keeping track of the multiples, the switch from twice-a-day to three times is proving a struggle.

Add to that another new drug which must be taken with food and I’m all over the place.

Not only I am struggling to keep to my doses and timings but the side effects are awful.

The trickiest is the nausea – early morning especially. Another is loss of appetite which initially suited me as I felt too sick to eat.

Chuck in dizziness, sleep issues, hot flushes, sweating and lack of sleep and things began taking their toll.

Sweet tea only sustains a guy my size for so long and I got so weak I had to take time off work to rest/sleep and get hungry enough to eat.

This morning I woke up realising that my ever-increasing dose has increased so much that I have gobbled up all my drugs.

This means an emergency trip to the GP for a top-up.

I am grateful for the continuing efforts my medical team attempt to make my life as a wheelchair user as carefree as possible and it will get better.

But based on the past two weeks I’d just like a day where I could wake up non-sweaty, well-rested and have breakfast without fear of vomiting.

The never-ending search for a peaceful relationship with my post-injury body continues.