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She was diagnosed ten years ago with having LPHS and went through varying degrees of pain from very mild to severe for the first six years.  She was taking pethadeine injections in the house, on the last two years, administered by her husband, Colin, who was trained by a nurse how to do it properly.  She was in and out of the hospital constantly and suffered seizures as a side-effect of the contstant administration of the strong opiet drugs. 

At first she was prescribed Morpheine.  Although a strong and usually effective drug, in some people, Morpheine makes the kidney contract causing more pain.  Once this was discovered she was prescribed with Pethadeine - which suited the purposes better.  But only after consultations with two psychitrists, as the doctors had to be sure the pain wasn't psychological, as there is a very fine line between physical and psychological pain, did the doctors agree to prescribe Pethadeine.  But as she got used to the pethadeine it took stronger doses, to be effective and started causing tissue damage.  Her veins started to collapse which meant she was running out of places to have the Pethadeine administered IV. 

Margaret heard about a Kidney auto-transplant which meant surgery.  The process was to take the kidney from the back and place it at the front of her groin  and cutting off the nerves.  She decided she had no alternative other than to take the surgery, which wasn't taken lightly by doctors.  Margaret went through the operation and since then has had no more pain that can be connected to LPHS.  The hematuria is still there but is causing no noticeable problems.

Through internet forums and e-mail she met others with LPHS and, therefore, found it easier to cope with her illness.  With a couple of the people she met, who had by now become her friends, Co-founded the first LPHS International Club on Yahoo!. Margaret joined and became a founder, helping to research and provide support to other members with LPHS.  

Margaret is a strong member of the foundation and is always willing to help and give support and adivise.