Part Eight ~ Weight Loss/Food/Pain/Gastro/Gyno
My Gasto appointment went well, very nice woman, very understanding. Because yes, I cried. It was just so hard to talk about, it was like reliving every ounce of pain and agony and no one listening to me. Yes, I was still in pain, I had weak, tired intestines, my tailbone pain still haunted me, my burning pain was still there, and my "ovary" pain. There was really nothing she could do for me, I had tried all of the prescriptions she wanted me to, and I had adverse reactions to them. She also suggested peppermint pills and probiotics. Nope. Couldn't do those. She told me to come back after letting my intestines heal. She didn't feel that the mysterious/ovary pain had anything to do with my intestines, but wanted to keep an eye on me. She did suggest a probiotic that she said didn't bother anyone. Guess what? It bothered me.
So I resorted to learning all I could about getting probiotics through food and drink. I started a notebook of my daily ongoings with my diet. I still couldn't eat a whole lot. You can't go from eating nothing to pigging out. At my worst, I ate 600-650 calories per day. I was up to 1100 at this point. I was proud of myself. It was still damn hard to swallow the food down, but I made myself do it, I needed the nutrition. I'd lost 30 lbs and it was dropping off fast which alarmed me. The doctors all said there was nothing wrong with that, to just go with it since I was overweight anyway. But I know my body, and it wasn't dealing with the weight loss well. I could just feel it.
This became my complete and total obsession. This black composition notebook that was leftover from the kids high school days was one of the most healing properties I had at my disposal. It was therapeutic, and it kept me on track. It was the one thing I could concentrate on for the first time in months. All the time I was in pain; I didn't hold many conversations, I didn't read, didn't write, the tv was on but it was just white noise to me. I could barely function. I just paced around the house crying. The rare times I could suck it up and deal with the pain for a few minutes, I'd scroll through social media, but I didn't ever participate or post. I liked instagram for that reason. It was mindless, and all I had to do was scroll, or hit the heart. I didn't have to interact. Even though I didn't use it much, my phone was in my hand at all times. I felt safe carrying it around. Even though my mom was right there with me. It was a safety net of sorts.
One thing I haven't mentioned, this was all happening during the horrible flu outbreak, where ordinarily healthy people were dying left and right and it was all the news would report on for months. Here I was trying to stay alive, and there was this horrible flu bug out there. I didn't leave the house ever, unless I had a doc appointment. And when I did venture out, I wore a mask. I was so afraid with my weakened immune system that I would be a goner if I got the flu. This was added stress and anxiety in my life as if I wasn't dealing with enough. My mom would run to the store when someone else was home with me, I couldn't be left alone. Or we ordered groceries to be delivered to the house. My nightly routine with six of us living in the house, was to hit up every doorknob, light switch, the bathroom, and kitchen with bleach wipes just in case. I did everything I could to prevent getting the flu.
My ultrasound went well, everything was fine and measured as it should. Pap came back normal. So the ovary pain, wasn't my ovary as my original primary care physician thought back in the fall, it was something else. I was talked to about not getting in sooner with any kind of pain. All I could do was cry. I was trying to get in for months with the insurance issues, then I got sick so I didn't pursue it as I should have. But with my intestinal situation, who would want to go in for a pelvic exam? We also discussed the fact that I have Mittelschmerz, it's a horrid pain I get every few weeks when I ovulate. That's just my norm, and I have to deal with it. It's like someone stabs my lower right quadrant and then pain shoots down my right leg, and burns very much like a Charlie Horse. It only lasts a few minutes and could feel achy for a day or two after. If you're ever around me when it happens, I might double over and/or breath funny, or limp around the room. Then I'll be fine when the initial pain passes.
When I had my follow up with Urology, I told him how my ovary pain wasn't ovary pain, it was still a mystery. He set me up for an ultrasound just to check things out on his end. My kidneys, spleen and bladder all checked out okay. And another urine test showed my kind of normal. All was well, I went back every six months to him until this year, now I visit annually.
I contacted Gastro and told her about all the tests and how I still had the mystery pain. She ordered a colonoscopy. I flipped out. I was terrified. There was no way anyone was going up in there after all the trauma it had been through. So once my stools were mucus and blood free, which took months! She ordered a small bowel series - HBV Fluoro. I drank a crap ton of white chalky liquid while they took life X-rays of my belly, and small intestines, and we checked out my appendix while we were there on the x-ray. Mom took me to that appointment since Rich was still in Ohio. Everything checked out fine as far as what we were looking for, although I do have a large diverticulum in my duodenum. Which is interesting, since I've had pain in that area for 18 years now. The docs all those years said it was IBS pain. But I know how to manage it after all these years. So whatever.
The day after the barium was dreadful. My large intestines didn't handle it well. I was fighting it backing up inside of me. Boy was that painful, like the worst constipation ever! Took 48 hours to work that nasty stuff out, and it comes out the same color it goes in. White.
Gastro doc did blood work on me to test for food allergies, cancers, and other things like deficiencies. Everything came back fine, however it was confirmed that I have a slight egg allergy - the the whites only. No surprise it runs in the family, and explains a few things that had me boggled with my diet.
Side note: This past spring I went to make my annual appointment with my new gynecologist, only to find out the office closed. I'm months behind, but knowing we were moving I didn't seek out a new one. I'm on the lookout for one now.
So everything checked out with Urology, Gyno, and Gastro... what next?
So I resorted to learning all I could about getting probiotics through food and drink. I started a notebook of my daily ongoings with my diet. I still couldn't eat a whole lot. You can't go from eating nothing to pigging out. At my worst, I ate 600-650 calories per day. I was up to 1100 at this point. I was proud of myself. It was still damn hard to swallow the food down, but I made myself do it, I needed the nutrition. I'd lost 30 lbs and it was dropping off fast which alarmed me. The doctors all said there was nothing wrong with that, to just go with it since I was overweight anyway. But I know my body, and it wasn't dealing with the weight loss well. I could just feel it.
This became my complete and total obsession. This black composition notebook that was leftover from the kids high school days was one of the most healing properties I had at my disposal. It was therapeutic, and it kept me on track. It was the one thing I could concentrate on for the first time in months. All the time I was in pain; I didn't hold many conversations, I didn't read, didn't write, the tv was on but it was just white noise to me. I could barely function. I just paced around the house crying. The rare times I could suck it up and deal with the pain for a few minutes, I'd scroll through social media, but I didn't ever participate or post. I liked instagram for that reason. It was mindless, and all I had to do was scroll, or hit the heart. I didn't have to interact. Even though I didn't use it much, my phone was in my hand at all times. I felt safe carrying it around. Even though my mom was right there with me. It was a safety net of sorts.
One thing I haven't mentioned, this was all happening during the horrible flu outbreak, where ordinarily healthy people were dying left and right and it was all the news would report on for months. Here I was trying to stay alive, and there was this horrible flu bug out there. I didn't leave the house ever, unless I had a doc appointment. And when I did venture out, I wore a mask. I was so afraid with my weakened immune system that I would be a goner if I got the flu. This was added stress and anxiety in my life as if I wasn't dealing with enough. My mom would run to the store when someone else was home with me, I couldn't be left alone. Or we ordered groceries to be delivered to the house. My nightly routine with six of us living in the house, was to hit up every doorknob, light switch, the bathroom, and kitchen with bleach wipes just in case. I did everything I could to prevent getting the flu.
My ultrasound went well, everything was fine and measured as it should. Pap came back normal. So the ovary pain, wasn't my ovary as my original primary care physician thought back in the fall, it was something else. I was talked to about not getting in sooner with any kind of pain. All I could do was cry. I was trying to get in for months with the insurance issues, then I got sick so I didn't pursue it as I should have. But with my intestinal situation, who would want to go in for a pelvic exam? We also discussed the fact that I have Mittelschmerz, it's a horrid pain I get every few weeks when I ovulate. That's just my norm, and I have to deal with it. It's like someone stabs my lower right quadrant and then pain shoots down my right leg, and burns very much like a Charlie Horse. It only lasts a few minutes and could feel achy for a day or two after. If you're ever around me when it happens, I might double over and/or breath funny, or limp around the room. Then I'll be fine when the initial pain passes.
When I had my follow up with Urology, I told him how my ovary pain wasn't ovary pain, it was still a mystery. He set me up for an ultrasound just to check things out on his end. My kidneys, spleen and bladder all checked out okay. And another urine test showed my kind of normal. All was well, I went back every six months to him until this year, now I visit annually.
I contacted Gastro and told her about all the tests and how I still had the mystery pain. She ordered a colonoscopy. I flipped out. I was terrified. There was no way anyone was going up in there after all the trauma it had been through. So once my stools were mucus and blood free, which took months! She ordered a small bowel series - HBV Fluoro. I drank a crap ton of white chalky liquid while they took life X-rays of my belly, and small intestines, and we checked out my appendix while we were there on the x-ray. Mom took me to that appointment since Rich was still in Ohio. Everything checked out fine as far as what we were looking for, although I do have a large diverticulum in my duodenum. Which is interesting, since I've had pain in that area for 18 years now. The docs all those years said it was IBS pain. But I know how to manage it after all these years. So whatever.
The day after the barium was dreadful. My large intestines didn't handle it well. I was fighting it backing up inside of me. Boy was that painful, like the worst constipation ever! Took 48 hours to work that nasty stuff out, and it comes out the same color it goes in. White.
Gastro doc did blood work on me to test for food allergies, cancers, and other things like deficiencies. Everything came back fine, however it was confirmed that I have a slight egg allergy - the the whites only. No surprise it runs in the family, and explains a few things that had me boggled with my diet.
Side note: This past spring I went to make my annual appointment with my new gynecologist, only to find out the office closed. I'm months behind, but knowing we were moving I didn't seek out a new one. I'm on the lookout for one now.
So everything checked out with Urology, Gyno, and Gastro... what next?
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