Feeling in my Gut

As I wrote on Friday, eating had become a bit of a struggle. Bummer. 

Soap Box

Gross? Probably. But, I feel like it's my job to remove some stigma from digestive issues. What I go through is what a lot of people go through but we can't or won't talk about it because it's "gross." 

Well, it should be talked about and understood.

The Gross Part

Let's get all caught up, shall we? 

About a four weeks ago, I had a bit of heartburn or something. It turned into raging reflux – RAGING REFLUX – where I could feel the back of my throat burning and could rub the spot with my tongue. Ouch.

I felt a lot of pressure at the top of my stomach – the same thing I had when my ulcer was healing. Ok, assumed ulcer. Not like I got antibiotics for it, I got “keep a stiff upper lip and some Pepcid.” Ulcers are caused mostly by bacteria coming up the track.

Then I had horrible pain in my right side. I normally have pressure there, up against my ribs. This was pretty bad. Then my entire colon exploded.

Ok, not really. It felt like it, though. And let’s be specific here, ok. SPECIFIC. Because the next time someone is like, “Oh, upset tummy?” I want you to point them to this.

I had liquid diarrhea for three days. Then constipation – you know, fecal impacted poops. Nothing was moving. With this, however, comes the colon trying to move things and it sort of feels like your colon just exploded. Forget any urge to poop, it’s just horrible, gut-curling pain.

Oh, is that your tummy rumbling? Giggle.

Nope, that’s type one on the Bristol Stool Chart trying to get the @#$ out. What does type 1 do? Well, it’s little pellet poops, like rabbit poops.

Doctor Rant - Again

I have really been not going to my special doctor – the one who makes you take supplements – because I get a lot of inadvertent pressure to go to “real” doctors.

Just to note, my doctor also prescripts drugs but he is holistic in his approach and examines test results, diet, past traumas, all that.  

The concept was I should see a Gastroenterologist (GI) which I put off like the plague - like I do for all doctor visits. 

I don’t like doctors because they tell me to just wait and see if everything gets better. They tend to dismiss those pesky 15 years of my life. They like to tell me I’m pretty and maybe I need to relax. Maybe I just need to take an Advil. They like to make me hunt them down for results of tests and tell me, “everything is fine” and try to make it ok for me to live in misery. The bloating isn't real, they say, it’s just my poor body image. The diarrhea, well, it can’t be that bad. Lyme? Oh, everyone gets that, no big deal. I once even had a doctor who told me the brutal tests he could put me through if I really thought I had a problem.

The Results

I went back to the doctor who isn't a specialist. I actually really went back to him because I was getting some thrush symptoms.

Guess who has an awesome fungal gut infection? 

This girl! 

It causes ulcers, bad acid stuff, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, lack of appetite. . .I mentioned my weight loss but he pointed out I only lost about 9lbs since my last visit in December. 

I got medication and things are already starting to get . . .better? Let’s just say, killing off a colony of anything in your insides is not a pleasant event. He also gave me some supplements to help repair the damage and sooth my inners.

He was also pretty concerned about the liver situation (check out Don’t WebMD That: Part 2) and I would have brought my labs but I couldn't find them and/or gave up on life. I will be getting him a copy – it was nice that he brought up my last blood test he took to show me nothing had been out of short but the liver doesn't just become inflamed. He wants to know why. The other doctor shut me up by scheduling a follow-up ultrasound.

So, I’m just avoiding being dehydrated and fending off being exhausted. And really wondering why we have Scott Toilet Paper‎ and not Charmin. Or that Quilted Northern stuff. SERIOUSLY.

Conclusion

And, yes, this is why I don’t eat a lot of food offered to me. I don’t know what’s in it and this could be the result.