Today is the last day I have to take 10 pills a day! Hurray! (And if you know me, you know I hate taking pills. Blah.)
I haven't really talked about it much, mainly because I don't want to seem like I'm complaining, but I've had a lot of health problems this year. Ranging from a weird skin virus to back injuries to, most recently, a bacteria in my stomach.
For almost 8 months now I've been having intense pain right under my ribcage and horrible nausea off and on. It started out in bouts happening maybe once or twice a week, usually at night. However, it started to get more and more often and more severe.
In February, I came down with Pityriasis Rosea. It's my fun skin rashes I had all over. I thought maybe my stomach problem was a side effect of this virus, so I kind of brushed it off.
And then in May, I went back to a doctor and was diagnosed with Gastritis and a bladder infection. Again I thought the pain and nausea was due to the infection, but again it didn't go away.
So then I went to a specialist. They had my blood drawn. Never get your blood drawn when you haven't eaten anything in 18 hours. I didn't really think about it, and I wasn't hungry. (Food has been my enemy lately).
I felt bad for the poor lady drawing my blood. I felt fine, but after a little bit I started feeling woozy and seeing spots. I was almost certain I was going to pass out. The tech kept yelling, "Don't pass out on me! You're fine! You're not going to pass out!" And I kept saying, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. I think I'm going to pass out. I'm going to pass out. I'm so sorry. I'm usually not like this." And then there was a lady waiting in the front office yelling that she had been waiting far too long and wanted to be taken care of immediately.
You should have been there. It was quite a scene.
I asked for some crackers, but they didn't have any. One of the workers went to the break room and came back with some sun chips. I felt pretty guilty eating a random stranger's lunch. It did help me feel better though! I stopped seeing spots and apologized about a zillion times. The nice lady said not to worry that it happened all the time, usually to men. I think she was just trying to make me feel better.
Next time I will make sure to eat breakfast. Lesson learned.
Anyways, one of the things they tested me for was for the H. Pylori bacteria. The test came back inconclusive meaning I am in between normal and not normal. They told me that if I had been taking antacids or acid blockers (which I had been) it may alter the results.
They are pretty sure that's what I had, so instead of taking me off medicine for 2 weeks to test me again, they prescribed me 2 different kinds of antibiotics and another acid reducer. I had to take 10 pills a day for 2 weeks. I am grateful for modern day medicine. Even though it is a pain to take, I'm glad it's going to help me feel better. It does make me feel bad though that there are people who have to take that many or more pills every day for the rest of their lives.
Darn you H. Pylori for camping out in my stomach! I am crossing my fingers that my stomach problems will go away.
But in the meantime, I am celebrating my last day of taking pills! Wahoo!
Yummy yummy breakfast and late night snack.
It's no fun being sick.
3 comments:
I'm sorry you've been sick! Hope the diagnosis was right and you get all better!
Poor you! Stomach cramps are the worst! Jorel has been dealing with something similar this year, and it's not fun! I hope you get better!
PS- you look really pretty even when you're sick. AND that looks like a nice fuzzy blanket!
So sorry you have not been feeling well...
I definitely am going to tell Paige to read this because when she did her phlebotomy rotation she said that the men were by for the ones that couldn't handle needles and got faint when their blood was drawn. You had an excuse having not eaten - they really should have had crackers or something on hand.
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