I feel like I barely know this site anymore! 😭 But that's all going to change soon! So in my absence, I have done a lot. (Well...a lot for me anyway!) If Ты know me, Ты know I have a myriad of health issues - both mental and physical. I go to the doctor, hospital, and emergency room quite a lot for a 36 год old. And I've been doing this for at least 6 years или so...
So this past week, I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy scheduled because my family has a history of colon cancer - especially in women. So I needed to get that checked out. This had been in the works for months! I finally get to the hospital for the procedure and everything is going smoothly. Everyone is friendly and I was able to be put out quickly. My boyfriend came with me because they required someone to drive me Главная since I was getting anesthesia. So anyway Далее thing I know, I'm awake but groggy as heck in the procedure room. They wheel me back in to my room and I try to get a hold of my boyfriend who went to get some breakfast.
I have no concept of time and can barely understand my surroundings, so it's a wonder I even know how to contact my boyfriend at all! He arrives maybe 5 минуты later and was shocked I was back already but he and I didn't really think anything of it. We were just waiting for the doctor to talk to us. The doctor comes maybe 10 минуты later and I'm slightly еще alert. He tells me they started to do the endoscopy and colonoscopy, but "had to stop right away" because I had so much Еда in my stomach.
HUH?
I was so confused. At first I thought he was accusing me of not doing the prep right, which I absolutely DID! I even started a день early so I should have had no Еда in my stomach. When he told me that, I was floored. During the prep the день before, I also projectile vomited the Gatorade solution prep I was doing. I had not had a sip of water to drink for 4+ hours. This was all just incredible to me. Then he tells me that my stomach was very inflamed and based on these two findings, he suspects something called gastroparesis.
This is something I had actually heard of before in my research of many illnesses, because SO many people who have POTS (which I have) also have gastroparesis (along with a few other co-morbidities).
In my short research of this disease, I know it is basically stomach paralysis because Еда cannot pass through the stomach at a normal rate - it is abnormally slow. I mean, this kind of makes sense. I have a lot of the symptoms:
Nausea
Vomiting, especially vomiting undigested Еда a few hours after eating
Feeling of fullness even after eating very little
Acid reflux или heartburn
Abdominal pain and/or bloating
Changes in blood sugar levels
Lack of appetite and malnutrition
Weight loss
So I talked to my sister and mother about this, and my sister was under the impression that our maternal grandmother died from ovarian cancer. I already knew about the colorectal cancer, but ovarian?! I looked up the symptoms for ovarian cancer and...long story short, I ended up in the ER because I was having a severe panic attack 😟 The symptoms of gastroparesis and ovarian cancer are almost the exact same, except with ovarian cancer, Ты get abnormal periods. Abnormal periods? I have been experiencing those for 6 months или more. It scared the $*&% out of me honestly.
So I went to the ER, and was there for several hours. I got a vaginal ultrasound and they found some cysts on my ovaries but сказал(-а) that was pretty standard. They didn't seem worried, so neither did I. I will be following up with an OBGYN that they referred me to though.
So...
Tomorrow I have an appointment for what is called a gastric emptying study. I eat a small meal with radioactive material in it (no joking!), and then they track the progress that material makes through my stomach by using MRI and X-ray and other type of machines. The idea is that if so much of the Еда is left in my stomach, I definitely have gastroparesis. My GI doctor is doing this to just make sure, though the notes from my endoscopy had him saying I had gastroparesis (funny how that works! now I go to *another* doctor for even еще confirmation!)
So that's quite a lot for me. A lot of people who have gastroparesis are on feeding tubes because they cannot process solid Еда anymore. That would depress me so much! I know it's "borrowing trouble" (to use my mother's phrase) to assume my case is even severe enough TO get a feeding tube, but it's difficult NOT to be a little bit worried about this.
So anyway, there's that. If it's not one health problem, it's another with me. My health exhausts me and everyone around me. I don't even necessarily hope for this as a diagnosis, so much as just *A* diagnosis. I need answers. I need a plan. I need a treatment plan so I can heal from this.
🙏Please pray for me! 🙏
So this past week, I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy scheduled because my family has a history of colon cancer - especially in women. So I needed to get that checked out. This had been in the works for months! I finally get to the hospital for the procedure and everything is going smoothly. Everyone is friendly and I was able to be put out quickly. My boyfriend came with me because they required someone to drive me Главная since I was getting anesthesia. So anyway Далее thing I know, I'm awake but groggy as heck in the procedure room. They wheel me back in to my room and I try to get a hold of my boyfriend who went to get some breakfast.
I have no concept of time and can barely understand my surroundings, so it's a wonder I even know how to contact my boyfriend at all! He arrives maybe 5 минуты later and was shocked I was back already but he and I didn't really think anything of it. We were just waiting for the doctor to talk to us. The doctor comes maybe 10 минуты later and I'm slightly еще alert. He tells me they started to do the endoscopy and colonoscopy, but "had to stop right away" because I had so much Еда in my stomach.
HUH?
I was so confused. At first I thought he was accusing me of not doing the prep right, which I absolutely DID! I even started a день early so I should have had no Еда in my stomach. When he told me that, I was floored. During the prep the день before, I also projectile vomited the Gatorade solution prep I was doing. I had not had a sip of water to drink for 4+ hours. This was all just incredible to me. Then he tells me that my stomach was very inflamed and based on these two findings, he suspects something called gastroparesis.
This is something I had actually heard of before in my research of many illnesses, because SO many people who have POTS (which I have) also have gastroparesis (along with a few other co-morbidities).
In my short research of this disease, I know it is basically stomach paralysis because Еда cannot pass through the stomach at a normal rate - it is abnormally slow. I mean, this kind of makes sense. I have a lot of the symptoms:
Nausea
Vomiting, especially vomiting undigested Еда a few hours after eating
Feeling of fullness even after eating very little
Acid reflux или heartburn
Abdominal pain and/or bloating
Changes in blood sugar levels
Lack of appetite and malnutrition
Weight loss
So I talked to my sister and mother about this, and my sister was under the impression that our maternal grandmother died from ovarian cancer. I already knew about the colorectal cancer, but ovarian?! I looked up the symptoms for ovarian cancer and...long story short, I ended up in the ER because I was having a severe panic attack 😟 The symptoms of gastroparesis and ovarian cancer are almost the exact same, except with ovarian cancer, Ты get abnormal periods. Abnormal periods? I have been experiencing those for 6 months или more. It scared the $*&% out of me honestly.
So I went to the ER, and was there for several hours. I got a vaginal ultrasound and they found some cysts on my ovaries but сказал(-а) that was pretty standard. They didn't seem worried, so neither did I. I will be following up with an OBGYN that they referred me to though.
So...
Tomorrow I have an appointment for what is called a gastric emptying study. I eat a small meal with radioactive material in it (no joking!), and then they track the progress that material makes through my stomach by using MRI and X-ray and other type of machines. The idea is that if so much of the Еда is left in my stomach, I definitely have gastroparesis. My GI doctor is doing this to just make sure, though the notes from my endoscopy had him saying I had gastroparesis (funny how that works! now I go to *another* doctor for even еще confirmation!)
So that's quite a lot for me. A lot of people who have gastroparesis are on feeding tubes because they cannot process solid Еда anymore. That would depress me so much! I know it's "borrowing trouble" (to use my mother's phrase) to assume my case is even severe enough TO get a feeding tube, but it's difficult NOT to be a little bit worried about this.
So anyway, there's that. If it's not one health problem, it's another with me. My health exhausts me and everyone around me. I don't even necessarily hope for this as a diagnosis, so much as just *A* diagnosis. I need answers. I need a plan. I need a treatment plan so I can heal from this.
🙏Please pray for me! 🙏