I’m not much of a complainer when it comes to things like my health. I get over things pretty quickly, so there is really no need to bitch too much about it. But, I’m starting to get pissed off at myself because of the things going on inside my body.
I’ve had stomach problems for almost ten years now, and i always attributed it to stress or having a sensitive stomach. I never really thought too much about it or even considered it might be something serious. However, my symptoms have been intensifying over the last couple of years, and it had me more than a little concerned. I’ll admit that I’ve been something of a hypochondriac, not because I wanted attention, but because I kind of just wanted to know what the hell was wrong with me. It started out with stomach discomfort coupled with a lack of desire to eat. I’d go for several days without eating simply because I wasn’t hungry. My parents actually thought I was developing an eating disorder without realizing something more serious may have been going on. In the last few years, the symptoms have come to include spontaneous vomiting, long-term bouts of nausea, heartburn, abdominal pain, and fatigue, as well as some lower G.I. discomfort.
I went to a gastrointerologist and had both a lower and upper G.I. scope to see if the problem was an ulcer somewhere. Afterward, the doctor said that I, and I quote, “Have a pretty colon.” He did blood labs and tissue biopsies and concluded that I was, as he described, “abnormally healthy” stating that I had the kind of gastrointestinal tract to which he would compare others. I was both pleased and frustrated to learn this. Glad that I was healthy, but really wondering if all these symptoms were in my head, and it really was just stress causing me to have all these ailments.
But then, I had the most terrifying symptom of all. I had some sort of episode in which I had horrible upper abdominal pains that radiated down into my lower abdomen, up into my chest, and beck through my spine. It literally felt as though I were being stabbed. I’m pretty familiar with pain, but this was some of the worse pains I’ve ever felt in my life. I’ve had three so far, and they are excruciating. I had no idea what had caused it, until my mother said that it sounded like I was having a gallbladder attack.
Gallbladder attacks occur when gallstones (crystallized bile) obstructs the bile ducts in the gallbladder, resulting in terrible pains in the abdomen. It can (in some cases) cause vomiting, stomach discomfort or pain, loss of appetite, heartburn, and other gastrointestinal problems. If I have gallstones, this would explain all of these problems. Gallstones run in my family, as my mother, grandmother, and several aunts have had them. I will be having an ultrasound and a HIDA scan next week to determine whether or not this is the actual cause for all of my stomach problems, and to prove I’m not just way too stressed or a raging hypochondriac. If there are gallstones, I will be having the organ removed as soon as possible. There is no way I’m going to live with that kind of pain for as long as my mother did, simply because she was more afraid of surgery than she was the gallstones. Not me. This bitch is coming out.
Ah, validation. Updates to be posted.
