Hope hates her guts - file under 'tmi'

Alright - I'm tired of typing this out on emails, so I'm just going to post this here and paste a link from now on. My GI issues, in a nutshell:

3 years ago, started having intermittent debilitating pain in my upper right abdomen;
2 months later I decide I think my gall bladder is causing me pain, and I went to the Dr. (shh - I know) to get referred to surgeon;
6 months of horrible nasty disgusting painful icky testing, several trips to various specialists, fire surgeon, find new surgeon, several more trips to several more specialists with the new surgeon finally culminate with me getting emergency surgery after blacking out in the ER one night - turns out I had sand and pebbles not rocks in my gall bladder, which was why it was tough to see anything on the u/s and why my attacks appeared 'random';
come home from getting surgery only to discover they've left a stone in the duct, and have to go back for what would prove the most painful procedure of them all;
start having bouts of stomach cramping and diarrhea which seems to alleviate when I avoid animal fats and caffeine;
start having random bouts of stomach cramping and diarrhea which seems to have no rhyme or reason in relation to the foods I'm eating...

Which leads us to where we are now, which is, there's no apparent pattern (that we can discern yet) to what is causing my GI issues. Before it was fairly easily controlled with ensuring my fibre intake was sufficient to soak up the fats and bile pooled in my intestines that were making my system go all wonky. It's no longer that easy - it doesn't seem to matter what I do or do not eat whether I'll be spending a day worshipping the porcelain goddess or not. The last couple of months have been particularly difficult, with GI attacks 3-4 times a week. I've missed work on several occasions from it, and for the first time had to reschedule clients recently to accommodate the fact I couldn't be more than 20 feet from a washroom. It's frankly a very crappy situation, pun entirely intended.

So. Now' y'all knows why I hates me guts.

For what it's worth, I *have* seen a Dr. about this. I am currently doing what's called an "elimination diet" where I start with a basic diet of 3-4 items that I *know* or *believe* will not upset my stomach, for 4 days at a time, and gradually add in other foods until we can discern if it's in fact a reaction to a food or foods, or something really fun and special like IBS. Someone recently told me that for her (she has an almost carbon copy experience to mine) they discovered it was nuts and spices.

So, if I already know that I can't eat animal fats (cheese, meat, butter, chocolate, etc.) and I lose spices and nuts to boot, I'm going to really REALLY hate my guts.

Comments

8rmine said…
Wow! I have been there and done some of that. Only to discover that I had developed an allergy to powdered sugar. No more chocolate covered donuts... which frankly I don't miss at all. Good luck and keep us all posted, I know I'd like to know what you discover!

I'll be checking out Cathy's blog more extensively. I'm always up for seeing how someone else tackles a truck load of children. My group is not as close together as her's in ages, well except for my last 4.

Suz~
ticblog said…
powdered sugar? That's one I haven't heard either. If I lose that, then eating chocolate hazelnut mocha butter icing will be like writing my own admission slip to the ER, hey?
8rmine said…
Well I don't know about the ER, but it would have me sick for days! This kind of discovery diet is always so much fun. Good Luck!
Oh geez!! Not again !! Grrrrrrrr !!

I REALLY hope this gets figured out once and for all ...poor girl !
ticblog said…
Again? Still is the operative word lol...
You poor thing...no chocolate or cheese!?! My Grandma has had the same issues for years. She can't eat nuts or seeds. Hopefully you get it all figured out and your 'list' stops there!
Anonymous said…
You described what I went through almost perfectly. I went there too, I had a 1.8cm gallstone, went in when I was pregnant with my third to the ER for many attacks, not fun. A year after getting my gallbladder removed still having some problems even after a few invasive procedures. I see a gastro and had a great surgeon...
Anonymous said…
I hope all is well soon... not fun visiting the porcelian throne that much...

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