Stomach Update!

Today I had my follow-up appointment with my GI specialist. Since everything from my EGD from clean, it's kind of ruled out a few things having to do with my stomach. He decided to have me get blood-work done to check for weird enzymes or low counts, as well as an ultrasound of my gallbladder. Hopefully this will all get done before graduation even thought that only gives us a month or so. Luckily, the blood-work can get done at Lab Corp, so I scheduled that for Thursday. The ultrasound can't get scheduled until my insurance approves it.

He also said that if everything comes back normal from the blood count and the ultrasound, he would start treating me for IBS, which is basically a pill before I eat. After we finished talking he said that "if he had to guess," he would guess it was IBS...even though the doctor I saw before him said that my symptoms didn't sound like IBS, or at the most MILD IBS. *sigh* I just hope this gets figured out before I move because I really don't want to have to explain my symptoms to another doctor again--though at least this time there would be lab work to back me up from other doctors.

We also laughed at how my mother keeps sending me different diseases she reads about that "fit my symptoms." Yeah, that can stop, too.

COME ON STOMACH, LET US FIX YOU!

Healthy Makes You Sick?

As I've mentioned before, I had serious stomach issues over Winter break. I went to two doctors back home in Indiana, and both told me it was probably gastritis or IBS. The second doctor, my parent's physician, prescribed taking Prilosec every day to keep the acid at bay, but there was really nothing he could do about. I'm not one to take pills every day to dull the problem, but when I don't take the pills, it's literally hell.

Basically, my parent's doctor told me to try Prilosec for two weeks and if the symptoms came back, to call him. Well, I did and they did. I called him again, and since I am in Denver now, he told me to start a 2 month regimen of Prilosec, but if things didn't get completely better in a week or so, to go see a doctor here.

Well, again, they didn't, so I made an appointment to see the Wellness Center doctor here at DU. Basically, she said the same things the other two doctors did. She did take more time to explain things to me and printed me off sheets to explain both diseases. She listed some foods that I should avoid because they can cause more acid to build up in the stomach, and here is where my title comes from. She told me to not drink alcohol (psh!), eat chocolate (uhm...), raw vegetables particularly tomatoes, green peppers and onions, go easy on the dairy and the caffeine and the spicy foods, and perhaps try avoiding gluten. WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO EAT!? I am a goddamn vegetarian--you just took out my whole diet there princess. This started making me wonder if becoming a vegetarian is what caused this problem in the first place; eating healthy foods causes too much acid and apparently my stomach can't handle that. EFF.

The doctor at the Wellness Center did give me a referral to a GI specialist if I decided to actually have things checked out. She said since the Prilosec helps, it probably means it is nothing too serious, but just in case. I am going to give it a few weeks, TRYING to avoid the problem foods (even though Valentines was filled with wine, chocolate and tomatos...) and then decide if I want to go to a doctor and have them stick a camera tube down my throat. Ugh. It's just annoying that there isn't a solution and I just have to deal with this--I'm 23; that's a lot of years of Prilosec in my future.

Good news is that the Wellness Center can get me Prilosec FOR FREE instead of $50 for a 2 month supply. That's a good thing to know.

Anyways, send good thoughts to my stomach.