Month: August 2016

My past experience has taught me to not give up when it comes to trying to find a diagnosis. Because when you know for yourself that your symptoms are abnormal, you have to get to the root cause of it. There was a time when I was told that I could be imagining pain, even though not a single scan came out “normal”. My joints were off position and doctors told me it “shouldn’t” hurt. I kept fighting, saw more doctors, I wanted a diagnosis. I wasn’t even expecting a solution. “Just tell me what the F*** is wrong with me goddamit” was what ran through my mind each time I saw a doctor who thought I was too young to be in pain at 19/20/21/22.

No one is ever too young to be in pain. Just saying.

All it took was ONE sensible and patient doctor (well, and a couple of non-invasive procedures that were “supposed” to fix me which worsened my condition) to sit with me hear me out, put all the scattered pieces of my medical history and scans together and we had closure. I am yet to figure out if I was more relieved about having a diagnosis or worried about my future which seemed terribly bleak. I think the first is more likely to be true.

Keeping my past experience in mind, and knowing that I am generally rather aware around my body, I don’t plan on giving up anytime soon. I’ll be patient but I will be persistent in finding a way to help myself. One big difference between then and now is that I don’t feel as if my body is holding me hostage anymore or that life must turn out a certain way, one which is more acceptable in the society we live in. These days, I believe in my own journey and trust that life will turn out perfectly as long as I have my priorities right and remember that I am on the same team as my overall health.

This entire process of trying to find a diagnosis and thus a more specific treatment is  undoubtedly uncomfortable and tiring. There are clear symptoms and I’m suffering  –  both my Ayurveda consultant and Naturopath know so very well. All this said, I can’t be more happy that the MRI Enterology came out clear – what that means is that my major organs are functioning well. After some 7 years of taking daily medications,  I’ve been worried sick about my poor liver – sometimes I wonder how it would compare next to a liver of an alcoholic. Anyway, jokes aside, clear MRI = more information. Information that just needs to be decoded further.

Next step : I’ve got a SIBO (Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth) test in a couple of weeks. As gross as it might sound to some of you out there, trust me, it’s not. If it sounds sick, I’d suggest you stop reading my further posts – especially if my test turns out SIBO positive and write more :) Quite a few of my symptoms are pointing towards it at the moment but hey, I don’t know yet so I’ll wait. I’m going to skip the details of SIBO for now but you might want to do a quick Google search to get an idea of what I’m referring to. Can it be healed? Yes, over a very long period of time; some 2-5 years. Treatment starts with a dose of antibiotics to eradicate the bacteria, and then continues with more natural supplements and a SIBO-friendly diet which eseentially, allows your gut to slowly heal.

I would’ve liked to be tested earlier but it turns out that the barium sulphate in my body has to be completely washed out before the test. Hence, some 14 days or so of waiting. The result should take about a week after that, which then would mean even more information and hopefully, a diagnosis, which allows my treatment to start sooner.

Alright, that’s all for now.

I hope everyone’s having a good week!

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Barium sulphate had a few side effects which are still bothering me two days later – it gave me a terrible diarrhoea + really deep abdominal pain which I thought could’ve gotten me admitted + nausea + fever + weakness —  as if all the current symptoms I’m dealing with weren’t enough!

My gastroenterologist also put me on two new medications – one for the upper part of your entire digestive system (Motitlium) and one for lower (Resolor). Now, to make things more complicated, I did not respond too well to the Motitlium. One dose down and I developed a throbbing headache and had a major episode of palpitations.

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