Listen and Respond

For the first time in a while, I am listening to my body. I mean really listening. Not psycho-analyzing, not obsessing, not making assumptions, but really listening to what is happening with it. And I made a revelation.

Doc had it figured out before I did. My stomach was not happy with me.

No joke, when I was having a really rough time two weeks ago (ready my earlier posts if you want to follow the drama of my emotional detox with my liver) Doc mentioned to me that we might want to investigate some issues with my stomach. I told myself at the time that it wasn't my stomach it was plain and simple just my liver and gallbladder causing all the trouble.

I could not have been more wrong!

The gallbladder lady suggested it was my thyroid, and while I still believe that might be playing in to things, I decided I would pay attention to my body this last week and see what I noticed. Sure, there were signs of thyroid problems (PS should have the test results back next week!), but what I noticed more than anything was the difficult time I was having with my stomach. Pain, nausea, waking up or staying up until the hour of the night the stomach is most active (3am, in case you were wondering), gnawing feelings, etc, etc. These things happened most frequently after I took my Phos drops (for GB pain, which I kept thinking I was having- now I'm not sure if that's what it really was), and always right after finishing a meal and taking supplements.

I took action.

First, I added in a digestive enzyme supplement. This was important to help break down the food. Then I decided I needed to add in something to heal the stomach and reduce the inflammation- in comes aloe vera. Those seemed to cut the symptoms down to a dull roar, but still I felt nauseous and sick after eating.

A light bulb went on in my head Saturday morning.

I remembered when I had ulcer-like symptoms in the past I had successful helped those issues by taking a Glutamine supplement. This supplement helps to heal the lining of the stomach and strengthen it. Based on my symptoms, there was clearly some strengthening needed! Go figure, the first meal I took it with was the first meal in weeks that I didn't have pain or nausea. Thank goodness, because I had a girls weekend planned and wanted to be fully functional so I could have a good time! It worked!

So, while waiting for my test results to come back I'm still listening. My body is constantly telling me things in small subtle ways. I'm listening. What I heard today- my body is not a fan of prescription allergy medicine. Looks like we need to chat with my allergist to see if I can skip taking meds before my allergy shots. If not, I think the allergy shots are going to have to be suspended for a while. Right now, feeling functional is the most important thing of all! I have homeopathic remedies that keep the allergies enough under control for now!

Ugh

3 hours of sleep and a full day of work ahead. Ugh.

I really want to rip that darn GB out after last night! Pain and nausea started right before bed and as soon as I laid down it got worse and worse until I finally got up. Took some detox juice to help and took a shower. Pain lessened slightly so I thought I might be in the clear. Nope, laid down for about 5 minutes before I realized it wasn't going to work. Sat up and pissed around on the internet, did a tarot reading for fun (something with my liver and gallbladder is deceiving me or is going to deceive me in the near future- great! not.), and finally tried to lay back down around 2:30. Still enough pain that I couldn't sleep. Drank some apple juice with stone dissolving stuff, laid back down and waited for the pain to subside.

Think it was about 3 am before I finally was pain free enough to fall asleep. And the most annoying thing is that in the grand scheme of GB attacks, it was a small one with only localized pain and pressure right at the GB! Most attacks spread around my whole right side and are really severe, but this one wasn't.

I'm pissed. I'm frustrated. And yes, I'm really whiny about it right now. Wondering how much longer I can fight this fight. But in my heart I worry that there is something bigger going on with my liver, and not even removal of my GB (despite my best efforts to rescue it these past 2 years) will get the pain and health problems to stop. I've been sick forever. Heck, I took allergy medicine DAILY for almost 20 years. That's a lot of wear and tear on my liver... not to mention the millions of other drugs I took for various other conditions or compounded conditions from my allergies.

My biggest fear? My body is failing at the young age of 31 and I won't survive to see my 35th birthday.

This, folks, is what happens when you have long term chronic pain. But I have to keep hope alive. I did before and we finally found the right solution to a chronic pain problem after lots of trial and error. I have to keep hope alive. The solution is out there- I just haven't found it yet.

Trying out some blood tests!

Verdict is...

Let's get those tests done!

Did I ever mention that I work at a wonderful office for health and wellness? As soon as I had a chat with Doc he gave me the test kit to get my bloodwork done to see if there is, indeed, a problem with my thyroid or adrenals or other hormone imbalances that might be causing my body to be a complete and total wreck.

He's having me do a combo test for women using both blood and saliva. I do the kit at home and mail it in and should have my test results back in a few weeks.

The saliva test should be simple to do, but I'm a bit freaked out having to prick my finger for the blood test. I'm going to try to get up earlier enough to do the testing tomorrow morning, otherwise I'll wait until Saturday. Really want to get this figured out so I can get on the right supplement program and get my body back in balance! I'm too young to be this sick, and sick of being sick!

Fingers crossed I get some answers!

The Thyroid Connection?

When I'm not feeling 100% I tend to have a million thoughts running through my head at all times psychoanalyzing every minute symptom. Not feeling well for the majority of last week and now being on the recovery, I am obsessing (to put it lightly) about the possibility that my gallbladder problems might be related to an undiagnosed thyroid condition.

But, I don't know.

It seems so plausible, it seems so within reason that there would be a connection. But when I am still having discomfort it's hard to think about it from a rational point of view. Take for example today, I ate a healthy lunch if nourishing foods and felt pain in my liver and gallbladder for HOURS afterwards. It's finally started to subside thanks to some apricots and some GB stone dissolving supplements, but it still aches a bit and it's really pissing me off.

Then I psychoanalyze every morsel I put in my mouth today. Admittedly, I overate at lunch. Yup, even though it was healthy food, I know I overate. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. My lunch was lovely and tasty, but it was probably the equivalent of a meal and a half- roasted chicken breast, rice with homemade curried sweet potatoes with ginger and lemon (these taste amazing!), and small salad of mixed greens and little bit of guacamole. And before I ate that I was snacking on chips and guacamole and ate an apple.

Ummmm, thyroid condition or not- let's have a reality check on how much food I consumed! Way too much!

Now, most people can eat this much food in one sitting and not feel ill afterwards (though, honestly, they shouldn't eat that much in one sitting... ever). But for me, my body just can't break it down. Perhaps that ties back to the thyroid issue. I'm overburdening my body by asking it to process so much food- no matter how healthy- at one time.

My coworker suggested that the pain was caused by eating the curried sweet potatoes, but my instincts tell me otherwise. I think had I left the chicken out of the meal altogether (like the little voice in my head quietly tried to tell me to do when I put the plate together) I would have been much better off. This was evidenced by having eaten the rice and curried sweet potatoes again for dinner and not having any pain. Mild bloating, yes, but no pain.

Weird story is, the apricots I snacked on that got the pain to start subsiding caused me to feel like I needed to take a nap. Not just, "I feel kind of sleepy," but more like "if I don't lay down right now, I might pass out, and there will most definitely be drool involved." Yup- tired. But, after I ate the sweet potatoes that feeling went away.

Talk about a roller coaster right?

And that again, might point to an issue with my thyroid. Ugh. I don't know. Tomorrow I get to chat with Doc and ask him his opinion on the ordeal. Hopefully he can shed some light on what he thinks might be going on.

All I know is, I want to be fixed. I'm sick of being sick. Right now, I would rather have a sinus headache than this BS of constant pain. Call my whiny, call me needy, but until you have dealt with chronic pain or your body fighting against your will to live it's hard to understand how frustrating the process is.