The Tummyache Blog

Good news maybe??

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 08:05:37 -0800

Guess what!! I have found a new doctor and he is on my insurance list! And get this, I know him personally. I used to babysit his kids for him and his wife when I was younger. He was just in residency then, but such a kind man. Anyway I called my "other" doc's office to get my records, cause the new doc needs my records. Anyway I have been trying to get my fucking records since Monday. I have called twice and they tell me that a lady will call me. Why? I need my records and that is it. How long does it take to copy papers anyway? So this is the deal now, I can't get in to see my new doc until I have my records in my hands......I will wait until next week and if I don't hear from them, my husband is gonna call, since they are blowing me off I am sure they will hurry up with the records if he talks to them. I didn't even tell them I was seeing a new Doc. I just told them I needed my records, so I don't know what the hold-up is *sigh* Anyway I have been having problems lately with Diarrhea, Mucus and vomitting at the same time (I know, to much info) But when you are dealing with UC this is just a day in the life of someone afflicted with this disease. So I need to see a doctor and I want to see this particular doctor. Anyway I will update soon on the records situation. Later guys.

Doing ehhhh okay!

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:01:05 -0800

Doing good today. Had bad pain over the right kidney but I get those often. I even had a CT scan of the area and nothing. So just deal with it. Well I am off to the store to get somethings and mail off a soap package. Hope everyone in healthdiary land is doing well!! {{{hugs}}}

My store

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 17:44:50 -0800

I make soap, I mentioned it somewhere on this blog when I first started. Anyway, gonna mention it again since I just opened an online store: Bayou Bath Shop I still have pictures to add but it is ready to go otherwise. Yeah I make soap to take my mind off of what else?? UC, Panic Attacks and whatever else is wrong with me, most of the time it works ;o)

Doing bad

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 17:05:19 -0800

Today was a bad day today. I spent most part of the day on the toilet *sigh* This is so depressing sometimes. I was doing so good that I even forgot that I had this disease ;o( Maybe I spoke to soon in my previous entries, the one's where I was saying that I was doing good. I felt like I was going through labor all over again, yes that is how bad the cramping is and you just have to deal with it. The cramps come and go in waves, if you have ever been in labor you know what I am talking about. I have also been vomiting..... My back and stomach become so sore after I am "done"

My most wonderful husband took all four of the kids to the store to pick them something up to eat and he is getting me some Gatorade and Italian Ice, I love that stuff when I can't eat anything else. I guess it is about that time I look for another Gastro doc, I was really hoping I could get through this without any other doctors, but I really need to see one, one that won't be a jackass to me and pretty much tell me to deal with it, and one that won't tell me not to have any other children. He was very insensitive which makes me scared of seeing another Gastro Doc, what if they are all like that?? Anyway it could be worse....

Feeling the pain...

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 06:41:10 -0800

This past week, well I would say since last Saturday, my stomach started swelling, I looked like I was pregnant again! Anyway I chalked it off to me just getting ready to start my period. I should really take notes about symptoms and such, hey that is what I am doing now! (d'oh) anyway I had a few bouts of diarrhea last weekend, nothing bad, hardly any cramping. So I just let it go.....I should have paid more attention because I think I was in a flare up the whole time. Last night I almost went to the hospital it got so bad. My husband stayed awake waiting for me to exit the bathroom, hoping that I would feel better but I think i stayed in there for close to 3 hours. Vomiting and Diarrhea at the same time, lovely huh? I lost 2 pounds just from last night. I hurt so bad I wanted to cry and thought I was dying there for a minute since I was in and out of it on the toilet (I just kept saying to myself, please don't let me pass out like this, on the toilet, how embarrassing would that be?) I locked the door , which I shouldn't have in case something would have happened. My husband kept calling from the bedroom "Are you okayyyyy??" All you would hear from me was "Agghhhh, no" I could barely talk. I did take notice that during the weekend, when my stomach started hurting, I ate a steak, medium. This was before the Monster Truck show, my husband had to stop at the drug store so I could pick up some Immodium. And last night I ate another steak, my husband cooked it this time and it was also Medium/Rare. I started feeling sick about 30 minutes after I ate, for some reason my stomach was rejecting the steak and tuna w/ assparagus. It just all had to come out. So maybe it has something to do with steak? Who knows.....Who knew my intestines could be so picky about food? Well this morning my back is sore and my stomach is sore and I am totally not hungry. I may try and eat an Avocado later.....More lovely updates later since I know yall are just all dying to know about my bowel habits right??

I did it....

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:03:31 -0800

I did it. I cut off my ties with my gastro doctor. The nurse called on Friday to see if I had my bloodwork done, I told her no and that I would be cancelling the appointment and did not think I would be rescheduling. She said okay, I will tell the doctor and then we hung up. I just need to get my records from over there, when I do need to find a new gastro doctor. I am doing good, have been for awhile. No major diarrhea or cramping here. Like you wanted to know that huh?

Mentally I am doing good! The medicine(s)help, finally one that helps after trying like 7 different brands! And this is after many years of hiding and fearing everything. So off to eat, later!

Wish this would stop...

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 21:59:22 -0800

So we invited a few people here today to watch the super bowl and whatnot. Well guess who's intestines decide to act up? Yeap I kept running back and forth to the toilet. I said "Excuse Me" alot tonight. My stomach still feels funny. I am supposed to pick up my brother;s fiance tomorrow morning so that she can come over here and wash clothes, hopefully I will be feeling better. Last Monday I had to call and tell her I couldn't leave the bathroom so I would not be picking her up that day (They live in an apartment and are w/o a washer and dryer so since they are just down the road from us they come to do their clothes as our house) Anyway I heard somewhere that there is a 3-7% chance of Inflammatory Bowel Disease being passed to your offspring. It depresses me. Neither of my parents have this disease, and I end up with it so what are the chances that either of my four children will have this? Yes the guilt is there. Sometimes I think that if I knew way back when before I had children that I would have mental issues and an intestinal disease, I don't know if I would have had children..........As much as I love them, I would hate to pass on anything to them. It sucks and I don't want them to go through what I have gone through. I guess all I can do is be there for them if something should come of this.....

I have been having some serious left hip pain, feels like in the joint area and it radiates down my leg. I don't know what is up with that, it could have something to do with UC or not. I may have to make a trip to the doctor.........Again. Anyway later yall, will be resting tomorrow so that I can hopefully feel pretty good for Tuesday's Mardi Gras festivities. Bye yall :P

Update to the yuckies

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 15:32:52 -0800

I am feeling better today! Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to speak eh? I don't think I mentioned this before, but I stoppped taking the medications that I was on for Ulcerative Colitis. It made me feel like crap, worse than I already was at the time. I told the doctor during the summer that it made everything worse and he raised my dosage from 6 Colozal a day to 9. Oh yeah that made me feel better (NOT!) So I felt like the doctor wasn't really listening to me, I told him I couldn't sleep he prescribed Ambien. Then when I told him that it was to expensive for me to buy, he pretty much said "Tough Shit" Not those words, but you get the picture. He said everything else to help sleep would be addicting. Anyway I am supposed to go in for routine blood tests soon, to check my blood count and liver function and some other blood tests I believe. I am supposed to go back and see him in Feb..........BUT I am not going to. I used to like this Dr. but not anymore, not after the way I felt I was treated, which was like trash. He also knows I have four kids and told me not to have anymore children, I don't think it is health related either. You just had to hear the tone of his voice. So that is my decision. I am on no medication and I have no gastro doctor anymore, if I have an episode again I will see another doctor but until then, I am on my own with the help of my psychiatrist and therapist if needed. I will still post here of course about my health, although it may or maynot be as interesting with a doctor involved. Hope everyone in HealthDiary land is doing good! Later guys ;o)

Feeling blah

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 07:55:12 -0800

Hey everyone. Tis been awhile since I posted. I had tried logging in many times before but my password was set wrong and Tracy got that all fixed for me, so here I am ;o) Anyway I am not feeling so hot today and I don't know if it is a virus or something to do with my lovely intestines. I have been on the toilet for a couple of hours now and throwing up at the same time. The reason I don't know if this is said virus is because this has happened to me at least three times in the past month, for Christmas at my parents house (how embarrassing!!)My poor mom I think thought it was her cooking, but I of course know that it wasn't ;o(

Anyway no one else was sick so, the virus theory is questionable. But anyway I am feeling like crap right now (no pun intended!) and took a phenegan(sp??) so I can at least stop throwing up and well the diarrhea just keeps going........I have two small kids to take care of, so this shit (again no pun intended!!) needs to just stop, like now. Since I have my password again, hopefully I will keep up with the entries, depending on whats going on here....Anyway just wanted to let you all know what is up, please send me some healthy vibes this way, much appreciated!! {{{hugs}}}

It's been awhile...

Thu, 02 Dec 2004 08:16:14 -0800

Sorry for the lack of update's, but I am doing good! I have not had a flare in awhile now and that is a good thing. I am seeing a psychiatrist & therapist to help me out with the emotional issues that I have. I am on medications for that, which seem to be helping, thank goodness. It does make me a bit tired, but I will trade that for panic and fear of.... well just about everything anyday. Okay, this was a short and sweet post but I have lots to do today, going to my husband's Christmas party tomorrow night and this chica needs a new outfit. Later.

Well I turned the big

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 18:26:44 -0800

Well I turned the big 3-0 yesterday!! Weee, I don't feel any different, in a bit of a funk lately, don't know what my problem is. I am happy to say however that my test results from the small bowel x-rays were normal! So yay for that huh? I don't go back till Feb. and then I will have more blood tests, you know the normal blood count and other blood tests. He did prescribe me something else to help me sleep since I think the Ambien was making me so sleepy during the day, at least I think it is the Ambien. I will be trying Sonata soon, whenever I get a chance to get it filled. We have insurance but my prescriptions are still sorta on the expensive side........Got to get my daughter a band instrument first before I get any medicine filled, I figured it is just sleeping medication, something that can wait. i hope everyone is doing okay out there in Health Diary land. Please leave me a note if you are a reader! I will usually respond in the comments, but if you need to email me you can do so here: REMOVE THE NOSPAM!!

I have to drink what?

Fri, 13 Aug 2004 10:00:14 -0800

I am back from my tests that I had this morning. The small bowel series. Ummm one word describes it.."YUCK!" I thought I was going to puke and have diarrhea right there on the table. Well to be honest, when I first took a sip I was like "MMmmmmm! This not as bad as everyone said it is!!" So I am chugging along, then nausea set in and cramping. I was only half way through the first cup, I had three all together that I had to get into my system. So I did the whole hold your nose trick so you don't taste it, yeah you know what I am talking about don't ya?? Anyway it was so not working! I finally just started taking big gulps of the crap, eyes watering, feeling the hot saliva in the back of my throat, you know the feelingyou get before you vomit? Oh and let me add that they only give you 15 minutes to drink this, this, well whatever you wanna call it. Looking at the clock in front of me I only had 5 minutes to drink the last cup. I couldn't do it. I drank a little more than half and gave up. The technician said that was okay and did what she had to do. It was kind of neat looking at your intestines on the screen, watching the barium make its way through your system. Oh and they were expecting for me to be there at least 3-4 hours, I don't think they expected that the barium would go through my intestines (all of it) in about 5 minutes. She said it is different for everyone but I was really quick. I told my husband I must have some powerful intestines (haha) And that was it. Drink. Pictures. Then leave. My stomach has not been doing to well for the past few days. I keep feeling like I have the urge to "go" Won't go into to many details, but my butt is sore to say the least. Hopefully this will end soon. I go back for check-up with the gastro Tuesday (my birthday, weeeee!) Then I will find out the results of my x-rays and see if I have some scarring or Crohn's going on in there. I am to the point of "Whatever" As in whatever happens, happens.

tests and more tests

Wed, 11 Aug 2004 07:38:25 -0800

so nice!! You wanna hear something crazy? Okay we went camping at Fort Pickens (soooo nice and only 120.00 for 6 nights 7 days, can't stay in a hotel on the beach for that in Florida right?) Anyway our pop-up was right next to the bathroom, I was soooo happy. So Monday they decide to close it until Thursday ::look of shock and panic:: Yeah for any normal person this doesn't mean a darn thing, you may just have to walk a little further to the next bathroom, but for a person with UC or Crohn's it is a very scary thing to not have a bathroom available just in case. So everything was going good, no problems with tummy UNTIL Wed. night, Oh damn. My very understanding husband offers to drive me to the bath house so I don't have to keep walking (running) back and forth. The big D (Diarrhea) started about 6 or so in the afternoon didn't stop until close to 11 that night, at one point I was in the bathroom for close to an hour, ugghh. How totally embarrassing since it was a public restroom, I almost cried, I just wanted my stomach to stop hurting and the diarrhea to stop, I ended up taking Immodium and it finally stopped. Anyway other than that our trip was awesome, it was a much needed vacation:O)

Good morning!

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 05:07:55 -0800

I had a good weekend, how about you? My stomach bothered me a bit but not bad, not bad at all! I think the one thing that really does bother me about this illness is not the medicine or the pain but guilt. The possibility of my children maybe having this one day since it is hereditary and all. I don't even like to think about it. I have never told anyone my actual fears, so this is a first. It is not even about me........Gotta go and take another round of Colazal.

Oh and one other thing before I actually do get up to take my meds, I have to thank Tracy for allowing me to contribute here at HealthDiaries! It is really a great feeling to just be able to talk about something that bothers you, not having to hold back any kind of information, which I often do in real life.

An Introduction

Fri, 16 Jul 2004 13:43:53 -0800

Hey there!

Guess I should start with an introduction right? I mean this is my first post and all. So here is a bit of info: My name is Leslie and I am a 29 year old mother to four. I am also married to my high school sweetie who is just awesome. I do stay at home with my kids, in case you are wondering. Oh and I make cold processed soap, which helps take my mind off of stressful things in life, like certain health related issues.

Okay so that is just a small part of who I am. Another part is having Ulcerative Colitis. There is no easy way to explain this disease. I was just diagnosed in Feb of this year but have been having problems off and on for the past 3 years or so. So how does one get this disease? Hmmm. I am really not sure! After all of the reading that I have done, there does not seem to be one particular cause and there is no medicinal cure. They say it might be hereditary, which in my case it might be. Recently I found out that my grandfather had to have some of his intestine's removed, but I don't know why and can't ask him since he is no longer alive. My parents do not know either. Also one faiteful night (hah), about 5-6 hours after scarfing down some yummy potato salad and crawfish etoufee, I developed horribe abdominal cramping, vomiting and oh man I hate to even type this, bloody diarrhea. This started at 1 a.m. I went to the hospital about 9 a.m., dehydrated and still in a huge amount of pain. They hooked me up to IV's and was kept in the hospital for 3 days. The diagnosis? Food poisoning caused by the Shigella bacteria. So I had my first colonoscopy in the hospital, my intestines were covered in ulcers. I was never told I had UC then, just a simple case of food poisoning to which I thought "Cool, take medicine and I will get better!" Little did I know though, the problems that I would start having soon after. I had joint pain (still do at times) and continued with Diarrhea/cramping for some time, well about 3 years. I kept telling myself, that it was just a virus or something, never going to the Dr...........

I finally decided to see my OB/Gyn in Sept. 2003, thinking I had a cyst or something female going on. From there I had ultrasounds, CT scans and tons of x-rays, all normal! Yay, cool but why so much cramping? So she said I need to see a gastro Dr. I then had my second colonoscopy where he told me I had IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) More specific, Ulcerative Colitis. So I am on maintenance medicine now to keep my flare-ups in check. I take anywhere from 13 pills on up a day. I do consider myself lucky though. There are some folks out there with Crohn's and UC in alot worse shape than I.

Well I hoped that explained what is going on with me somewhat. I am happy I have found a place to post my experiences with this condition (I hate the word Disease) I will try to post everyday, I have frequent Doctors appointments so I will report results here as well. Later days.