Doing Better....

So after I broke out in hives the first day, I continued to break out in hives for the next 6 days off an on. Benedryl was the only thing that helped them go away (they hurt so bad), and even though they hurt my stomach, it was better than being itchy and ouchy all over. Yuck. I've never just started breaking down and crying because I was so miserable! Guess that was a first. After the hives went away, I went back to the doctor and he said there's not much more they can do. They'll just have to wait a couple weeks to see if symptoms get worse to refer me to a GI doc. So I decided that Western medicine is crap and I need to stop treating the symptoms and find the root of the problem.

I did some research online and found a medical journal on stress. The doctor wrote about how when we are in an extended amount of time of the 'fight or flight response', we are doing severe damage to our bodies. We release cortisol which increases heart rate, gets blood to the muscles, slows down digestion and much more. Since my digestion was slowed down, food stayed in my stomach longer which equals more stomach acid! So, I figured I'm the only one that can help myself. I've been doing lots of breathing exercises, regularly exercising, visualization techniques, lots of naps and quality sleeping, got rid of every stress in my life (toxic friendships/roommates) and decided to see an acupuncturist! I have never been to one before, but I've had three treatments so far, and I've noticed an incredible amount of difference. I have more energy, I'm more positive and outgoing, my stomach issues are almost gone, I'm more relaxed and I just feel better. It frustrates me how our american society is so caught up in medicine and treating the symptoms of our illnesses and not the actually causes. If I would have known what stress was doing to my body, I would have changed my lifestyle three months ago and would have saved many days of pain and suffering. When we have an illness, it's an unbalance in our body and we need to find the root of the problem to fix it and not just mask the symptoms with our powerful pain medications. I dont think I'll be going to a doctor much anymore. Eastern medicine has made such a huge difference in my life and I trust it more than the doctors rushing around to see 100 patients a day. I think more people need to think this way as well. Hopefully it's all downhill from here :)

My Sick Records

So I decided to start writing down my sicknesses that i've been dealing with the past three months or so, so i wouldn't forget it!

I think it all started when I was feeling stressed living at the suites. All but one of my roommates were making me stressed and being alone a lot of the time was so different than what i was used to in CDA. I got a UTI end of november. I took one kind of antibiotic for 5 days and then it didn't go away, so I took another kind for a full week. As soon as I stopped the antibiotics, I had this terrible stomach ache and felt like after everytime i ate i was going to throw up. I couldn't eat much and I lost about 10 pounds. So i went to the doctor. They put me on acid pump reducers so I could be comfortable on my trip to Belize (and I was!). When i got back to Boise in mid-January, my prescription was up so I switched over to over-the-counter acid pump blockers and they didn't work at all. Then one day, i got a little apple chunk stuck in my throat. I couldn't get it out for three days and so I went to the doctor because it was giving me a terribly sore throat. I went to the doc and he said that it wasn't there anymore, but that it had irritated my throat. So he gave me a concotion to make-pedcid AC, benedryl and chloroseptic spray that i had to make in a shot glass, gargle and swallow three times a day. I did it twice, but it really upset my stomach and gave me diahhrea. Amazing. So I went back to the doctor to talk about my stomach problems. He said I should take a blood test to measure the amount of H. Pylori bacteria in my stomach (which may be causing the over-secretion of stomach acid). I gave some blood and waiting almost three weeks for my test results to return. The results came back as 'equivical' which means its neither a yes nor a no. I had to score above a 1.19% to be positive and I scored a 1.17%. Went back to the doctor and he said that he didn't want to treat me with heavy duty antibiotics unless he knows for sure it's H. Pylori. So we thought the next best step should be an upper GI xray. So I went in a couple days later to get an Xray of my tummy. In order for it to show up on the screen, i had to drink this metal liquid stuff called "barium''. My x-ray came out fine and the xray dude said everything looked normal and great. Then later that day, during spinning class, I started breaking out into hives. It just got worse and worse and over the next three hours I started getting them everywhere. They weren't just ichy, but incredibly painful and finally I took some benedryl which helped so much. I finally fell asleep but then woke up to a terrible stomach ache and I was about to puke. So I ate a little to try to settle my stomach and I fell asleep an hour later. What a miserable night! So here I am today, still taking my stomach acid pump inhibitors and benedryl, still trying to figure out what's wrong with my stomach. I'm so sick of being sick. I'm hoping that my move to another dorm will make things less stressful for me and maybe my symptoms will just go away. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.