When Your Gut is Trying to Kill You

Starting on new medication threw me from a loop. Starting on any medication was rough. I had always been the "naturalist" when it came to medication. If there was something from nature that could work just as well, I would do so. Food, herbs, spices, etc were my go-to for almost anything. I did take acetaminophen when pain came calling (because it is the only pain killer that I can take without having too many side effects). The Nurse Practitioner and I did not get along at first. She didn't speak to me, she spoke to her computer. Literally. She came in the first time we met, introduced herself and then never glanced at me again. She talked the entire time with her face glued to her computer screen. I. Was. Not. Happy. Not at all. Here I am, trying to navigate the health care system for the first time (which I had taken great pains to try and avoid) and I'm scared and new and nervous; and all she did was stare at her screen and ask questions and tell me things I ...

The new year was a bit of blur, considering for the majority of it, I was in bed (except when I was dashing off to the bathroom). It had started to get a little better, but in some instances it wasn't getting any better. So off for the scope I needed to head. We had it scheduled for the first Friday that I was back at work after my winter break. I thought, "Hey, I'm feeling better. I'm not running to the bathroom every hour, so maybe I'll be able to make it through work." Yeah, nope! I went back on Monday and felt like I was on the verge of passing out and dying during the day. Tuesday was worse, and by Wednesday, lets just say that things were horrible. I was able to take the Thursday off for "prep" (and lets face it, I wasn't eating anything that week anyway, so grumpy me wasn't all that pleasant a teacher). If you've never experienced the prep needed for a colonoscopy, one day you will. There are different methods of doing the prep...

For the first few weeks after my initial issues in November, December seems to be starting off well. The pain in my neck was subsiding, along with the jaw and teeth pain. I was taking the antibiotics that the InstaCare doc had prescribed, and of course there were the "traditional" side effects of the antibiotics--which I really didn't worry about. However, two weeks into December, right at the start of my winter break from teaching, I noticed that the same symptoms I had from weeks before were rearing their ugly head; and this time it was much more intense than before. I had an major stress episode the day before the break while at work, and I was expecting some digestional upset since that has always been the case when I have a major anxiety and stress episode in the past. But what I wasn't expecting was it to last as long as it was. The weekend came and went, with me spending the majority of the time in bed or on the couch because I didn't have the energy to...

Thanksgiving week.  Being a teacher, we live  for the days that we have a short week. I only had to teach two days that week, so it wasn't that bad. That Wednesday was spent watching movies with my 4 cats and texting with my mother about the food that was going to be made the next day. I was excited for the side dishes that I would be making, and the Brasilian "twist" that my mother always put on the food. I'm not really a meat eater, so my favorite things were always the side dishes; and I excelled at making the veggies. Even my husband, who is a carnivore to the heart, usually asked for more of those sides than the actually turkey breast or pork tenderloin that my mother did. Nope, we were not a family of people who cooked the whole turkey (my mother did that once and I think only a little bit of the meat was eaten, most went to waste). Thanksgiving Thursday came and we went over to my parents in the morning to help with some of the prep and for me to start f...