Sooo Sick and Miserable

I still haven't gotten better in weeks. I've been super nauseous, throwing up bad and switching between constipation and watery diarrhea. I have had a couple "ok" days in between but not much.

I went to see my doctor  (my actual dr and not a work in) yesterday. He put me on antibiotics even though my labs came back fine (always baffles me how they can when i feel like THIS). Hopefully it'll rid my body of some of the bacteria and I'll start feeling better.

He also finally got me scheduled for the camera endoscopy. So today is prep (yay....) and tomorrow at 7:15am I am going in to swallow the camera. I will wear a device for 8 hours and then return it. It will take a couple weeks for them to read the images but hopefully they'll be able to find out what is going on!

I think it's funny because people keep saying things about feeling bad because I am so sick. I just keep telling them, it's life for me! I can't let it get me down or I would always be down! I have learned to get used to it and I am just thankful that i don't have to worry about losing my job or trting to make it through this. It also makes me a lot more thankful for the good days or even the ok days! I feel like i have a lot more appreciation for life than most and I'm good with that. Of course, i get frustrated with all the tests and when I'm laying in bed in agony, i cry and want it to end, but at the end of the day i know I'll be ok! :)

Stress and Sickness

I stayed sick for a week straight. It was definitely stress induced since it hit immediately after something stressful happened. I haven't been able to eat, I've been super nauseas and have had watery diarrhea really bad. I went to the doctor because i was definitely dehydrated but they just ran some blood work and i have to take stool studies back up to the lab on Monday.

Also I STILL haven't been scheduled for the pillcam! 3 weeks later and NOTHING. Ugh!!

Crohn's and Nausea

Nausea: Tips to Make it Better

By: SHARON DOERRE
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 27, 2014, 7:47 am
 

Nau­sea is never fun! Almost every­one with IBD will expe­ri­ence it at one time or another. Nau­sea can reduce appetite and lead to dehy­dra­tion and weight loss as well as make daily life mis­er­able. Don’t suf­fer needlessly.

Check your med­ica­tions. Metho­tex­trate, aza­thio­prine, and iron sup­ple­ments can cause nau­sea. Often tak­ing such a med­ica­tion right before bed­time can let you sleep through the effect. Steroids can also impact the stom­ach if pro­tec­tive med­ica­tions like omepra­zole (Prilosec) or ran­i­ti­dine (Zan­tac) are not taken. Ask your phar­ma­cist if a new pre­scrip­tion can cause nau­sea and ways to avoid it.

Ask your doc­tor for an anti-emetic med­ica­tion. Zofran (ondansetron) and Reglan (meto­clo­pramide) can often help reduce the nau­sea pro­duced by IBD medications.

Think about your trig­gers. Motion, dairy, greasy foods, stress, and sinus drainage can all cause nau­sea. Dehy­dra­tion can inten­sify the impact and IBD can lower your thresh­old to var­i­ous trig­gers, even ones that never both­ered you before.

Stay hydrated. Meclizine and dimenhydrinate(Dramamine)areavailable over the counter and can help with motion sick­ness. Lac­taid can ease the nau­sea from too much dairy; Tums can help soothe a stom­ach irri­tated by greasy foods. Gin­ger candy and even nib­bling on slices of raw gin­ger root can set­tle the stom­ach and com­bat nau­sea. Aller­gies and colds that cause sinus con­ges­tion can cre­ate nau­sea when drainage hits the stom­ach. Over the counter allergy med­ica­tions such as cet­i­rizine (Zry­tec) as well as decon­ges­tants and expec­to­rants like guaife­n­esin (Mucinex)can reduce and thin con­ges­tion and can keep it from caus­ing stom­ach problems.

Nib­ble. An empty stom­ach almost always makes nau­sea worse. Find a sim­ple food that is safe for you – IBD is such an indi­vid­ual dis­ease that it is impos­si­ble to make uni­ver­sal rec­om­men­da­tions — but­saltines or GF crack­ers, apple­sauce , or cooked rice are often safe,and nib­ble often.  If there is an imme­di­ate increase in nau­sea with nib­bling, add a Tums, gin­ger cap­sule, or water with lemon and keep eating.

Add cooked veg­eta­bles to your diet. This is a long-term strat­egy for those not flar­ing but expe­ri­enc­ing nau­sea, gur­gling, and burp­ing after eat­ing. Cooked veg­eta­bles, (and raw veg­eta­bles if tol­er­ated,) can reduce the over­all acid­ity of the diges­tive tract.

Con­sult your GI. Peo­ple with Crohn’s dis­ease in the upper GI tract can expe­ri­ence almost con­stant nau­sea as part of a flare. This type of nau­sea needs to be man­aged by a GI doc­tor. Ask about adding or increas­ing the dose of a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI).PPIs like Prilosec can help reduce stom­ach acid and can be taken sev­eral times a day under a doctor’s super­vi­sion. Other med­ica­tions like sucral­fate (Carafate) can coat the stom­ach and let the lin­ing heal. While these long-term med­ica­tions are tak­ing hold, anti-emetics med­ica­tions like Zofran can keep the nau­sea away.

Go to the ER. Stric­tures and obstruc­tions in the small bowel can also cause nau­sea if the stom­ach can’t empty. If your nau­sea is accom­pa­nied by vom­it­ing, a swollen hard belly, con­sti­pa­tion and the inabil­ity to pass gas along with abdom­i­nal pain seek med­ical atten­tion. Nau­sea is often the first symp­tom of an obstruc­tion to appear. So take per­sis­tent nau­sea that doesn’t respond to treat­ment and is accom­pa­nied by wors­en­ing symp­toms and pain seriously.

But don’t for­get non-IBD causes of nau­sea! Hav­ing CD or UC doesn’t pro­tect you from get­ting preg­nant, eat­ing spoiled food, or catch­ing a virus. Stom­ach viruses, the flu, food poi­son­ing, and preg­nancy can all cause nau­sea and vom­it­ing. So ask and see if a stom­ach virus is going around your school or office or if any­one else who ate the same dish is feel­ing ill. If preg­nancy is even a remote pos­si­bil­ity, take a preg­nancy test!

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  *designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

Insomnia Overload

So I ran out of my ambien because ive needed more of it to sleep lately. So I havent had it in a week and a half and I havent slept at night since I ran out. My doctor put me on something new called Belsomra but ive doubled the dosage and NOTHING.  Im not falling asleep until 8am every day/night, whatever you want to call it.  And then im sleeping off and on for a few hours, horribly, and then im wide awake again. So im incredibly sleep deprived. I have to wait until Monday to reach my doctor again. I dont know how much longer I can handle this. To top it off, my appetite has been nonexistent,  my stomach is very upset, my head is killing me and im super stressed. I know if I got some rest, id be better. At least id be able to deal with the other issues. But for now, im just too exhausted.  I give up

Its 5:01am...ive been trying to go to sleep for 4 hours now. I've really given up at this point. There's no point stressing over it when I know it wont happen for a few more hours anyway. Ugh!!! Sucks so bad

Staples Out

Im at urgent care getting the staples in my head taken out. Im incredibly nauseous still and im having hot flashes bad...hate this.

On a better note, I had a few friends over last night and had an absolute blast!  :)