Category Archives: Chronic Illness

New Thumb Brace and Some Hope

For those of you not following my Instagram (which, why not?), I did get in to see the hand specialist on the 16th! It was much sooner than I expected to be able to see them.

After a physical exam and some x-rays, it was determined that my thumb is actually … okay. Well, it’s probably recurring tendonitis or something like that. He said I could do an MRI if I wanted, but since my thumb was starting to feel better already I figured it probably wouldn’t show anything (though the next time it flares up badly I’m going to request one). My other options were to do nothing, request specific occupational therapy or physical therapy, or steroid injections. I didn’t like any of those options so I was trying to be more specific about how I can’t even write because it hurts too much.

Continue reading →

Supplements Carry Risks Too

Don’t get me wrong, I am not just blindly wanting you to follow “Big Pharma” down the rabbit hole of taking more drugs and needing drugs to counteract the side effects of those drugs. Actually, I am all for all sorts of different combinations of lifestyles. If you love taking pharmaceuticals, then go take your pharmaceuticals and I’m so happy that they make you feel better! If you love taking supplements, then please go take your supplements and enjoy your life! If you love combining the two, then go do that too and enjoy feeling better! Woot for feeling better and managing our symptoms the best way we know how!!!

Anyway. Now that that is over, here we go. The point of the post 😛

Some people don’t realize that supplements can carry just as many risks as pharmaceuticals can. In fact, I would argue that, because of the state of “common knowledge” they are more dangerous. Why do I say that? Simply because people read an “all natural” label and are willing to pop it into their mouth without learning anything else about it… leading to potentially deadly consequences.

Wait, did I just say deadly?

Yes, yes I did. Continue reading →

My First Sponsored Post Opportunity

Hey Everyone!!!!

I have been a member of a chronic illness blogging group for a little while now, and they are fantastic. Just recently, I have been given the opportunity to try out a product and write a sponsored post for it! I just wanted to let you know that I’d be getting in to doing that so that you weren’t suddenly blindsided by this new thing appearing on my blog.

I’m extremely excited by this opportunity to take the next step in doing something that I love doing, and to also try out something that may really help me and could possibly help some of you as well!

(And yes, I’m still working on the colonoscopy post series I mentioned a while back. I had to stop as it was a little too traumatic to work on so close to the event. August was really busy, but I’m going to be working on it this next week and I’m hoping to have it published quite soon.)

Experimenting With Treatment

Right now, we’re (my GI and I) experimenting with treatment for small intestine bacterial overgrowth – aka SIBO. I am going to be taking Xifaxan for two weeks, and hopefully the delayed gastric emptying will improve. We’re also going the motility improve.

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He decided to just do the treatment instead of testing first because he didn’t like how many I’ve been thru already, and apparently the SIBO test isn’t very accurate. Xifaxan isn’t supposed to be absorbed into your system much at all, so there really isn’t supposed to be too many side effects, so I decided to just for it. I figure my daily issues are so miserable, I’d rather just try it and hope it’ll help.

So far, I haven’t been too happy: gassy and lots of bathroom trips. My fatigue is also a little wacky, but my period is also poorly timed again. However, my stomach had been marginally better. Hopefully that means it’s been helping.

Stomach Issues Return

Normally after vacations, due to all the restaurant and junk food, I am horribly stopped up.

For some reason, this time, I now have diarrhea. It’s not “running to the restroom every few hours” bad, but the last three days have all had multiple loose stools. Today is the worst of it so far. But the frequency is way off. I’ve only gone about twice each the last two days, which is weird.

My stomach though feels horrid. It feels like I’ve been hit in the lower abdomen by a baseball bat and my colon has been set on fire. No idea what triggered this.

I do not have a fever.

I’m glad I see my GI on the 31st. Hopefully it doesn’t get any worse, and I really hope it doesn’t last that long…

Minimal Bodily Cooperation, But Still Cause For Gratitude

My body seemed to level back out again, weight wise. When I picked Dan up from the airport, I was still nauseous but it was dinner time and I really wanted a French dip sandwich from Mimi’s Cafe. Instead of only eating half (like usual), I ate about 3/4 of it and half of my fruit bowl. The next day I managed to eat most of my Qdoba nachos for lunch too!

The rest of the weekend I’ve been eating lighter, but I did go back up those three pounds. The nausea is a little more manageable, but still pretty bad. We’ll see what happens this week. At least the rapid weight loss seems to have stopped for now – that was unnerving.

I hope you all had a good weekend.

Body, What Are You Doing?

I’ve been exhausted this week. Completely exhausted. It’s understandable: the weekend was pretty crazy and Dan has been in Florida all week for a rocket launch (which means I’ve been doing more normal at the house).

But, the confusion comes from something else. We got a new scale because we realized our old one was broken. I’ve been weighing myself regularly (daily) because I lost a bunch of weight before the colonoscopy so I’m curious. Last week, I was holding steady.

This week?

I’ve lost one pound PER DAY.

That’s not normal.

Now, I’m still at a healthy weight. My BMI is still in the normal range (high normal, actually). I wanted to lose a bit of weight actually, so I’m not that upset about it being gone, I’m just worried about the speed and sudden change.

The weirdest part is that I don’t actually look much different physically. I’ve lost 3-4 pounds in 4 days and look pretty much exactly the same. Though we’ll see if Dan thinks so.

I’m going to start keeping track of my calorie intake and daily activities to see if maybe there is just a crazy imbalance I’m unaware of, out if I need to get to my doctor.

But seriously, body, what are you doing now?

Nausea and Dysautonomia

Today, Dysautonomia International shared an article to their Facebook  about nausea and vomiting, and how the two don’t always go hand in hand and how they tied to the nervous system. The text that accompanied D.I.’s post points out that nausea is a common symptom for dysautonomia patients.

As many of you know, I have been suffering with chronic nausea for years. Lately, it’s been so bad that, at times, I struggle to eat. That’s actually part of why my GI decided to do the colonoscopy. As of my last appointment, he didn’t believe I had primary gastroparesis, but he did say I definitely have what is called “delayed gastric emptying” which is caused by my whole system running slow so it tells my stomach to stop working. Very similar, but different causes. He is thinking he might do more testing though, later, just to be sure.

I am wondering if the reason my nausea is so bad is because it has multiple causes?

Anyway, I found the article extremely interesting and really wanted to share:

Nausea and Vomiting: Not Always in Sync by Pharmacy Times

Heat Headaches

I have been struggling with headaches recently thanks to the heatwave that is engulfing of the central and southern United States lately. It’s been in the 90°F range (or hotter) petty much every day for weeks, and I don’t have a way to keep my house less than 80°F. When I overheat, I get headaches. When I get headaches, I can’t use the computer. 😦 I am hoping to get back to writing more soon!!!!!