2007 started off pretty horribly. I realized I was in the wrong place for grad school, The ex-Boyfriend broke up with me, I couldn't get out of grad school for the semester, and less than a month later, I was sick with a stomach bug. On the night of the Apollo Ball, which I had managed to score and invite. That sucked. Little did I know, things were about to really start sucking.
After the stomach bug, I found I couldn't muster the energy to go out Saturday night after going out Friday. I chalked it up to all the stress and listened to my body and stayed in Saturday nights. By early March, I began battling random bouts of nausea. By early April, I couldn't seem to get over the nausea. I couldn't go to class, I couldn't go to work, and I couldn't go out (which is what was getting me through those miserable months).
I made an appointment with the GI doc, was prescribed Phenergan, and scheduled for an endoscopy the following week.
I celebrated my 24th birthday with close family and friends, bland food, and the bed.
A few days later, I had my endoscopy and, much to the doctor's surprise, I did NOT have an ulcer.
He chalked it up to getting over a stomach bug and said I should be better in a few months.
I began to manage my nausea better and worked hard to finish that semester of grad school. (Why I didn't ask for a medical leave, I have no clue ... )
Battling not only nausea, but also fatigue and upper left quadrant pain, was very exhausting, both emotionally and physically.
Since the GI doc wasn't doing to much to get to the bottom of my medical problems, I began Googling. Ovarian cancer, toxoplasmosis, lupus, and a parasite seemed to be the most likely reasons why I was feeling this way. The doctor had ruled out the common or most obvious diagnoses (thyroid, H. Pylori, ulcer, etc.) so even though I sound like a total hypochondriac, I wanted those things checked out.
When the thought of ovarian cancer came up, I totally freaked out. My grandmother had ovarian cancer, I have ovarian cysts, so it just seemed like it might actually be possible. I immediately rationalized it in my head. I would have a total hysterectomy and maybe radiation or chemo, depending on whether or not it was bad and had spread. Luckily, my OBGYN saw me immediately, diffused my fears, and ordered some bloodwork and an ultrasound to make sure. Thankfully, I did not have ovarian cancer.
I started seeing a general practitioner early that summer in order to try to get a more broad view of what was going on. He ordered an ultrasound, and after finding a "hypoechoic" area near my stomach, ordered a CT. The CT showed nothing (this is why I don't trust CTs - they do not show everything) and I had terrible nausea and bowel movements for the next few days from all the iodine and barium. He had me try a reflux medicine, which sopped up all my excess stomach acid I had the most painful bowel movements ever, followed by actual reflux after only taking it for a few days.
In the meantime, The ex-Boyfriend and I started talking again. He was having the same symptoms. Perhaps we shared a little something before we broke up? He was taking an antibiotic for a parasite, and I brought it up with my OBGYN at my annual, since none of my other doctors so far had really seemed to push past a couple of reasons why I might feel this way. She prescribed me an antibiotic and referred me to another GI.
The new GI (GI2) ordered another ultrasound, and after comparing the previous ultrasound and CT, determined I had an "accessory spleen," or as the nurse called it a "cessary spleen" (it took a LONG time to figure that one out, since the doctor always had the same nurse return my calls and we always missed them ... oh, the joys of living in the South). The GI2 wanted me to take antidepressants for my so-called IBS to help the "colon spasms" I was having, which was causing my pain. (At this point, I had a really good vision of the GI anatomy and my pain was where my accessory spleen is, not in my colon.) He also wanted me to keep making appointments with my OBGYN.
I tried two antidepressants, both of which made me depressed, the second being the worst. I'm talking paranoia, depression, worse nausea, made me want to sleep all day and all night, and nearly every other side effect. Luckily, I was on the medication for a short time so I could go off cold turkey and my bad side effects almost immediately disappeared.
My OBGYN referred me to another GI doctor, who kept telling me to come back in a few weeks. He was convinced I had IBS and referred me back to my OBGYN. He also had her prescribe me another acid reflux medicine. It was more complicated to take, made me gassy, but otherwise I had no ill side effects. Because the medicine was so expensive, I had to break my prescription up into weekly installments. After a month, I had used all my refills (I don't think the pharmacy did this right because I was supposed to has four refills of 30 pills, not four refills of seven pills) and I had to quit the meds cold turkey, with my friend the reflux.
I was referred to a new GP (GP2) who ordered a chest X-Ray (during all of this mess, my ribs, shoulders, and neck became hyper-sensitive) to rule out a hurt rib. She prescribed me a "GI cocktail" which was basically numbing medicine and Maalox. It made me go to the bathroom. A lot. It didn't really help with the nausea. She was a patient of GI2, so she encouraged me to continue seeing him. She also sent me to a surgeon to look into removing my accessory spleen. The surgeon didn't see anything at all (not even an accessory spleen) and that was the biggest waste of time ever. Especially since I left a sexual health conference early to see him.
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