Met a Dinosaur Today!
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- fatbuster205
- Gentoo Penguin
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 7:53 am
- Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
Met a Dinosaur Today!
Well I have had an eventful couple of days. I started having intensive watery D on Monday which continued into Tuesday - about 33 times in less than 48 hours. Tuesday night could not sleep at all because of the pain in my side. By about 4am I had truly had enough - phoned the urgent care Doctor's who decided I might have a Toxic Mega Colon and he ordered an ambulance and off I went to A&E. I have never felt so ill! Anyway, I was admitted and put on a saline drip. 24 hours pass during which I sleep the whole time! and not drug induced! and the consultant comes round - not mine - different hospital - and more or less says microscopic colitis shouldn't be this severe (I got the feeling he "doesn't believe in it"!) it must have been an infection - this is because the X-rays were clear, no inflammation showed up on my bloods nor did infection but because he is a dinosaur he must be right!!. Anyway things had settled so they let me home this afternoon. I am feeling a lot better - I was clearly very dehydrated - but lets just says it has given me a warning of what I may have to battle with. That said my consultant has always appeared much more up to date!!
Anne,
I'm sorry all that happened, but I'm glad that you're feeling better now.
Yes, a lot of gastroenterosauruses believe that the original description of microscopic colitis is correct, and they consider MC to be a benign, self-limiting disease.
Tex
I'm sorry all that happened, but I'm glad that you're feeling better now.
Yes, a lot of gastroenterosauruses believe that the original description of microscopic colitis is correct, and they consider MC to be a benign, self-limiting disease.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
- fatbuster205
- Gentoo Penguin
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 7:53 am
- Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
- fatbuster205
- Gentoo Penguin
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 7:53 am
- Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
OK - Friday morning and I feel miserable as hell! I want to weep buckets! Strike that - I am weeping buckets! I am filled with an overwhelming paranoia which was caused by the gastoenterosaurus's comment of "MC shouldn't be this severe!" My Mum says I am being over sensitive but he made me feel that I had deliberately caused it. I know that sounds really stupid but somehow I feel at fault. I am trying to approach this in an informed and educated way so that I can make the right decision. And I don't know why I am letting this guy who I probably will never deal with again upset me so much but it is just so hurtful when someone starts "In my 24 years experience I have never seen this!" And then he bangs on "reassuring me" that he has never seen this turn into UC - I hadn't even suggested it would because I know it doesn't. I just feel that the confidence I was feeling is slipping away in advance of my appointment with my consultant and I need that to go well. My GP was really good when I asked about going GF - she didn't rule it out but strongly recommended I wait until I have seen him so that he gets the opportunity to test. I am still getting pain at the terminal illeum (only just discovered that term) and that pain is my old familiar, the one I always get - for at least the last 25 years when things are not right. BMs x 2 so far but normal. So why do I want to add "for the time being"? Am I causing this by feeling so sorry for myself and letting myself get so worked up? Sorry but I am just very fed up and feeling very sorry for myself today!
Anne,
That doctor has apparently led a very sheltered life, because for many of us, the symptoms you describe were an everyday problem for months or years. MC can be just as debilitating and life-altering as Crohn's or UC. That doctor just doesn't realize that.
Make sure that you're getting plenty of vitamin D, because the vitamin D deficiency that goes along with IBDs tends to cause depression, anxiety, etc.
We all have days like that -- they're part of the disease.
Tex
That doctor has apparently led a very sheltered life, because for many of us, the symptoms you describe were an everyday problem for months or years. MC can be just as debilitating and life-altering as Crohn's or UC. That doctor just doesn't realize that.
Make sure that you're getting plenty of vitamin D, because the vitamin D deficiency that goes along with IBDs tends to cause depression, anxiety, etc.
We all have days like that -- they're part of the disease.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
- MBombardier
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Posts: 1523
- Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 10:44 am
- Location: Vancouver, WA
Hope you feel better soon, Anne. There is NO WAY this is your fault!!! That guy was a jerk and a half!!!
I agree with Tex on the Vitamin D. Dr. Briffa had a blog post about it helping with depression just this morning. I am so thankful that I have a good blood level right now, or my recent decent into the doldrums (I am climbing out today) would have been far worse. I live in the Pacific Northwest which is very similar climate-wise to the UK. It's especially important to supplement Vitamin D when you live someplace that even when the sun is out, most of time it's still cool enough that more clothes than shorts and a tank top are necessary.
Enjoy your weekend! Do something just for you!!
I agree with Tex on the Vitamin D. Dr. Briffa had a blog post about it helping with depression just this morning. I am so thankful that I have a good blood level right now, or my recent decent into the doldrums (I am climbing out today) would have been far worse. I live in the Pacific Northwest which is very similar climate-wise to the UK. It's especially important to supplement Vitamin D when you live someplace that even when the sun is out, most of time it's still cool enough that more clothes than shorts and a tank top are necessary.
Enjoy your weekend! Do something just for you!!
Marliss Bombardier
Dum spiro, spero -- While I breathe, I hope
Psoriasis - the dark ages
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Dec 2001
Collagenous Colitis - Sept 2010
Granuloma Annulare - June 2011
Dum spiro, spero -- While I breathe, I hope
Psoriasis - the dark ages
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Dec 2001
Collagenous Colitis - Sept 2010
Granuloma Annulare - June 2011
- fatbuster205
- Gentoo Penguin
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 7:53 am
- Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
Thanks Tex and Marliss - although you have just set me off again and turned me into a blubbering idiot by being nice! My gut currently sounds like an erupting volcano along with associated geysers and bubbling mudpools! I have just made a huge batch (10 portions) of chicken soup (rapeseed oil, chicken breast, onion, carrot, mushrooms and garlic plus stock) one of which is in me, two more in the fridge and the rest in the freezer! Hopefully that will help. I am actually feeling hungry but I am also experiencing the anorexia of fearing food because of the consequences but I have to eat something! I'll get some vitamin D tomorrow! I guess I just feel completely wrecked at the moment and I am not very good at coping with it!
Oh Anne! How I understand that! I always feel so guilty about being sick! I was brought up to think if I didn't have a fever I wasn't sick. I NEVER used to get fevers, so I have gone to work with walking pneumonia for weeks before succumbing and ending up in hospital. That was in England!but he made me feel that I had deliberately caused it. I know that sounds really stupid
Everyone has been through it, and lots of us still go through it when flares hit. My doctor told me many people cope with it once they know it's benign. I don't wish ill on anyone, but it would be so good if those docs could have it just for one week! Then they would understand.
Where are you in the UK? I will be in London in November.
- fatbuster205
- Gentoo Penguin
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 7:53 am
- Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
Hi Lesley,
Thank you so much for your support and kind words! It is interesting what you say about a fever - the highest my temperature was in hospital was 37.2C (37C is clinically normal). However, they kept checking because every nurse coming in was saying you're very warm and I was feeling feverish. I didn't have the energy to say "well my normal temperature is between 35.8C and 36.4C" because they are never interested. I also rarely go pale - in fact I am the total opposite and tend to get very high colour when I am not well!
It's Saturday morning here in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim (although I grew up in Essex and Cambridge, Uni at Nottingham, jobs in Dunstable, Penrith in Cumbria, La Gomera in the Canary Islands, Newcastle upon Tyne before "settling" for 10 years in Marlborough, Wiltshire prior to moving here in 2001!) and I don't feel quite so weak, weapy and wimpish! Now I just feel stupid! But it is 8:15am and while I didn't sleep until about 2:00am I have decided that I need to do something today! I am in the process of redecorating my kitchen and am going to do some work in there this morning but I know to pace myself! I just hate feeling like an invalid and would like to cut the grass but it is soaked from the recent rains we have had so it will have to wait.
One thing i discovered yesterday when I was increasing my knowledge about gluten intolerance, coeliac etc was a condition called Dermatitis Herpetiformis. I had ignored it until one article I was reading about coeliac had photos of DH and I thought that looks awfully like the wierd rash I had for 3-4 years on both my shins. It cleared up spontaneously a year or two ago, so I can't show it to anyone, but it consisted of a load of red dots some of which were raised and blister like. It was very itchy so much so that I would often draw blood. I think I mentioned it one time to a doctor but I have a dry skin condition inherited from my father and the doc just said it is a form of exzema. As it only occurred on my shins and no where else and I don't have it currently I guess I will never know but I am defintely going to be discussing it with my consultant.
The other thing I should mention - as it was one of my concerns - is the enthusiasm that my mother is currently demonstrating for a diet related cause and therefore cure. She is being uncharacteristically supportive - she does this occasionally - when you least expect her to! I feel a little humbled because in the past when I thought I had a food problem she always poopooed the idea! :humble: Now she is the world's greatest advocate! She too thought the Dinosaur was just that - but I still find it very difficult to challenge them when I am in a situation of feeling vulnerable. I guess I have always been respectful of them - I have friends from Uni who were Medics and I witnessed what they had to go through to get where they are. She said that I was being over-sensitive but as you say, Lesley, if they had it themselves things would be so different.
At least my boss is being brilliant. He phoned me while I was in hospital and when I told him I had basically been on the loo with watery D 33 times his response was "that would kill most people"! He has been incredibly supportive but he is unusual in that he is 60% deaf having developed tinnitus in the late 1990s and it frustrates the hell out of him. So I guess he is just more appreciative of debilitating diseases and disabilities.
Anyway I am going to be active today and get my act together!
Thank you all so much!
Anne
Thank you so much for your support and kind words! It is interesting what you say about a fever - the highest my temperature was in hospital was 37.2C (37C is clinically normal). However, they kept checking because every nurse coming in was saying you're very warm and I was feeling feverish. I didn't have the energy to say "well my normal temperature is between 35.8C and 36.4C" because they are never interested. I also rarely go pale - in fact I am the total opposite and tend to get very high colour when I am not well!
It's Saturday morning here in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim (although I grew up in Essex and Cambridge, Uni at Nottingham, jobs in Dunstable, Penrith in Cumbria, La Gomera in the Canary Islands, Newcastle upon Tyne before "settling" for 10 years in Marlborough, Wiltshire prior to moving here in 2001!) and I don't feel quite so weak, weapy and wimpish! Now I just feel stupid! But it is 8:15am and while I didn't sleep until about 2:00am I have decided that I need to do something today! I am in the process of redecorating my kitchen and am going to do some work in there this morning but I know to pace myself! I just hate feeling like an invalid and would like to cut the grass but it is soaked from the recent rains we have had so it will have to wait.
One thing i discovered yesterday when I was increasing my knowledge about gluten intolerance, coeliac etc was a condition called Dermatitis Herpetiformis. I had ignored it until one article I was reading about coeliac had photos of DH and I thought that looks awfully like the wierd rash I had for 3-4 years on both my shins. It cleared up spontaneously a year or two ago, so I can't show it to anyone, but it consisted of a load of red dots some of which were raised and blister like. It was very itchy so much so that I would often draw blood. I think I mentioned it one time to a doctor but I have a dry skin condition inherited from my father and the doc just said it is a form of exzema. As it only occurred on my shins and no where else and I don't have it currently I guess I will never know but I am defintely going to be discussing it with my consultant.
The other thing I should mention - as it was one of my concerns - is the enthusiasm that my mother is currently demonstrating for a diet related cause and therefore cure. She is being uncharacteristically supportive - she does this occasionally - when you least expect her to! I feel a little humbled because in the past when I thought I had a food problem she always poopooed the idea! :humble: Now she is the world's greatest advocate! She too thought the Dinosaur was just that - but I still find it very difficult to challenge them when I am in a situation of feeling vulnerable. I guess I have always been respectful of them - I have friends from Uni who were Medics and I witnessed what they had to go through to get where they are. She said that I was being over-sensitive but as you say, Lesley, if they had it themselves things would be so different.
At least my boss is being brilliant. He phoned me while I was in hospital and when I told him I had basically been on the loo with watery D 33 times his response was "that would kill most people"! He has been incredibly supportive but he is unusual in that he is 60% deaf having developed tinnitus in the late 1990s and it frustrates the hell out of him. So I guess he is just more appreciative of debilitating diseases and disabilities.
Anyway I am going to be active today and get my act together!
Thank you all so much!
Anne
- fatbuster205
- Gentoo Penguin
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 7:53 am
- Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
They suggested it was an infection and with hindsight I had a Chinese take away on Saturday evening and I was the only one who had boiled rice. Thinking about it now that may have been the problem - the timing seems right and the symptoms were particularly severe even for me. Thank goodness I am actually feeling a lot better now and am going to go back to work tomorrow. I have been painting and decorating and have just gone for a 4 mile walk so my energy has come right back up and my emotions are back under control! I just wish 16 July would arrive sooner and my appointment with my consultant!!
- MaggieRedwings
- King Penguin
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- fatbuster205
- Gentoo Penguin
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 7:53 am
- Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
OK thought I would just report that all is well again here thank goodness! I went back to work today and my energy level is right back up and the gut is behaving - just 2 normal BMs! I even went for a 4 mile walk, painted a wall in my kitchen and went shopping! My only fear is how long will this last this time? You all know the score! But I am going to stay positive as 2 weeks times I will have seen the consultant and hopefully will be getting some direction, guidance, advice or else I will be taking matters into my own hands! Thank you all for your support over the last few days and weeks! And I got my Vitamin D today and have started taking it so I hope to maintain the positive feelings!
Anne
Anne