I Just Had An Eye-Opening Experience

Post by **tex** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:12 pm

Hi All,

Since I'm too sick to work today, (part of my job is rather physically demanding), I'm mostly just sittin' around and staring at the computer monitor, reading and writing posts, checking updates on Ike, etc. I feel that what just happened to me, sheds some significant light on the way that some of us experience digestive system issues during a reaction, so it may be worth posting.

Most of us react with mostly D, while a few of us react with alternating D and C. Some of us have nausea/vomiting along with our reactions, while others do not. I am one who has always had the alternating version. I have always suspected that when the C phase took over, it was because my gut had virtually shut down, and motility ceased, (IOW, the normal peristaltic pumping action stops, and everything starts backing up in the intestines). Actually, in hindsight, that seems like a "no-brainer", but it never occurred to me that the the connection with nausea/vomiting could be so direct, and so "instantaneous".

I hadn't had a BM since this stuff started, (which I still think is due to a virus). Yesterday, I tried to eat almost normally, (as best I could), and today, I started with eggs and bacon, but since I was feeling a bit worse, I ate soup at noon. I was feeling pretty good, (tummy-wise), after eating the soup, if I do say so myself. Apparently that exceeded the capacity of my lumen, however, because about two hours later, (about the time when the stomach should have begun emptying the chime, (partially digested food), into the small intestine, I started feeling a bit nauseated, and as it progressed, over about a half hour at the most, I could see that I was going to vomit - there wasn't any question about it. I was already at the stage marked by intensive sweating, and I felt like hell. I still hadn't experienced the esophageal "wash-down", though, that marks the body's final preparation, prior to vomiting. (I'm referring to the copious amounts of saliva and other juices that are generated prior to vomiting, so that they can be swallowed, to coat the lining of the esophagus, and thereby help to protect the delicate epithelium from the harsh stomach acid.)

Now I am not one to rush into anything, especially something as unpleasant as projectile vomiting, so as I resigned myself to my fate, and sat there trying to calculate just how much time I had left, before evacuation of the premises became mandatory, (which isn't easy with a foggy brain), a strange thing happened. Surprisingly, I felt my bowels come to life, as if they had suddenly kicked into gear. After a huge BM, (mostly D), the nausea completely disappeared, I belched a few times, and felt great, (well, except for the body aches and pains).

If nothing else, I feel that this proves that when enteritis sets in, (whether from the flu, MC, or whatever), my motility shuts down pretty much 100%, (at least in the early stages). Now I'm pretty sure that this would only apply to those of us who experience nausea/vomiting as part of their reaction symptoms, and there's no reason to suspect that it even applies to everyone in that subset, for that matter. If you are having D before or during the episodes of nausea/vomiting, then obviously your motility is still active. Therefore, this probably can only apply to those of us who have alternating D and C.

Most of us, of course, have reactions with persistent D, (which implies hypermotility, and what I experienced is the exact opposite of that, thus demonstrating once again, how different we are. While I'm pretty sure that my experience yesterday and today is due to a virus, as best as I can tell, my MC reactions followed a very similar pattern. However, I can't recall any times in the past, when I was having a reaction, that D came along to save the day, (IOW, to preempt the vomiting), but then, that's not surprising I suppose, because MC is not a very cooperative disease.

So my question is, "has anyone else ever experienced this phenomenon, where your gut motility just stops?" Am I the only one?

Just curious,
Tex

kate_ce1995 · Post by **kate_ce1995** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 5:52 am

I can't say I've ever experienced complete loss of gut motility...in fact I'm much more prone to the D side of things.

But I am a firm believer that when gorging oneself on food (say Thanksgiving dinner...it's really the only appropriate time), getting up and going to the potty between the main course and desert offers the gut "wiggle room" and you are more likely to enjoy the final course having given the whole system more capacity.

Hope this bug takes it's leave soon.
Katy

barbaranoela · Post by **barbaranoela** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 7:59 am

Galahad---hope U r feeling better--and am trusting that all that hit your area was just rain---

Columbo

Post by **tex** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:10 am

Katy,

That's packing it in, but it certainly makes sense.

I hope this thing lets up pretty soon too - I'm getting tired of waking up in a soaking wet bed every morning, (makes me dang glad that men don't have to go through menopause). I feel better this morning, with less aches and pains, too, so maybe it's about done.

Mrs. Columbo,

It still hasn't done much here, but the wind continues to slowly increase. It's a little less than a hundred miles away from us right now, but it's still a category one hurricane, and it will probably be mid-afternoon before it gets degraded to a tropical storm rating. It isn't even raining here yet, (but that's probably because we would like to see a good soaking rain), just a little mist, once in a while - of course we're on the dry side of it. They're predicting 2 to 4 inches, but I'll be surprised if we get anything close to that. Winds are forecast to increase in an hour or so to around 40 mph, with gusts to 60, but right now it's only about halfway there. We shouldn't have any major problems as long as it doesn't get any worse than that. The power blipped off a few hours ago, but right now we're fine.

Millions of people south of us are without power, though, and in some places, they're estimating it may take up to three weeks to get power restored to all areas. The dollar value of losses due to this storm will probably be much greater than the damage from Rita, even though Rita was a more powerful storm. Ike is covering a much larger area with hurricane force winds and storm surges. The good news is that it's picking up speed, and by Monday morning, it should be up just west of you, (between you and the Great Lakes), but by then, of course, it won't be anything but a rainmaker.

Luve,
Galahad

P S Spoke too soon - it just started raining.

jodibelle352 · Post by **jodibelle352** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:28 am

Glad to hear from you Tex:
Hope you're feeling better. Do you have anything you can share with me about where my niece is located. I posted some photo's she took before IKE hit last night but am unable to connect with the weather site she sent me and of course she's only about 16 -18 miles from Houston and what we've seen already on the news we're quite worried.
Thank Goodness you're okay. Has anyone heard from any of our other friends and family members yet today?
Love, Prayers and God Bless:
Jodi

Post by **tex** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:47 am

Jodi,

I posted that info on the thread you started:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8362

Most of the members of our board, (except the ones in Houston), shouldn't be significantly impacted by Ike. I think we have one or two "non-posting" members north of there who might be in the storm track, but I don't recall offhand who they are, or where they are located.

Love,
Tex

P S Many TV stations in that area are unable to broadcast. Many of them are streaming weather data via the internet, (I assume your niece sent you a link to one of them), but the problem is that some of their ISPs could be down, also.

jodibelle352 · Post by **jodibelle352** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:35 am

You correct about not being able to check the weather site she sent us. Don't seem to beable to connect to that site at all.
I did receive a call just a few minutes ago from her brother Phillip who said that her and Len are doing ok and that they weathered the storm but are without power and don't know when service will be restored.
Can't help worrying about you and the others in our support group who are or maybe in harms way. Don't feel like loosing communication with any of you at this time. So you stay safe, and get well quickly..........PLEASE?
Love Ya:
Jodi

Marilyn · Post by **Marilyn** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:23 am

Tex, Yes I have experienced those very symptoms three times. No vomiting but nausea and chills, I felt very sick and then D and I was better.
Love,
Marilyn

Post by **tex** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:59 am

Jodi,

Well, if you're going to worry, anyway, here are some weather sites that are working:

This first one is in Houston:

http://www.click2houston.com/weather/index.html

Here's the National Weather Service enhanced radar for the Houston/Galveston area, (also showing special warning areas, etc.):

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid= ... 11&loop=no

If you're looking for a reference point on the radar map, Humble is located slightly north of the outer loop that goes around Houston, just about midway between the center line and the NE corner of the loop. Note that all the tornado watch areas are far away, over toward the Louisiana border.

This site shows the progress of the storm as it developed out in the gulf, made landfall, and where it is now, (scroll down to the larger radar image farther down the page, and give it time to load):

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tr ... ml#a_topad

The storm is moving past us now, but we're still looking good, here.

Love,
Tex

Post by **tex** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 12:14 pm

Marilyn,

Very interesting. That verifies what I'm thinking - as a group, we certainly have a wide range of responses.

Thanks,

Love,
Tex

Liz · Post by **Liz** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 1:13 am

Hi Wayne,

Your experience is similar to what I am getting now. After over 30 years of constant D I now have the sort of thing where everything seems to grind to a halt & I go 2/3 days without a BM then the dam bursts & it is full bore again for a period. It think that my bowel is just plain tuckered out after so long with D & then makes a valiant effort to come back to life. I experience something similar with excess saliva too, although I rarely vomit after. It is oesophageal spasm & I feel as though I am choking. & the saliva will not go down my throat as much as I try to swallow. I have a had this problem for many years, even when I had the constant D.

Hope that you are keeping safe.

Love

Liz

Post by **tex** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:11 am

Hi Liz,

Speaking of problems swallowing, I noticed something this morning along those lines. I've had something that at least feels like the flu for four days now. Because the type of work that I do is hard on my knee and hip joints, I usually take a couple of glucosamine sulphate with condroitin pills each morning, to help with regrowth of cartilage in the joints. Since I wasn't able to work anyway, and didn't feel like taking any pills, I just skipped them for the past couple of mornings - they're kind of large, and not much fun to swallow, anyway.

I was felling a little better this morning, so I decided to take a couple of them, but I had a heck of a time getting them down. I'm not sure why that happened, because my throat is not sore, and doesn't seem to be swollen, so it may be due to some sort of flu symptom. I usually had that same problem during MC reactions, and I've been feeling pretty much the same as I did whenever I was having an MC reaction, with severe body aches and pains, headache, stiff neck, brain fog, bloating, etc., but D has not been a problem, except for that one instance, and here I am again at the second day, without a BM of any sort.

Yesterday and the day before, I also had TMJ, (TemporoMandibular Joint), symptoms, (where my jaws ached, and I couldn't open my mouth very wide), which I also often had during MC episodes. Apparently most, (maybe all), of these symptoms are caused by the leaky gut syndrome, and it can be triggered by virtually any form of enteritis. That suggests that sumptoms of the flu, and MC, are virtually identical, (because they are caused by the same mechanism), except that the flu doesn't last forever. Something about MC apparently causes the tight junctions in the epithelium of the intestines to remain open, which perpetuates the reaction. Hmmmmmmmm.

Thanks for the info.

Love,
Wayne