I think it started back in May while I was still working for this medical lab via a staffing agency. The first time I threw up unprovoked was at lunch. It was a normal tuna wrap my sister Robin made for me that morning before work. There was nothing out of the ordinary. At that time I chalked it up to either the heat or where I worked.
After a couple weeks went by I started vomiting more frequently. At first it was after a meal I either ate too much, ate too fast, or ate something questionable. I started to get frustrated so in a desperate attempt to make my food more palatable I started putting hot sauce and crushed red peppers on everything. This wasn’t something I normally did but rather on occasion to spice up certain meals. But because I was feeling weird and Robin was getting into me about the spices I kept going. Turns out this contributed to my current condition.
In June it got to the point where I was throwing up multiple times a week. I could hardly keep anything down and nothing made sense. I started talking to my doctor about it and he prescribed an appetite suppressant believing I was eating too much as Robin suggested. That drug only gave me nausea and more intense vomiting began. After a week on the new drug I checked into the E.R. and started begging for answers. I was shocked to have them come back with blank stares. I was recommended to see a GI specialist and sent home with a note to miss work.
After that things got worse. I stopped taking the drug that I thought was making things worse. I started changing my diet based on what information I had. Mostly it was adjusting to account for the prediabetes I had been diagnosed with and the high cholesterol. This didn’t help and pretty soon I was at the point every single meal I ate return in force. Then it got worse.
By the middle of July I was vomiting everything, even water! I was afraid to take my pills. I was afraid to eat. I was in intense, constant pain because of the throwing up all the time. Then came the worst part yet, the dry heaves. I wasn’t even eating and my stomach was trying to expel something. It was this point in time I became truly desperate. I had to wait until the start of August to get into a GI doctor. Five minutes in her office and she already knew what to do. She put me on a liquid only diet. She restricted the things I ate cutting me off from acidic foods, spices, dairy, gluten and soy. At first this left me in a different distress as while I had answers I was still in pain and was on a very limited diet. Due to some miscommunication on my part for, no surprise, not paying attention to what she was saying in the office visit, I wasn’t following the diet perfectly and was missing out on foods she said I could have. For two weeks it was soups and rice for me with Jello on the side. Then the pain returned in full force.
Finally last Wednesday I got tired of the pain. I called both of my doctors my primary and specialist. I explained the updated situation and they both agreed it was more urgent. The each recommended the same thing and once I made those changes I have felt fine ever since. Today, one week later. I am back to eating normally. Not the way I did before all this but eating regular food again. I still stick to the restrictions she gave me and I take all the various medications as instructed.
The moral of the story is this, listen to your body and seek medical help if something out of the ordinary is taking place. If you are throwing up for any reason other than gluttony or food poisoning then check with your doctor, right away. The damage that was done to my body is permanent. It will not heal. There is no cure. I will never be the same as I was three months ago. The physical toll taken on my body cannot be reversed. Not to mention the financial crisis I am currently facing due to missing so much work.
I almost died because I didn’t listen to my body. I didn’t listen to my loved ones warning me I was pushing myself to the limits. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Take better care of yourself because damn it all this was beyond miserable. I was legit begging God to just let me die.
At one point cancer was a suspect in all of this. That week of waiting on test results was the worst week of my life. I had all kinds of thoughts going through my head. In the end it could still be elsewhere but more tests are required. I am not out of the woods yet. Right now I have a plan to move forward and way to eat regular foods again. The pain has subsided but it took medication and persistence to make that possible. I don’t feel 100 percent. I am operating at 75 percent and likely will remain so for the foreseeable future. Listen to your body, it knows when something is wrong. I should know, mine was trying to kill me.
Stephanie Bri 