A new start....

Well I mentioned in a previous post about paying to have an intolerance test done. I got the results on Friday but decided to start today so that I could have a final binge day yesterday.

 

There were not so many surprises as I think deep down I knew but didn't do anything about it earlier because I didn't know where to start or what food to cut out.

 

Well the verdict roughly is this...

 

wheat, corn, soya, chick pea, dinkle, hemp, rye flour

basil, blackcurrants, lettuce, Jujube Fruit, green beans, green pepper, tomatoes

lamb, mackerel, sardines, cod,

poppy seed, pecan nuts, sesame seeds, millet, fennel seeds, peanuts,

cows milk, egg whites

oh and the list goes on....

I also had such a long list of non-food items too which are mainly trees.

 

The idea was that over the next 2 weeks you slowly remove these things from your diet but I've decided to just go cold turkey with it because apart from wheat and milk, the rest I don't eat daily. So for 2 weeks I won't eat any of the food I can't and then after 2 weeks I'll slowly introduce each one back so if it causes me problems I'm not to have it again and if it doesn't I can eat it until my hearts content.

 

I was so stuck in what to eat when I first saw this list as most I actually eat but there is a small percentage I never tried. I ended up just going to the supermarket to pick up a variety of vegetables to try and coming home to look up recipes and ideas of what I can make with them. Also it was amazing to see how many items contain wheat, soya (chewing gum!) and egg.

 

My first meal today consisted of

Coconut Milk and Rice Krispies

I was surprised that the milk tastes of anything really, I thought it would have an over powering taste of coconut.

Do you know I often sat in the staffroom and admired all the different types of salads everyone was eating. I only twice tried it myself but ended up with the most outrageous stomach cramps with many visits to the toilet. So the first thing I had to try was a salad minus lettuce and green pepper and I was fine so that is a definite intolerance.

 

This salad has rocket, spinach, radish, sweet corn, sweet potato, orange pepper, apricot dried fruit, avocado and feta cheese.

 

I have never tried sweet potato, avocado or feta before. They were interesting but I think me and the avocado will part ways as it was the only thing that spoiled this salad for me. I'll give it a chance though since I have 3 more left... hopefully they will soften a bit more in that time.

Chicken kebabs, sweet potato mash and parsnips.

 

My husband kept asking me what I'll eat tonight but I just couldn't focus my mind on what I had decided to eat that I couldn't tell him. My mind was still swimming with all the recipes and ingredients. He then took it upon himself to buy some chicken mince but when he came back I realised I had nothing to bind the mince together as usually I use chickpea flour but couldn't. The other alternative was egg but I didn't want to waste a couple of eggs just for the yolk. In the end he told me to just make it like this without binding and see what happens. It actually worked getting the mince to stay on the skewers but the problem I had was that I couldn't tell if its cooked as they are so pale.

 

I've decided with this new found eating I should try and eat as healthy as possible (with occasional fried food). So I made oven parsnip chips which I'll need to put in much later as they dried out quickly. Two baked sweet potatoes which I mashed in the food processor... However I didn't like the whole combination of this meal, the parsnip had a flowery taste, the potato was too sweet (I felt quite sick by the end) and then the kebabs spicy that it didn't come together at all.

 

However I'm glad I tried it as its all such a learning experience. As I mentioned I never tried sweet potato before but I had also never tried parsnip before either.

 

My food photos aren't the greatest, they are something I've never been able to take properly but I hopefully they don't put you off trying them.

How are you?

I know it is quite dull reading these health posts of mine, I had always intended to keep this a happy, work free whinge blog but I feel the need to post about my health in case others are going through the same thing. Also I keep hoping that some people will come forward who may be able to help me... these are my previous posts.

 

So when I last wrote in June I was so pleased to say that I'd been diagnosed with Helicobactor Pylori. I started a course of 2 antibiotic for 7 days and a gastro resistance one for 45 days which wasn't at all a nice experience. I've hardly ever taken antibiotics so to take 2 types was a lot and I suffered the usual of metallic taste, sore throat, hot flushes etc... but I continued as my head felt so clear. Once I stopped that and continued with the gastro resistance it was awful as I suffered extreme bloating/trapped wind and swollen painful ankles that I had to go back to the doctors. He advised me to stop taking the medication as I didn't have long left and to watch everything sort itself out which it did. He told me to wait 2 weeks before doing another test and not before... I ended up waiting 3 weeks which was agonising as the stomach pain was slowly coming back, the tiredness, the seriously painful ears etc... They tell you to wait 10 days but I knew it wouldn't take long for the test to come back as last time I gave it on a Wednesday and heard from them on a Monday. This time it was a Monday so I knew if I didn't hear from them by Friday it would mean it was negative... Friday came and went... I ended up waiting until Wednesday the following week and then went to see the receptionist who told me it had come back. The next morning I got an appointment and went to see the doctor.

 

I knew straight away on seeing him that he was no use to me, he looked like the type of person you'd have a joke around with and not in the least bit serious. Well I went in, asked about the H.Pylori, as imagined it came back negative, so I was completely devastated as I'm back to square one of my battle. I mentioned my symptoms were the same and I've probably still got it, I was made to feel like a complete idiot because if the test is negative... it is negative!!... its not the case at all as I've read on many forums since I found out I had it that it can be negative but actually still have it. The doctor I saw in July said as much himself but he was on holiday at that point so there was no way I could just as easily go back to see him (why can't things be so straight forward!). He wouldn't move off his view of this. I then asked him to explain my symptoms as I'm in agony, he then went on to say I should take Lansoprazole, that's the best thing. Well that is the gastro resistant tablets that I had to stop taking, I was confused so in the end I said that I'm sure those are the ones I stopped taking due to the side effects. Again I was made out to be lying or a complete idiot because he claimed they have no side effects, he said it about 4 times 'they don't have any side effects'. In the end I got him to check a) if those are what I had taken ~yes~ b) what the side effects of it are which you click on that button to do... oh! It does have the side effects you mentioned on it. Never once did he apologise. By this point I'd already said I think I will need to see someone else which he said by all means get a 2nd opinion (insert colourful offensive words here). He then turned to me and told me I was really indecisive about what I wanted... excuse me! You are the doctor, not me, what do you suggest? Eventually he agreed to having a complete stomach scan to check all organs etc.... but I'm not sure if it will show me having any kind of bacteria still there, I hope that it can as I'd hate to have to push to have a camera put down my throat. I also asked him about maybe having allergies, maybe something like Lactose Intolerance and is there a test, he told me to stop eating certain things as no tests were available. I said to him I could just stop eating altogether then. Reading up later I found Lactose Intolerance has a fasting test available where you have to drink something to see what your levels do! Shows how much he knew.

 

After this appointment I came home quite upset. I came online and decided to have another attempt at trying to find a local place I can go to to have an allergy test done. I'd found some online that wanted around £150- £400 which I wouldn't mind spending but its a lot of money to put trust in a company on the internet but also its quite hard to image having to take your own blood. Anyway I first came across an article that said know the difference between an allergy and an intolerance. That got me thinking as I'd really struggled finding allergy testing places. I typed in Intolerance tests and the first one that came up was The Intolerance Test Group. I was completely taken to this one as it was so simple, you send in hair, all communication is done through an e-mail so no need to worry about waiting for a phone call and trying to find a time for them to phone me due to my hours and you pay through PayPal. The bonus of it all is that the intolerance test is £45 to test 600 food and none food items. I paid an extra £5 for the nutritional test too as they test a further 80 things your body needs and to be honest I've never even heard of 85% of the list of things listed so its worth it.. I'm now waiting patiently to see if anything comes up. Its something I've considered a long time but didn't know how to go about it until this year to be honest when I started looking things up.

 

For a week I was in absolute agony as to put it nicely I'm seriously constipated. On the day I went to see him it felt like I had a brick in my lower abdomen, I couldn't sit, walk and was so uncomfortable. I've always had pain in my lower abdomen or on the side which is maybe why it was hard for them to pick up I had H.Pylori before hand as I didn't have the typical heartburn, indigestion and I can eat like a horse (which shows!). I had some Senokot which I bought in February so I took one for about 2 days which eased things a little but I didn't want to take too much as the doctor had completely ignored that I was in pain and didn't even tell me what to do. I knew that now with the scan being agreed to, none of the doctors will do anything until that is done. I've forgotten to mention that my ankle pain has been one thing that has never been sorted, there are days I can't stand up first thing in the morning and have almost killed myself by almost falling. These were absolutely horrendous in this week so by the following Wednesday I had spasms all the way up my left leg that I was practically dragging my leg. I went back to the doctor as imagined he didn't want to do anything with a scan on the list. He also refused to even consider that I may still have H.Pylori, he said it will be IBS which I will only now consider if all tests done don't come up with anything. I'd mentioned I'd taken some Senokot which he was pleased with and told me to continue with it for another 10 days! That just showed what a joke the whole thing was... I took it for 2 and on the 3rd day I woke up with a slicing pain in my abdomen. I've not taken any since but can you imagine if I took it for 10! I feel at a complete loss as they haven't helped me in the least bit. I also mentioned to him about the test just to see what he'd say. He told me to save my money as these things are pointless but its not any better then what you are doing for me.

I now need to wait until this scan is done but I haven't in 2 weeks received an appointment so who knows when it will be done.

 

I've been keeping on top of my blood pressure and actually purchased a machine to check. The reason was that my ears were so painful I also couldn't bear it but my 24 hour check isn't until 2 weeks away (I've had this appointment since June which is such a long time to wait). I knew the doctors wouldn't do anything so on buying my machine I was shocked to see it was normal (117) so it didn't make sense. I typed in painful ears on the internet and came across this website, I decided to try the one where you hold you nose and breath. To start with it worked for an hour or two then started hurting again but after doing it a few times its helped a lot.  Since all this stomach problem its slowly going up again so probably by the time I have my test it will be on an all time high. I will then be given a prescription to deal with that instead of the actual thing causing it.

Oh! I will just have to wait and see how things go. Wish me luck!

My Health Right Now

In November I posted this blog post about my health. Today I'm going to continue from it as I have spent the last couple of months continuing to search around on the internet for things that could possibly be wrong but nothing quite fitting.

 

After I had many blood tests etc in November, the only thing to come back was that I had a none existent amount of Vitamin D in my blood. I wish I had paid more attention to exactly what the number was but I'm convinced the box was empty and the doctor had told me that their lab can only test to a certain point and mine was below that. I have now taken the vitamins for 6 months and last week had a blood test to see how things are going... I have had the most horrendous experience with these vitamins and when I mentioned it to the doctor last week he said it couldn't possibly be the vitamins... I'll get back to him in a minute! Having read most of the websites and come across some of the forums it has made me feel so much better knowing that I wasn't going insane. As I learned from these websites Vitamin D is also a hormone, so me once upon a time telling a doctor that I thought I had a hormone imbalance was right even though he made me feel stupid and told me there was no such thing. Due to it being a hormone it resulted in me feeling like I was going through my menopause, it started with hot flushes, the extreme tiredness where I'd yawn my head off and think I was going to pass out because I couldn't keep my eyes open. Then by February I started to suffer phantom pregnancy minus the sickness and cravings, I put on a little weight, my breasts felt huge and tender, bloatedness etc... it was awful (reading the forum most women complained of this). This lasted until the beginning of this month when I finally decided to buy a pregnancy test in case I was in denial, it said it would tell me in 5 minutes but told me in less then a minute that I wasn't. It flicked a switch in my brain and my body started calming down and I feel so much lighter even though I haven't lost the weight. I did go to the doctor in February also as I was running out of vitamins and still felt rough, he told me that they prefer people to take 6 months worth before they will consider anymore tests so I knew it was pointless going back until then.

 

Despite all that though I was convinced there still wasn't something right and still with my digestive system, I was struggling to breath, my back was hurting, the pain was and is so bad with my stomach, rumbling stomach but the weirdest of all is that I could taste mint in food that doesn't contain it. I waiting until last week to see the doctor and the nurse, this turned in to a big mess but at least I finally got to see both. The conversation with the doctor was one in a dream (nightmare) as I couldn't believe what was happening or being said... so I went in, mentioned a few symptoms, asked if I'd had an under active thyroid test done in November as that is the only hormonal thing my symptoms fitted in with and the answer to that was yes. I went on to the digestive side as the only thing to come up for tasting mint in my food was Gerd but it turns out in the UK its called Gord (I just said acid reflux to the doctor), my symptoms matched to a point with that but he wouldn't accept it as I wasn't being sick. This time I'd made a list of all my symptoms and when I took it out, he took this as 'its time to have the depression talk', fold arms, look relaxed and ask about...'work, family' and my response was 'I am not depressed', he nearly fell off his chair. It was a case of you are the doctor, I am the patient, I have a problem and you are the only one that can either suggest what's wrong or send me for tests.... 'oh but there are millions of tests', Grrr... He then sat up a little straighter and asked if my niece was mine! Well hello! If I had a child wouldn't it be on the system, he told me it wasn't reliable and its best to ask these things. The only reason she was with me is because my mum is in hospital for a routine stay for her skin and my husband wanted a break from looking after her. Anyway after both of us looked like an idiot for a second, he stuck his big fat foot in it again (he's actually slim and probably has a slim foot but still!) by asking about my Kidney problem... What Kidney problem? I bellowed at him, almost ready to have something explode inside of me at this point. He meant my fibroid but had just glanced at the subject titles on the screen (so like all doctors he hadn't read up on me before I went). Eventually he told me to give a urine and stool sample, I got a phone call later for an ECG as he probably thought of my struggling to breath. I am asthmatic by the way and have been since I was a child, his specialist subject is for patients with asthma. My inhalers aren't helping my breathing though so I thought he might do the routine asthma tests to see what level my breathing is at but no. I had my ECG test today which was fine thankfully, I also got a phone call before going for a prescription collection... it turns out I have helicobacter pylori antigen. The thing is that last month my sister mentioned my symptoms to someone we know who is a nurse and she told my sister this very thing, I looked it up but only 2 of the symptoms matched but it just shows you can't believe everything that the internet says.

In November everything was tested but my blood pressure. I mentioned this to my sister so this time I went and got it checked, it was high. I had it tested again today and its still high (average is 130 mine is 142) so I've been booked in for a 24 hour blood pressure check in September. This is the last possible thing of my symptoms being sorted as I've been suffering from headaches and pressure in my ears. I am however hoping that now with my stomach problem finally (and possibly) being sorted it may calm things down there as I've felt so stressed by it. I have hardly gone outside, read my kindle, as you know blogged, wrote letters etc... I just couldn't and still can't focus on anything. Its really getting me down as all the things I enjoy I can't do. I have had to force myself to take part in swaps in order to get some mail but also to keep busy in some way rather then sitting around and with those I hardly have to think. I'm now also awaiting my vitamin test results back so lets see how things go there.

I hope now that this is now my road to recovery... I do not have IBS and I'm so glad I didn't just accept it as being so even though its been an awful 9 years where I have been forced to believe it was.

One of you must have said a really good pray for me. Now I need you to do the same for a house as we saw one recently, tried to buy it but the seller isn't interested (I have other viewings!) Basically she's hoping for a bidding war but it hasn't happened and we are the only ones to make an offer so far.

Hoping for an Outcome.....

Hi All... Really missed you but I haven't been online much considering my laptop is once again working! Isn't technology funny... thankfully the problem wasn't as bad as my brother thought and it didn't cost me a bean but a lot of my brothers time instead. It turned out that the wire connecting to my web cam was short circuiting and in the end caused my whole laptop to stop working. Since getting the internet back I've just been looking at houses which isn't going anywhere....

 

Since the last 2 weeks though I started suffering bad stomach pain, tiredness, headaches..... etc... again and this week it got so bad I haven't been to work since Wednesday and all I have done is sleep. I woke up late today as my niece didn't go to school either as she came back from school yesterday with a really bad cough which has got worse... she like me never took a day off . Well anyway with getting up late I knew I wouldn't get a doctors appointment so I phoned asking for a doctor to phone me, it was just after 11am... I rudely got told to phone back tomorrow. I told my mum and she told me to phone back and ask them what to do if they are not willing to let a doctor phone me. So I did, I got told that if I want an appointment or for a doctors call back  I have to phone before 11am! I mentioned I had stomach pains, she instantly arranged it, the doctor phoned me by 3pm and I had an appointment for 4.40pm... and the disgusting thing was that the surgery was empty and there are probably people like me who needed to be seen! The thing is if you don't go to the doctors for some month like me and they change rules you never know about them as before you could get a doctors call back at any time of the day.

 

I know you don't care about my medical history but I'll tell you anyway so you get a better picture.... Since hitting puberty I've always suffered from bad stomach pains, by the time I was 18 it was really bad, my mum even took me to the doctors and he told her I needed to lose weight so should eat boiled veg! I wasn't even as fat as I am now... By the time I was 20 it was even worse that I was having black outs whilst walking and one day fainted at work which resulted in me going back but this time seeing someone else who thought it was my kidneys. The kidney specialist accused me of being pregnant and being too scared to tell my parents.... if I was that wild in doing things I would have had the guts to tell my parents but I wasn't.... from this though I got called in for a scan as it must have come up as me being pregnant... in the scan the man doing it said something really unprofessional like oh my god... I was like what the heck.... he sent me to drink more water whilst he called a friend for a 2nd opinion and from there things got rolling so for my 21st I found I had a fibroid. Just before my 23rd birthday I had it removed... Despite all this I'm really grateful that I only had the one as some people have lots which continually grow and have to be continously removed, that would have been so hard for me as I found that one emotionally draining.

 

In those 8 years though the stomach pain has never gone, its just at some points its been calmer then others. I go to the doctors when I can't cope anymore with it and usually I'm just sent on my way feeling stupid for even going... as I either get told its a viral thing, the doctor looks at me bored or they smirk at me. I always thought it was hormonal problems because of my fibroid but someone at work was diagnosed with Crohns Disease so I looked it up... I knew I didn't have that but realised I had some form of digestive problem even though IBS has been mentioned but I can't accept that as its such an easy thing to say as there is no cure and is really common... I would accept it if everything else had been ruled out first. I did my research online but found nothing that fit completely... the only thing that came close is Colitis minus the weight loss and bloody stools.

 

I imagined a similar response to all the others today also, I told my mum before I went whats the point they won't even give me medication for it or even listen to what I have to say..... I was so wrong, she was a bit weird at first as she wanted me to talk and I'm used to the questions so I rambled on... she checked my stomach... almost had me screaming in pain as she pushed an area I didn't even know hurt and then she asked about blood test etc... and eventually listed all the digestive disease she thought possible, as well as asked for other things.... and now I need to give those tomorrow.

 

I know this sounds weird to some but I really really hope that something will come of this, of course people want to be healthy and not have a title of some sort but for me to have some 'title' to my stomach pains will be a relief and it will hopefully get doctors to take me more seriously, to have some sort of relief from it all... I'm not one for taking medication and it will be hard to take a tablet before meals or whatever but if it stops/controls the pain, tiredness, nausea (imagine having that sickness feeling for majority of your day) etc... its something I'll have to get used to. Hopefully also it will mean the doctors monitoring the condition more to stop it getting worse and for 2 illnesses to get together. The digestive side of the problem will be connected to my fibroid as it pushes on your bladder like a baby... in my case the fibroid actually shattered my womb so pushed on more organs... I'm still told I can have kids but until I try I'll never know...

 

I'm hoping that 10 years later, I will have another closure in finding out what the problem is this time, it might hopefully get the ball rolling in some good luck this time (in me finding a house, a more satisfying job, children..) With my fibroid it was a closure but bought bad luck.... my grand-dad came to England for 6 months and that resulted in his never being able to go back until he died 2 months after I got married... he had Hep B which was dignoised here and they made a break through with his condition... my dad died 6 months after my operation... many other relatives have passed away.... I'll have to do a list of things I'm grateful for in those 10 years as I can't help thinking of all the nasty things in that time.

 

I better stop as I know this has got to be such a long post.... Please keep your fingers crossed (or in your prayers) that something will come of this situation finally.