Health update.
I know it’s been a minute. I just haven’t felt well.
Okay let’s run through the dates…
11-25-2024 Met with a dietician to talk about the elemental diet and figuring out what I am allergic to. She was zero percent helpful. Which not to be dick, but she was pretty unhelpful back when I met with her last June and I was hoping it would be different this time but it wasn’t.
11-26-2024 Had an allergic reaction to propranolol, which I was trying instead of the metoprolol succinate ER (MSER) I was on. So then I had to take some Zyrtec and felt like shit for the rest of the day. And ended the day getting my period.
11-27-2024 Met with the PA who works under my PCP and she prescribed me metoprolol titrate (which is taken twice a day, not once a day) which would hopefully help what I thought was hypoglycemia from the MSER I was on. And then started taking that med that day.
11-28-2024 Felt like shit on Thanksgiving and was having issues eating.
11-29-2024 Met with my allergist and she said she isn’t sure exactly what is going on with me but said I should start taking 4 Allegra a day and see if that helps. So I started taking all of that Allegra on Friday. It kind of made me itchy and tired but I think it did help the inflammation in my intestines. I also decided to stop taking the metoprolol titrate because I hated the way it was making me feel.
11-30-2024 Decided to just not take any beta blocker and let the Allegra do its thing. Then Saturday night I could barely walk around because I was so dizzy and light-headed i gave in decided just to go back to the metoprolol titrate.
12-01-2024 Took a metoprolol titrate in the morning. Didn’t feel good all day along with the Allegra which was just super intense for my body. And I decided just to go back to the OG MSER.
12-02-2024 Decided to only take 2 Allegra this day to see if that would help some of the dizziness, it didn’t. Then I decided to reach out to my allergist and ask for cromolyn sodium. To my surprise she said yes.
12-04-2024 Met with my gastroenterologist. Basically just told her how sick I am of this whole bullshit. She said she isn’t sure what is going on besides maybe some IBS and would refer me to Henry Ford gastroenterology to have them give a second opinion. I also called my allergist and asked if I should titrate up the cromolyn sodium to which I never received a call back.
Sidebar – I just don’t understand why can’t my whole team of doctors meet up here and figure out what the hell is going on with me. My symptoms are non-descriptive and involve multiple body systems and no one wants to take ownership over figuring out what the diagnosis or multiple diagnoses are.
12-05-2024 Started taking the cromolyn sodium using my own research of titrating up the doses. So I started off with 1 vial and would work my way up to the 4 vials per day. That first day I felt really out of it. Like I was living in a simulation and wasn’t in control of my body. However, the medicine did help my poop and changed it from yellow / orange to a normal brown color and started to firm it up. It was a miracle. Or so I thought.
12-06-2024 to 12-09-2024 Started to titrate up the cromolyn sodium. So, I started off with 1 vial for 2 days and then went up to 2 vials for 2 days and so on. However, I started noticing that I was getting these terrible migraines that were making me feel like I wasn’t in my body. I was having a sore throat and congestion and just overall malaise. I also was starting to get constipated, like really badly. So I took some miralax and 1 chewable dulcolax on Monday night… that’s when all hell broke loose…
12-09-2024 Midnight. I woke up and had to go to the bathroom and while I was pushing, I started to hear just like water droplets in the toilet. I looked down and it was like a blood faucet had been turned on. I wiped and the toilet paper was completely soaked with blood. I proceeded to my bedroom and had a panic attack. My mom helped talk me through everything but I was freaked the fuck out and barely slept that night.
12-10-2024 I took my next dose of cromolyn (only 1 vial this morning) and proceeded to just be so dizzy and out of it I couldn’t even focus or look straight. Like I was looking at my wall and I couldn’t even have enough visual focus to see that well. I was seriously freaked out and thought it was from blood-loss from my still bleeding butt. I called the GI doctor and my PCPs office to which they told me that it was most likely a burst hemorrhoid and it would just need to close up on its own. Not super reassuring but also what could I do? I decided that the cromolyn was giving me terrible migraines and decided to stop that. I also had to take a muscle relaxer this day because I couldn’t stop the body tremors and shakes and migraine pain I was in.
12-11-2024 Still having a really bad migraine that gets worse when I try to focus on things. However, I was able to work which was a plus. I took another muscle relaxer because again I was having really bad tremors and shakes but the visual craziness was getting a little bit better.
12-12-2024 I woke up super congested and just feeling overall terrible. What is freaking new. Took the day off work and turned on my humidifier. Finally took a shower today which felt good. Still having a bad migraine on and off but at least I sort of feel like I’m getting a grip on reality again and not feeling like an alien so distant from Earth.
And let me just say throughout this entire experience, I’ve been trying to work but ended up just having to take a ton of days off. It’s been terrible and has made me feel just horrible but what else am I supposed to do.
I also have been struggling to even get out of bed and shower. I just want to be able to do basic life things but I can’t and it sucks.
Health issues is not for the weak of soul. I think about if this had happened to other family members or friends and I just know they wouldn’t be able to handle this.
I know I’ll get through this eventually but right now it feels like a never-ending story.
I have a ton of thoughts and theories, which is one plus from going through all of this bullshit is I feel like I learn new things about what could be the central issue to this. I don’t really feel like writing them all out right now but I’m going to get a large whiteboard (because that’s when I do my best thinking) and create a web with all of my ideas. So stay tuned. When I draft that…I’ll come back and post it.
(Picture is from University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.)