Gut Stunts

So I called the doctor about the GERD and diffuse abdominal pain that has been haunting me since Thanksgiving.

And their staff couldn't seem to grasp what I wanted.

1. Better medication for the short term.

2. GI referral for the long term. Time to get scoped and imaged out the wazoo.

I sense I confused them.

"What have you been doing to deal with it?" they asked me, I suspect trying to wrap their minds around how someone can walk around with a complaint for so long.

All I can say is they must have better experiences with health care than I do. Also, I know there are no gallstones and ultrasound imaging was normal as of early 2010. I'm weird like that. Paying attention and sh*t.

If they knew precisely how long I've dealt with this pain, off and on, they'd probably hang up on me. This has been going on since I was in my 20s, only just becoming daily in the past year. Ignoring it is a pretty ingrained habit at this point.

It was not until the GERD blew up in conjunction with intensifying pain that I paid attention.

GERD I can't ignore. It is pretty much the worst pain I have ever known. Worse than labor (lots of things are worse than labor FYI, like the stomach flu, seriously). Because of GERD, I understand why people kill themselves due to pain.

If every day of my life was GERD on a rampage? I don't know if I could do it.

Prior to GERD meds, my parent had many ER trips for stomach pain. They vomited daily. They couldn't sleep and now they are pre-cancerous. Prilosec etc... came to late for them.

Medication has worked for me for 16 years.

Why has it stopped?

More importantly, is there any way we can get to where eating chocolate is not an act worthy of Evil Knievel?

Right now things are slightly better, but there are a lot of rules I have to follow to hold it all together. It's time to figure out what is going on.