You gotta take me back outside

[venta]

About a fortnight ago, I finally took myself off to the doctors. Some my knuckles have been painful since about the beginning of October, and after a bit of poking and prodding she said that yes, I probably was beginning to develop arthritis.

She recommended a two month course of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and some blood tests to check that it was just boring you're-getting-old arthritis, not a scary auto-immune kind. Which all seemed perfectly reasonable, except I mentioned that taking NSAIs has given me a bad stomach before. No problems, she'd prescribe me some extra drugs to look after my stomach[*].

So off I went. After a week or so of taking them, I wasn't feeling all that well - I was suffering what someone on my friends' list habitually describes as "digestive unglam". After another couple of days, it had got a lot worse. My stomach felt bulky and uncomfortable, I had persistent gut pain, and large areas of my stomach were really sore to touch. I stopped taking the tablets. It didn't get any better.

Since I had to go in to the surgery for the blood tests, I popped in to the doctor's to enquire. She poked and prodded me, and said hmm. That doesn't sound like a reaction to drugs, that sounds like appendicitis.

So, off I went to Charing Cross hospital[**] A&E, and was seen immediately by a bewildering range of people who all wanted to do poking and prodding, and extract samples. (When the doctor said the hospital would want blood samples, I asked if I could take the ones I'd just given along with me. Apparently not :-)

The surgeon very quickly decided it wasn't appendicitis. Despite my theory that him pushing on my stomach was bloomin' painful, it wasn't painful enough, and there didn't appear to be enough swelling. So he did extra poking and prodding (including a rectal exam, lucky me) and sent me off to be x-rayed and ultrasounded.

After that flurry of activity there was a lot of waiting around at the end of which the surgeon told me that they couldn't find anything wrong with me. They offered me options of remaining in hospital under observation, or of going home and filing it under "one of those things". I took the latter (with instructions to return if anything got worse).

It didn't get worse. Despite being officially informed that there was Nothing Wong, my stomach boldly persisted for a few days with the griping pain. Eventually, seeing that it didn't seem to be achieving anything, it gave up. By Friday last week I felt I was back to normal and resumed eating properly.

Also on Friday, I phoned the surgery to get the blood test results, and apparently there was nothing interesting in them, either. Suppose I should get back on taking the tablets, really.

So, as of now I am Officially Very Healthy. Nothing wrong with me at all. Oh, except that I've now got a cold which, in the way of its kind, is making feel worse than the thing that sent me to hospital ;)

[*] Naproxen and Omeprazole, if anyone cares.
[**] Which is not in Charing Cross, it's in Hammersmith. Not to be confused with Hammersmith hospital, which is in Shepherds Bush.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I'm talking to my doctor about mysterious stomach problems too. But mine doesn't hurt when prodded.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I do have my fair share of mysterious stomach problems, though usually not severe. It was the painful-to-touch thing which was most worrying, as it's quite unfamiliar. Good luck with getting yours diagnosed and (I hope!) fixed.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Ah, my old friend Naproxen. Doctors say it's an anti-inflammatory, but I reckon that's just a cover story for the NHS death squads.

It must be nice to be Officially Healthy, at least :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm, so that's anecdotal discrecommendations for both the drugs they gave me. Excellent :-)

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

To be fair, it's a little bit unusual for an asthmatic to be fine on ibuprofen but stop breathing on naproxen. But who wants to be normal?

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I have to say, omeprazole makes my stomach pains and symptoms worse, not better. I know what it's meant to do but whatever it is doing, it's not that.

Currently I'm getting "well it is probably part of Chronic Condition No.1 or Chronic Condition No.2" which is ... unhelpful as diagnosis goes. Not least since they don't really have much in common and there's certainly no way I can judge from that what I should actually be doing about it. I had to stop taking the best drug for CCN2 because it was definitely causing some of the stomach symptoms; now I am in the limbo period waiting to get on to another drug regime for CCN2 and I'm still getting some of the symptoms. *sigh*

[venta.livejournal.com]

Actually, though I in no way want to have appendicitis or to have stomach surgery, there was something quite appealing about being diagnosed with a Thing which had a Name and a Clear Course of Action. Everything I suffer from ends up being diagnosed as "er... dunno, really". Fortunately, nothing is especially chronic or debilitating, usually just tiresome. Good luck with getting an appropriate replacement drug.

[ceb.livejournal.com]

You are a mystery to medical science!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Weirdly, several doctors said that about me when I was small! (Um, starting with the one who'd told my mum it was physically impossible for her to get pregnant...)

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Sympathies - that all sounds pretty miserable, even if you've ended up Officially Healthy after all. It's still not great to need to go back onto tablets of a type which have now twice given you stomach nasties, even if temporarily. I hope they are less troublesome this time.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry that the stomach pains turned into such a nasty saga. I'm glad they've gone now. Pity that the cold has replaced them.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Similar symptoms with me always result in a diagnosis of IBS. Everything I've ever taken for it has worked really well once, then I have to find something else for the next time.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I hope you've found ways that work for you. As discussed downthread, I've self-diagnosed IBS. Adjusting my diet helps me a lot but there are times when I resort to Lactulose.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's always stress-related for me, so mostly I try not to get stressed. It's been working for the last few years, touch wood...

[zotz]

It won't just be that it didn't hurt enough. There's where it starts, where it moves to, and what happens when you stop pressing on it. Pain has various interesting characteristics, and I'm glad it didn't have those ones in your case.

[venta.livejournal.com]

That sounds sensible; the surgeon wasn't actually very clear why he was so confident it wasn't appendicitis.

I was convinced that one's appendix was on the LHS anyway, so when the RHS of my stomach became painful I'd automatically dismissed the idea.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Argh, what a pain... literally. Glad to hear you're well again, barring the stinky cold.

[ailbhe]

Oh lordy. I've just been given a diagnosis of Vit D deficiency which could be causing about 1/3 of my symptoms. I hope you find something smilarly straightforward.

[venta.livejournal.com]

That sounds promising - in that it sounds as if you can take supplements and thus improve a whole bunch of symptoms. I hope it works!

[ailbhe]

I love treatable diagnoses.

[ao-lai.livejournal.com]

Omeprazole is one of the many things that I have to take, but despite the other comments here, it works perfectly for me... In fact it's pretty much the only thing on my Big List of Pills that seems to do what it's supposed to do to a degree that I can actually notice. But given what's been said I'm now wondering if this is the exception rather than the rule...

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

It works like magic for me. Wonder drug, in my book.

[glittertigger]

Works for me too

[shrydar.livejournal.com]

Huzzah for being Very Healthy. Long may this state be asymptomatic.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I was quite relieved, in a strange sort of way, when my ultrasound revealed gallstones.
They still can't really explain why gallstones would be causing the sort of stomach pain that I've been experiencing, but they're happy to believe that they are the cause, rather than it being my imagination.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

My gallstones caused radiating pain from the general area, all through my abdomen and back. Whereas IBS quite often causes me lower abdominal pain and shoulder pain, gripping pain round the kidney area and nausea. Period pain causes my right leg to hurt.
Pain is strange.

[venta.livejournal.com]

My mother helpfully informed me that when my uncle (as a kid) had appendicitis so severe that by the time they operated on him his appendix was gangrenous, he only had pain in his leg.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

It sounds like they eliminated Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) but did anybody mention Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)? As discussed recently on friendly_crips, IBS is often ignored by doctors. http://friendly-crips.livejournal.com/tag/conditions%3A%20inflammatory%20bowel%20disease but it's the cause of my digestive unglams.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Nobody mentioned any conditions by name (barring appendicitis). I understood IBS to be a more long-term thing, not something that crops up for a fortnight then equally inexplicably goes away.

If the symptoms start to recur I'll go and see a doctor and ask about it.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I hope those nasty symptoms never recur. Of course I'm not your doctor but I'll point out that my GP, neuro and specialist nurse (all excellent) never suggested IBS. Not sure they believe me even now! But the NHS website about IBS reads as though it had been written about me http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Irritable-bowel-syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx

The condition, for me, is intermittent. It involves reaction to certain foods, usually taking a few days to go through its cycle.

I'm glad that you're all right now and hope it stays that way.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for the advice. I know a few people with IBS, so regard it as something fairly common - I'd no idea that it was sometimes difficult to get a diagnosis. I'll bear it in mind if re-starting the drugs causes the same symptoms again.

[(Anonymous)]

On the subject of being 'officially healthy', how's the hip?

[rapperaddict.livejournal.com]

Apologies, the above was me.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Fine now, thanks! Think it was just my rapper allergy finding a new and unexpected outlet...

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I am glad you are healthy. Boo hiss to ageing though I guess it's better than the alternative :-).

[snow-leopard.livejournal.com]

Without wishing to assume that my medical issues are also yours, did any of those tests involve a thyroid function test?
As my auto-immune madness first expressed itself as random joint pain and digestive weirdness.
They weren't going to test my thyroid function (despite my family history) as I'm in the wrong age band for it to have likely have been any thyroid related issue and I insisted. Lo and behold I am a rare medical anomaly! It is unlikely you are also an anomaly, but if it hasn't been checked it maybe worth doing so.

My other advise is:
1) VITAMIN D! There is a whole heap of research into the role of vitamin D deficiency in auto-immune diseases (which includes arthritis) and it suggests that the taking of vitamin D can protect against developing and assist with controlling such conditions.
eg http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23359064
We struggle to develop enough vitamin D in the UK, especially during the winter months as you need a certain level sunlight per day.

2) Exercise. I get joint pain as one of the fun symptoms of my auto-immune madness and exercise helps. I do some form of yoga or pilates (or gym, or swimming, or climbing) everyday, even if its just a quick 20 minutes yoga DVD before work. This makes a huge difference (especially the yoga / pilates as it works all my joints). It maybe that looking at seeing if some form of joint stretching exercise every day / every other day may help?

Hope you start feeling better soon.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I do know that the blood tests for the arthritis included thyroid function so yes, that has been ruled out in this case.

Since taking on my new job I'm struggling to work out how to fit exercise into my daily life - am signed up to an evening yoga course that starts in a few weeks though, and hoping that that will help!

[snow-leopard.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on not having a faulty thyroid gland!

Fitting in exercise is hard and its all about what works for you. I found that I could easily find 20 minutes in the morning before work (usually by means of making my breakfast portable as if I can eat that at work then I don't need to get up any earlier) and have found a couple of short routines that work well. I use Rodney Yee AM yoga: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaiam-A-M-Yoga-Your-Week/dp/B0025TXKQU which is 5 different 20 minute routines, each of which focuses on a different area - they are nice stretchy effective routines and Wayne Leal 20:21 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wayne-Leal-Move-Your-Change/dp/B009WNMJZU/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1392646844&sr=1-1&keywords=wayne+leal which is one 20 minute routine, but its a nice challenging routine that will get you sweating.
Hope you find something that works for you!