or so they say….

I haven’t mentioned anything about my IBS as of yet, but I am one of the millions that are suffering from this stupid syndrome. I of course have many theories as to why I have it:
*I was born premature
*I ate real healthy food growing up and when I moved out I only ate crap (ie processed foods)
*I encourage stressful situations in my life
*I am a smoker

These are only some of my theories. So to make a long story short (cuz I am sleepy and frustrated) my IBS has started acting up as of late. About 3 months ago, I started to get a pain in my chest that felt like a giant gas bubble, that just couldn’t get out. This actually has occurred on numerous occasions prior, but 3 months ago was when I noticed that it was become common. During the last week, the discomfort became painful and I no longer could burp, pass wind or vomit, so it was time to visit a doctor. ( I really miss my Canadian Health care) My doctor is totally awesome and because I am a ‘know-it-all’, I was able to describe my symptoms quite accurately. Turns out I have a hiatal hernia.Awesome eh?

I will stay in touch with some of the techniques that I will try, but I just want to rant about this douche on the internet claiming to ‘have the cure’. Seriously, if you have ever had real bad heartburn, you will know that anxiety can make it worse. (Well actually anxiety can make anything feel worse… even love;-p) So, last night, I was in excruciating pain and was googleing some home remedies and this website claimed to have the answers. So I listened to how this guy was ‘cured’ by some technique that a pharmacist told him for free. He claims to have been in the same pain and had to sleep sitting up for 8 months. To me, he has ruined the spirit for the internet by charging people $27USD for this technique. What a douche. http://www.hiatusherniarelief.com/ He even bought the web address… anyways, I think people like that suck and for those of us who are actually suffering, this is like a false promise.

Anyways, that is my rant for tonight, because the more I think, the more anxious I get and then the pain gets worse… so good night and I will stay in touch.

xoI

Well everybody, I thought I’d update you all as to some of my most current events.  So far, as of the last two and a half months, I’ve been having stomach problems, and it turns out that I have a Hiatal Hernia.  This of course goes hand in hand with some extremely sucky acid reflux.  It sucks balls, let me just tell you.

And on top of that, I have to go in a couple of weeks for gallbladder surgery, due to the fact I have gallbladder “sludge”.  It’s not actual gallstones, but just a mushy crap in my gallbladder.  Instead of release about two thirds of the bile it should when it does it’s thing, my gallbladder is only releasing about 18% of the bile.  That can’t be all that good.

So, lucky ol’ me, I get the pleasure of getting sliced and diced, all in the name of science.  They will justly rip out an organ that I’ve loved since I was a young tot, and take it away without so much as a backwards glance at my attachment that I have to my gallbladder.

But that is my destiny, my fate.  I will do what I must to survive, and then pay the atrocious medical bills.  That’s the best part.  It’s the payment that totally blows donkey balls

But I should get going now, for it is 1:30 in the morning, and I am tired.  I will see you all later in my next post!  Maybe I might just tell you how it went, if you’re all so lucky!

Later!

Daquine

To understand the role green vegetables can play in your nutritional health,
particularly when combined with other healthy foods such as fruit, consider that
by eating 2 apples, 2 oranges, 2 cups of broccoli, and 5 cups of romaine lettuce
on a daily basis, you would get approximately 450 calories, 28 grams of fiber,
and more than 2,400 mg of potassium. The average American consumes only 15 grams
of fiber per day; the typical recommendation is to get 25-30 grams per day (even
that amount is likely too low).

Many diseases are associated with low fiber intake. Diets low in fiber may
underlie or exacerbate constipation, appendicitis, hemorrhoids, deep-vein
thrombosis (a blood clot that forms in a vein deep within the body), varicose
veins, diverticulitis (inflammation of an abnormal pouch in the intestinal
wall), hiatal hernia, and gastroesophageal reflux. Fiber is thought to help
prevent colon cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Tuesday, November 3: Tuesday, November 17

FREE WEIGHT LOSS WORKSHOP

Time: 7:30 PM

Five secrets to permanent weight loss. Learn why diets don’t work, why eating fat doesn’t make you fat, what hormone is out of control in your body, how to reduce chance of breast cancer by 70%, how to regain energy and vitality, what exercise program you should be on, and much, much more.

Cost: Free

Tuesday, December 1 : Tuesday, December 15

WORKSHOP ON DIGESTION

Time: 7:30 PM

Learn how the digestive system works and natural approaches to improve the health of the digestive system.

Acid Reflux, Hiatal Hernias, Ulcers, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Colitis and Crohns Disease are just a few of the digestive disorders that affect over 61 million Americans each year.

Cost: Free

 All Seminars listed above are held at the Princeton Club Community Room at   14999 W Beloit Rd,  New Berlin WI 53151

Since my re-testing of H.pylori and Candida coming back as negative for both, I’ve still been having some stomach problems. The nausea has gone way down, but when I have it it seems to relate to hypgoglycemia or low blood sugar. And it occurs in the morning still (but not as bad as before) and usually only if I haven’t had enough sleep. Still not sleeping a full nights’ sleep. I attribute this to

A) I believe I have Adrenal Fatigue. Adrenal Fatigue causes fluctuations in blood sugar, hypoglycemia, and the inability to sleep well. I believe my cortisol levels are reversed, but am getting testing to confirm this.

B) I’ve been tapering off anti-anxiety med and I think I may be suffering the withdrawal symptom of rebound insomnia. Plus, who knows what else that the medicine can cause.

C) My recent endoscopy showed I have a small Hiatal Hernia which can cause nausea, acid reflux, and therefore poor sleep. Gastritis also showed up on the test, though the doctor said it was “inactive”.  The biopsy (tissue sample) tested negative for H.pylori and negative for Celiac so here’s yet another confirmation of that.

Anyway, so I attribute my current symptoms (hypoglycemia, slight nausea, inability to sleep, anxiety, fatigue during the day) to be caused by the Hiatal Hernia and the Adrenal Fatigue. By the way, I read that Hiatal Hernia and Adrenal Fatigue usually go hand in hand. The H.pylori and Candida problem is taken care of and now I have to focus on getting my adrenals, pituitary and this hiatal hernia corrected. It’s like I keep uncovering more layers to discover something else…but I think I’m gettting to the bottom of it.

My chiropractor is working with me to correct the Hiatal Hernia with manual stimulation. Of course, most medical doctors and gastro docs don’t know that chiropractors can do this. Their recommendations are purely for symptom reduction. And their only real solution is surgery though that’s very risky and not necessary in my case.

So here’s a tip for you pregnant ladies out there: My brother- in- law told me the thing that helped his wife when she had morning sickness when she was pregnant was the vitamin B-6. Once she started taking it the nausea went away. But it has to be B-6 by itself, not B complex. You can take a B complex but you need to take additional B-6. So I started using it and it has seemed to greatly reduce the symptom. B-6 helps with sugar metabolism which is interesting. I strongly felt that the nausea related to low blood sugar/hypoglycemia.

Heartburn is a painful burning feeling in your chest or throat. It happens when stomach acid backs up into your esophagus, the tube that carries food from your mouth to your stomach. If you have heartburn more than twice a week, you may have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

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Also called:

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Acid indigestion, Pyrosis. “1″

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Drugs In The Egyptian Market

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Antacids (EgyDoc)

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Anti-Ulcers (EgyDoc)

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H2 Receptor Blockers (Arab RxList)

>

Proton Pump Inhibitors(Arab RxList)

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Animation

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The Digestive System

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Acid Reflux

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GERD

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Pepptic Ulcers

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Hiatal Hernia (Hiatus Hernia)

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PPI Therapy (Esomeprazole Magnesium)

Acid Reflux or Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), also known or associated with heartburn and indigestion, happens when acid or bile from the stomach leaks back up through the esophagus, which will irritate and damage the delicate lining of the esophagus.

When stomach acid leaks back up into the esophagus, it is called acid reflux. Normally the sphincter, a muscle at the join between the esophagus and stomach, tightens up to stop acid, bile and food coming back up out of the stomach. Acid reflux happens when the sphincter does not work very well, or when the stomach is very full (for example, after a large meal).

The esophagus can cope with a small amount of stomach acid or bile, however, if acid reflux is frequent it can damage the sensitive lining of the esophagus. This is when simple heartburn becomes GERD. If the damage to your esophagus leads to inflammation (soreness and swelling), this is called esophagitis. Further, when left untreated has the potential to develop into esophageal cancer!

Symptoms of Acid Reflux (GERD)

The main symptom of GERD in adults is frequent heartburn, also called acid indigestion, however it has nothing to do with the heart.  As studies have shown that patients whose symptoms occur at night reported levels of severity that were similar to those reported in angina and congestive heart failure.  This is most likely due to the fact that heartburn is usually felt as a burning pain behind your breast-bone (in front of the chest, over the heart) and happens when stomach acid damages the inside of your esophagus.

Heartburn is most likely to occur in connection with the following activities:

• After a heavy meal
• Bending over
• Lifting
• Lying down on your back
• Smoking
• Overweight
• Pregnant

Other symptoms of GERD may include:

• An acidic taste in mouth
• Burning pain in your throat
• Bloating and belching
• Stomach pains
• Burning pain n your throat and esophagus when you swallow hot drinks
• Regurgitating food
• Nausea and Vomiting
• Vomiting Blood

Causes of Acid Reflux (GERD):

1.Insufficient Acid to Digest the food you eat

The biggest cause of Acid Reflux is insufficient acid. This will come as a major surprise to most of you reading this, but it is a fact. As we get older we produce less hydrochloric acid that is essential to digest the food we eat. When we have insufficient acid the undigested food begins to ferment, in fact rot whilst still in our stomach. This fermenting soup causes us to feel bloated, full of gas that then causes pain and inflammation thus causing a great deal of discomfort. When excess gas has built up it has to be released and when it does you experience a mini explosion that releases the bile upwards and into your esophagus. build up This is contrary to the common belief that is expressed in the media and by many Doctors.

2. Poor sphincter control

There is a sphincter (muscle) at the join between your stomach and the esophagus. It relaxes to let food into your stomach but then tightens to stop stomach acid or bile coming out and back up into your esophagus. In some people, the sphincter does as intended, and this causes acid reflux.

Having a hiatus hernia can also cause poor sphincter control. In this type of hernia, part of the stomach pokes through your diaphragm, the main breathing muscle under the lungs. The muscles in your diaphragm are then stretched and don’t allow the sphincter to close, so acid or bile can escape from your stomach back up into the esophagus.

3. Smoking relaxes the sphincter muscles, so makes acid reflux more likely. Some people find that particular foods, such as fatty foods, chocolate, or oranges, relax the sphincter, while others such as coffee and tomatoes directly irritate the Esophagus.

4. Particular medicines can make GERD worse by relaxing the sphincter,for example, diazepam. Others may directly irritate the esophagus, for example, potassium supplements.

5. Pressure on the stomach

Acid reflux can also happen when there is a lot of pressure on your stomach forcing the stomach contents out and back up into the esophagus. This might happen after a very large meal, during pregnancy, if you are constipated, or when you wear tight-waisted clothes or bend forward.

What Can You Do If  You Have Acid Reflux?

As with all problems, the first step is to identify the cause. Remedial measures that can be taken are as follows:

1. Eat less and chew more. The mixing of digestive enzymes with your food in the mouth kick starts the digestion process, minimizing the chance for fermentation in the stomach and facilitating the speedy passage of food through the stomach.
2. Choose foods that are in their natural state, or whole foods. Include plenty of vegetables, seasonal fruit and unrefined grains.
3. Avoid refined carbohydrates, sugars, caffeine, chocolates and spicy foods.
4. Avoid big rich meals, especially food fried in oils and fats.
5. Don’t eat when angry or upset, nor when rushed and can’t sit down.
6. It helps not to lie down immediately after eating, this allows gravity to keep the stomach contents below the opening of the lower esophagus.
7. Take a short and gentle stroll after a meal.
8. Avoid drinking beverages prior to, and during meals, as this will dilute enzymes, however, some may find that taking small sips of water throughout a meal can help in buffering stomach acid, helping to reduce the discomfort of acid reflux.  This of course may not help some people, the best thing to do is try it for yourself.
9. Avoid cigarette smoking and too much alcohol.
10. Eating organic sauerkraut or taking 2 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar prior to any meal will help in supplying additional essential enzymes necessary for the proper breakdown of foods.

www.eastwesthealing.com

Ok…after viewing the vids below, I will try this water & salt routine to test the outcome.  I do have food allergies and Asthma today.  I take an oral inhaler when the need arises (in the past I used the inhaler once or twice every other month, but I have not needed anything for the past 12 months due to my strict food elimination diet).  I will report back in time with any improvements in my health.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease may be a disorder of collagen, related to hiatal hernia. The results of this genetic study from Sweden and Australia appear with the search term esophageal reflux.

RESULT: Collagen type III alpha I is a gastro-oesophageal reflux disease susceptibility gene and a male risk factor for hiatus hernia
Gut

You can’t do much with that information at the moment. But there’s also a new article in Geriatrics with useful guidance on managing Barrett’s esophagus and GERD.

CME

Test your knowledge with an online CME course about GERD.

Recent Searches
What have other doctors been finding on SearchMedica?

Search term: burnout

Internists in academia suffer progressively less burnout when they can devote more time to the activity they find most meaningful: patient care.

RESULT: Career Fit and Burnout Among Academic Faculty
Archives of Internal Medicine

Primary care physicians experiencing burnout due to time pressure and chaotic work environments appear to provide quality patient care nonetheless. (Scroll down to find this result.)

RESULT: Working Conditions in Primary Care: Physician Reactions and Care Quality
Annals of Internal Medicine

Search term: pancreatic cancer

Body mass index correlates directly with the risk of contracting (and indirectly with the likelihood of surviving) pancreatic cancer.

RESULT: Body Mass Index and Risk, Age of Onset, and Survival in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer
JAMA

Search term: arthritis acromioclavicular joint

Treatment of shoulder pain involves different considerations in the elderly than in the young patient. (Scroll down to see this result.)

RESULT: Identifying shoulder pain in older patients: The history, physical examination, and testing
Journal of Molecular Medicine

NOTEWORTHY SEARCH of the week
Lessons to improve your success on SearchMedica, drawn from a genuine search

The recent search term peer-reviewed article demonstrates an attempt to sort articles according to a category that is already designed into SearchMedica.

This search returned only those items that happen to contain the terms “peer-reviewed” and “article.”

RESULT: PLoS Genetics: A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal
PLoS Genetics

TIP:

For peer-reviewed content, use the article category Research/Reviews.

Evidence-based Articles contains only systematic reviews, randomized trials, and meta-analyses.

These article categories (and others) appear just above the first article in the list of results that appears when you hit the yellow “Search” button.

Hernia Facts and Info

If you suffer from sever heartburn or acid reflux, have no fear. There is a way to get rid of heartburn and acid reflux the natural way. You can holistically treat any digestive disorder without medicine.

It’s quite possible to quickly relieve chest pain and that horrible burning feeling that comes along with heart burn. You don’t need prescription drugs to stop the chest pain. Actually, taking drugs to treat acid reflux or heartburn can actually make the symptoms worse over time. If you any kind of reflux disorder untreated, it can be dangerous. Click here to see the holistic guide to treating this disorder the natural way

 من أكثر الأسئة التى يتعرض لها الصيدلى هى الأسئلة المتعلقة بالجهاز الهضمى

و لذلك ساصطحبكم فى رحلة قصيرة

و رسم مبسط للجهاز الهضمى

تذكر الاشارة بالفرة على الأجزاء التى فى الرسم فتضئ

و تظهر المعلومات الخاصة بها

The Digestive System

و من الأعراض المشهورة و التى قد تكون عرض لاكثر من سبب

Acid Reflux

و أيضا

GERD

و كثيرا ما سمعنا عن أشخاص يعانون من قرحة المعدة

فهيا نلقى نظرة عن كيفية حدوثها

Pepptic Ulcers

و من أشهرأسبابها نوع من البكتريا

هيا نتعرف عليه

Bacteria in Peptic Ulcer Disease

Hiatal Hernia  (Hiatus Hernia)

و الأن جاء وقت الزائدة الدودية

Appendicitis (Sample Use Only)

و كان لابد من التدخل بالمنظار

Upper GI Endoscopy for Gastric Ulcers (Sample Use Only)

فكيف تعمل تلك العقاقير على الحد من زيادة افراز حمض المعدة؟

PPI Therapy (Esomeprazole Magnesium)

So, I started taking Reglan and Nexium about a month ago and my pain has gone from a 10 to about a 1. Some days/times, there is no pain. I had an EGD (or EDG) done, where they stick a fiber optic cable down your throat and look for hiatal hernias in your stomach and I had a small one. Now, my doctor doesn’t think this hiatal hernia is the source of my pain, regardless that the Nexium and Reglan have all but resolved it, which is par for the course in my experience with doctors. Hiatal hernias are VERY common and most adults suffer from them. It’s definitely worth checking out. My life is much better now without that constant, dull ache. The only down side is that taking Reglan for too long can cause tics, so I have an appt on July 6 to talk to my doctor about what my options are. Do I have the small hernia operated on? Is that even an option? Is it too small? Please comment/write me with any questions or concerns!

PS I lost my url, which was www.mysterflankpain.com, but my old one, flankpain.wordpress.com still works.

I have suffered on and off for years with a Hiatal  Hernia . Such intense stomach pain. So many nights I have wondered if I was having a heart attack. My esophagus in spasms. Never, ever feeling well. How many days, weeks, months, or years would it total up feeling so horrible. I have lived on stomach pills for years to keep the acid at bay. All the doctors say is that the ring at the bottom of my stomach isn’t closing properly and its letting everything come back up. Major surgery was about all they could do. Oh, loose weight. Yeah, I need to lose weight. Who doesn’t. Its hard to think diet when you cant eat anything anyways except the odd piece of toast. You haven’t slept more who knows how long so you have no energy. Grrr.

Desperate I searched the web for anything that might help me. Something caught my eye. Just a blurb really. Something I had in the fridge? It couldn’t possibly be so simple. Could it? An Apple. A red apple? What the hell, I would try anything at that point.

So every night I would have an apple. When my stomach started burning I would eat an apple too. I could feel it cool down. It seemed to be working.  I started eating more fruit in general but always with a red apple in it. My lunch now consists of a bowl of cut up fruit with cottage cheese.

Now I am not going to say this is a cure. I know its not. All I know is that the only time I have to take my stomach medicine is when we are having a spicy meal. For some reason its working for me. Its been about 4 or 5 months now and I can tell a major difference. My husband notices to. I am not telling him I unwell. I have energy. I haven’t felt like I was having a heart attack in a while now. Who would of thought that an apple would change my life.

*I am not a doctor. I am not trying to sell you anything. I just thought that if it could help someone else like it has helped me then I had to blog it. Good luck to those who are searching for some relief.

I should change the name of this post to “As the Stomach Churns”…

Maybe next update.

Amanda was scheduled for her CT Scan on Friday. (For those who might want to catch up on what’s been going on, read here.) She did so well getting her IV put in for the first time.  In fact, she thought it was pretty cool.  Once again, I have to say how great the staff at Vanderbilt is with making the children feel so at ease when they are going through procedures they’ve never been through before.  They are a special brand of medical professionals working at that place.

Before they hooked her up to the contrast dye, they did one preliminary scan.  Unfortunately, from that scan they found that she still had a large amount of barium in her system from the Upper GI test from 3 days before.  They showed me the scan and it looked like solid concrete through the intestines.  (An amazing image, really…I continue to be blown away at all of this technology to see such detail into the human body.)

Because of the barium, they were unable to see specific aspects of the scan clearly.  Therefore we would have to “help get it moved out,” and return the next day.

Lemme tell ya…you haven’t lived until you’ve tried to get an 8-year-old to consume 2 bottles of magnesium citrate four hours apart, and then experienced the results of said consumption!

We had a fun-filled day and night devoted to the task.  Without being graphic, I’ll just say that by Saturday morning, Amanda was free and clear of all of the barium (and everything else) that had been in her system.

We went back to Vanderbilt, they did the CT Scan, and since it was the weekend, the doctor would not read the report until Monday and I wouldn’t hear from her until then.

After waiting all day, I finally heard from the doctor at 5:30pm this evening.  The great news is that the CT scan did not show any abnormalities.  She does not appear to have a hiatal hernia, as I thought, so my career as a diagnostician is down the toilet.  (heh!)

The not-so-great news is that this means they want to proceed with the endoscopy/colonoscopy in order to actually view the inside of the digestive system and see what is going on.  I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to do this.

However, I am thankful that folks like BlondeBlogger and Tori have been so wonderful to put my mind at ease about these procedures.  From all accounts, Amanda will be comfortably asleep during the scopes, so she’ll be just fine.

We will get to once again experience the “day of cleansing” beforehand, though.  Good times.

Thank you all so much for your kind words of encouragement, your prayers, and well wishes during all of this.   We’re going to get through it and find out what’s going on, fix it, and move on with our lives…I believe that with all my heart.

I’m sitting here staring at my laptop, trying to think of a clever way to start this post.  I’m all tied up in knots inside and have been since about 1pm this afternoon, yet in my head I know that being this way can do nothing to change the outcome of any situation.

But when your child is sick and you aren’t quite sure what’s causing it or how to fix it, there’s no more helpless feeling in the world.

Amanda fills in the gap as she plays "Ring Around the Rosie" with the Paper Doll sculpture at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital

You might remember that Amanda had a rough go of it right before the holidays started with a bout of stomach illness the night before Thanksgiving and then a few weeks after that.

She continued to complain of pain, nausea, acid reflux, and of being fearful that she was going to throw up again…and this went on for weeks and weeks after her second bout of what I thought was a virus.

I honestly was thinking that her distress was emotional in nature, as we both have been dealing with quite a bit in the past few months with some “family issues” as well as my layoff, and just the general pressures of school getting more difficult in third grade.  (Don’t laugh:  they are learning algebra and geometry concepts in her class!)

Then, as I mentioned in my “Behind” post (and yes, I’m still way, way behind), I finally took her to the doctor.  They gave her a prescription for Previcid to take for 30 days and recommended she eat a cup of yogurt everyday to get her stomach healthy.  We also took the appropriate steps to deal with any stress issues she was having during that time.

After the 30 days, her symptoms had not improved.  In fact, one evening she was sitting on my lap as we were watching TV, and she yelled out in pain.  I asked her to place my hand where it hurt, and she said that it was hurting in the middle, right under her ribcage.  She felt a knot that seemed to pop “in and out of place” which immediately caused me to think that perhaps she developed a hiatal hernia one of the times she regurgitated.   It made sense to me.

I asked myself, is this what Dr. House would diagnose?

One thing was for sure, it was time to get her back to the doctor, because our lives had been completely disrupted from this illness.  Amanda has missed 4 days of school since this began, has had to sit out of PE class several times, and even had me come and pick her up from friends’ houses because she wasn’t feeling well enough to stay over after having looked forward to a sleepover for weeks.

So we were referred to a gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and after her assessment decided that further testing was definitely in order.  The reason why is because with Amanda’s symptoms, the diagnosis could range anywhere from an ulcer to hiatal hernia to GERD to an intolerence to gluten (wheat)!

Finally, this morning I took Amanda to have an Upper GI and ultrasound performed.  She thought it was so cool to see her heart beating on the ultrasound.  She laughed at the conduction gel they used on her belly to roll the “mouse” around.   We were both amazed to see how clear her kidneys looked on the screen.

The Upper GI was really interesting.  She had to drink pink barium contrast fluid, which used to be like drinking chalk back when I was younger.  Kids these days have it made…now it’s flavored.  She said it tasted like a strawberry milkshake…that is until they asked her to drink a large quantity of it at once…then it started to be a bit much and the chalk properties began to manifest themselves.  Still, she did well.

The really cool part was that we could see the liquid going down her esophagus into her stomach and then to her small intestine on the screen!  Who knew that digestion makes for captivating tee vee!

From my perspective, that is, one of not being a medical professional, nothing looked strange to me.  There didn’t appear to be any obvious abnormalities on the screen. They finished up, let us know we’d hear from them within 24 hours, and we were on our way.

However, by the time we got home, I had a voice mail message from her gastroenterologist stating that she wanted to talk to me about the results of the tests.

I was not expecting a message like that, and it obviously concerned me.  I called back immediately, but was unable to reach the doctor and had to leave a call-back number.  (grrrr!!)

After an hour or so, she called me back.  She explained that Amanda has an “unusual amount of free-flowing fluid of unknown pathology in her stomach” and they want to get her in for a CT scan with & without contrast as soon as possible.  I asked if they had any idea whatsoever what would cause such a thing, and she said they would know more once they did the CT.

That’s when my stomach tied up in knots.

The positive thing is that now I know that Amanda’s discomfort has a cause.   We just do not know why. We will get this done and hopefully know more soon.

Next week she is scheduled for an endoscopy and colonoscopy.  However, I am praying that the CT will diagnose the issue so she won’t have to go through those more invasive procedures.

Up until last week, she had never even had blood taken before, and here she is having all of these crazy tests!

I have been really trying to stay together for Amanda today, but it hasn’t been easy.  Without getting into a huge diatribe, let me just say that she and I have gone through this completely alone and without the other parental unit who, in my humble opinion, should have been there for their child through this.  Once again, my heart breaks for her to have to see the reality of her situation there, and I don’t have to say a word.  It is what it is.

Meanwhile, my support?  Once again, it’s a few good friends and then mostly online.  On Facebook and Twitter.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I seriously do not know what I’d do without your kind little messages on Facebook, your Tweets of encouragement, the e-mails, blog comments, voicemails, and so on.  They are my lifeline.

Lastly, I just want to say how impressed I am with Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.  They are just amazing.  The entire atmosphere puts both the children and parents at ease.  It’s a true blessing to have that place in Nashville.  Amanda and I walked around one of their gardens after the tests, and since I happened to have my camera with me, I snapped a few shots.  The photo with this post is one of them.  The rest are on my Flickr widget on the sidebar.

We’ve made it this far without a listing of my symptoms and diagnoses, but I suppose it’s time at last for me to own up to the truth of what I deal with.

Let’s start here: each day is different. Some days all of my bugaboos are acting up, most days I have a few to cope with. And some special days, everything is quiet and I get to be extra-productive.

My major diagnosis is MCTD or Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder, an autoimmune illness trifecta of Scleroderma, Lupus (SLE), and polymyositis.  Scleroderma attacks my skin and other connective tissues, creating scar tissue and hard collagen where it should be making soft, smooth skin and muscle.

http://www.scleroderma.org/

Systemic Lupus Erymatosis is the most dangerous form of Lupus, another illness where my immune system attacks me instead of foreign invaders.

http://www.lupus.org/newsite/index.html

Polymyositis directs its attacks at my muscles, so now I am phenomenally weak for a 35-year-old.  It’s difficult for me to stand up from the ground or to reach up over my head.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/polymyositis/DS00334

I’m currently being treated for Fibromyalgia (unexplained soft tissue pain) and Myofascial Pain Syndrome (pain in trigger points) . Neither of these is fun on its own, but together they really hurt.  Loud, distracting, red pain. [I promise to get to the solutions and how I cope later!]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fibromyalgia/DS00079

and

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/myofascial-pain-syndrome/DS01042

These are my main issues.  Currently, I’m also experiencing a lot of issues in my gastrointestinal tract. My GERD is excruciating at night, waking me up with food or acid in my esophagus or mouth.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gerd/DS00967

The GERD is worsened by my hiatal hernia, a hole where my esophageal sphincter should be.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hiatal-hernia/DS00099

And  Gastorparesis means that the food going down does not move very quickly into the intestines, which increases the incidence of GERD.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gastroparesis/DS00612

I’ve chosen the links based on if the issue had a support group or else I’ve chosen mayoclinic.com, which I’ve found to have good information formatted in for easy use.

One more important website for researching diagnoses like these is

http://www.arthritis.org/

a wonderful site that cares for people with may auntoimmune conditions beyond arthritis.

Well, there’s a start. I’m sure we’ll find more on this journey together.  But from here, you can get a sense of what I live with most days.  And now to rest.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!

I went to the doctor yesterday who sent me for a chest Xray. The Xray came back showing “a spot behind the heart, and I’ve ordered a cat scan for you.” I said, “Doctor, you have to talk to me about this. It is not enough to casually report, ‘You have a spot behind the heart.’ That could include anything from being shot with a .44 Magnum to a button I swallowed at age five, or something.”

I had frightening flashbacks to my father who at about my age was diagnosed with lung cancer. He survived that and several other cancers, but I thought, maybe it’s all in the family. “It’s not cancer,” the doctor said. “But it could be a ruptured aorta.” (You can bleed to death with a ruptured aorta and in a hurry) The doctor went on to say, “I think it’s merely an anomaly in the film – nothing to be worried about.” A small gift from the medical profession called “reassurance” not taught often enough in med school and for which good doctors get no bonuses. I appreciated it.

“It is such a non-problem that I should immediately get a cat scan, right?” I asked.

“Right,” he said.

“I saw myself, along with all of you, in the Universal House of Death waiting for my name to be called.”

I began to fantasize the end. I saw myself, along with all of you, in the Universal House of Death waiting for my name to be called. “Yes,” I said to one of my friends, “the minute we are born we take our place in the Universal House of Death and then wait” – those dark, frightening thoughts that grip at the stomach while you smile at passers-by and answer your phone with a cheerful “hello” knowing that your name may be soon coming up. After all, with me, at 80, the time according the standard mortality tables has been long past. But not to worry.

I never used to read the obituary column in The New York Times. But now it pops up in front of me when I log on, and I see that most of those whose names have been called were younger than I. I have defective hearing and wear hearing aids. I thought about taking them off to keep from hearing the call. Maybe that’s why they have such a time trying to get us old farts to wear them. Moreover, we do not know who will call our name or when. But our name will eventually be called. Something like Turd Falls that I have written about before.

Then the paranoia often suffered by trial lawyers began to set in. Maybe the bastards over in Radiology didn’t take good Xrays to begin with and then ordered cat scan follow-ups to enhance their yearly take. Maybe it was clear to them that ninety-nine percent of the time this was merely an anomaly in the film as my doctor suggested, but that to be absolutely sure that everything was benign they ordered a cat scan. Yes. It was pay back time for me, a trial lawyer, who had put the fear of the law into the frontal lobes of all doctors. I’ll bet, I thought, that some poor homeless devil who staggers into the emergency room without insurance would never be asked to take a friggin cat scan.

I went through all the sign-ins, including proof that I had insurance and medicare, and I smiled all the time and made light jokes so that everyone would like me and think I was a nifty old man. I was then shown a booth with a freshly laundered gown folded up in the corner and told I should put it on. I am not good at things like that. I came stumbling out without my arms through the arm holes and the nurse smiled back at me, rolled her eyes at the other nurse and they both smiled at the piteous sight before them and both, one on each side, helped me get my arms in where they belonged.

Then they laid me down to take blood for the insatiable Dracula who lurks in the lab — the pretense being that they needed to determine if my blood would endure the toxic substance they were about to shoot into my veins as a dye. The nurse couldn’t find the vein after half a dozen jabs. Sadism in its fullest bloom. I hate to be called upon for bravery, so I asked if it was all right if I cried. Instead I suggested they try the other arm where the vein was obvious and only a person with vision worse than 20/800 could miss it, which she did the first time.

They lie you down on a hard, flat table, and tell you to raise your arms back behind your head like those idiots do at the concerts where barbaric noises of all kinds are made and people scream into a microphone, call it singing, and others in shabby, often dirty cloths play guitars as if the same were an extension of the male sex organ. Be that as it may, once in this position with your arms straight up and behind you they roll you into this big pipe, like the culverts we used to crawl through as kids and where I got my first peek at the forbiddens of the opposite sex at age twelve. That memory did not reappear. Instead, I was commanded though a loud speaker to hold my breath. Something bad was about to happen.

It was called a heat flash. I am told it had something to do with the iodine. That was the stuff we put on ringworm when I was a kid. It burned like hell. They shot the stuff into my veins and suddenly I get that heat flash they warned me about. I could feel it clear down to the anal orifice.

On command through the loud speaker I held my breath. They took the picture. Now you struggle to your feet again and get dressed. You try to be calm. You try to think of something funny and nothing comes. The belly is churning with fear. “Sorry, Mr. Spence,” I could hear the doctor saying, this man whom I had never met and who never met me and to whom I was but another piteous slob whose time had come and whose name had been called in the Universal House of Death. I had asked my doctor to tell the radiologist that he could give me the results directly so I didn’t have to lay awake whimpering all night waiting while the doctors got their act together and understood that I was their only patient and should get the results stat, which is medical jargon meaning, really fucking quick.

I followed the nurse into the lab, a dark place lit only by the screens in front of two men neither of whom displayed any human characteristics. I suspect that is why they went into this branch of medicine – a discipline that protected them from meeting face to face any living creature. They dealt with “a ruptured spleen,” not George White, or “a fractured distal phalanx of the great toe,” not Billy Henderson’s broken big toe, and not Gerry Spence, but his “spot behind the heart.” Their monotones in the dark of the laboratory sounded like mumblings from the dead.

“Nothing to be worried about,” the dead voice said. I had heard those words before. One does not worry about death, not if one is already dead. “Hiatal hernia,” the voice said. I had known that for years. If I ate ice cream just before bedtime it came lopping back up full of acid and, taken down the wrong pipe, could choke you. Not a good way to go. But when ice cream and hot fudge are put in front of me at night, something in my brain turns off and I eat it anyway. Ice cream and hot fudge are the meaning of life. He showed me the hernia on the screen. “Nothing to worry about,” he said again.

So what have I learned from all of this? Yes, at the moment of birth we take our place in the Universal House of Death. All of our names will eventually be called. But in the meantime, the key to living, among other things, includes the art of being playful. Childlike. I have worked hard at that now for 80 years. I suppose that has something to do with the fact that Imaging, my darling, most often refers to me as her 14-month-old triplets. They will have to kill all three of us – one at a time.

Kinesiology Tutorials on the Internet

DATABASE MUSCLUSKELETAL SYSTEM

Look it up!  — Here you find an online database with pictures. This tutorial is to be used for gaining knowledge of the musculoskeletal system. It was developed in collaboration by Dr. Bob Pankey, Dr. Jerry Elledge and Mr. Max Stratton. –
http://www.hper.txstate.edu/hper/faculty/pankey/5309/4325tut/index.html

EMOTIONAL STRESS RELEASE

Emotional Stress release is part of Specialized Kinesiology-methods to overcome stress as it is shown with muscle testing. Everybody knows how emotional stress release to bring back the good feeling of Physical Health. One only has to browse the web to recognize this notion, for example:

Stress release is what kinesiology is all about. – Physical, mental, emotional, chemical, environmental and behavioral stress are things which cause our problems, and the area where these techniques have their greatest effect. Every course and consultation in this field includes techniques to relieve some kind of stress.

Various stress release techniques are combined with emotional balancing, affirmations, visualization, massage techniques, and movement exercises.

Charles Krebs, Gordon Stokes, Daniel Whiteside and Candace Calloway of Three-In-One Concepts have done a great deal of work in the area of emotional diffusion and advanced re-patterning. This kind of stress release of past trauma frees the person to get on with his or her life. Their courses in Three-In-One Concepts can bring about profound positive changes in people. — http://www.kinesiology.net/sk.asp

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques®) – Where emotional relief brings physical health. Self help method often works where nothing else will No Drugs Involved ~ High success Rate Test Drive EFT – Your Free Get Started Package — http://www.emofree.com/downloadeftmanual.asp

Additional EFT Techniques – The following techniques are frequently used in addition to the basic EFT techniques  at http://www.eft-help.com/details/additionaltechniques.htm

Sedona Method: best treatment for back pain – “Most chronic back pain has a strong emotional component. It is either emotionally driven or emotionally aggravated — or there is simply a lot of emotion because of having this pain in your back for so long.” — ” [Hale Dwoskin, CEO and director of training of Sedona Training Associates.]
http://hshere23.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/sedona-method-best-treatment-forf-back-pain/

Hiatal Hernia: Emotional in Origin – The main factors in the CAUSE of a Hiatal Hernia are Emotional Stress, Trauma of any kind and the natural phenomenon of Child Birth and Spiritual Transitions.

NOTE: When a Hiatal Hernia (stomach up) is present for a length of time, in the first stage it begins to mimic the side EFFECTS of a disease or illness. If the Hiatal Hernia is not discovered in time, the mimicked disease then has the EFFECT of becoming the irreversible disease.
http://hshere23.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/hiatal-hernia-emotional-in-origin/

The Top Ten Pain Releasers on DVD – Self Help Techniques for Relieving Stress and Pain with Arlene Green (3 DVD set). A masterful collection of ten simple and effective, hands-on self help techniques that address a wide variety of pain and stress issues with extraordinary results. Learn the basics of quality Muscle Testing and Ten proven methods for relieving stress and pain literally at your fingertips. — http://www.uskinesiology.com/products.htm

Balancing the Body’s Energies — Muscle Tests for the Eight Extra Meridians – Wayne Topping, PhD. The eight extra meridians of Chinese acupuncture relate to organs including hypothalamus, pineal, thymus, anterior and posterior pituitary, and regulate the 12 regular meridians. This book describes 35 muscle tests, including eight indicator muscles that can balance all 20 meridians. Correction procedures are drawn from Touch for Health and Biokinesiology and include biokinetic exercises, nutrition and emotions. Great for people with Touch for Health knowledge. — http://www.wellnesskinesiology.com/book.htm

BALANCING THE ELECTRICAL CENTERING SYSTEM

Cloacals: The Most important Kinesiology Correction of All! — The most important systems to have in place is the Centering System. This is taught in Applied Kinesiology. The test to see if the Centering System is balance is simple – simply give a light slap on the person’s upper arm. Then muscle test. If they then test weak, that means that the simple slap was more stress than their body can handle.

Gaits: Another aspect of the main electrical centering systems in the body. Walking is a very complex process that uses many electrical pathways. If the ‘Gaits’ are out of balance, then the simple act of taking just one step forward will weaken the body, as it ’switches’ all of the muscles off. This can be easily demonstrated by any good kinesiologist. Again, it is a simple correction to make. The gaits correction is described in the  Applied Kinesiology Synopsis by Walther. — http://www.synergistickinesiology.com/cloacals_applied_kinesiology.html

Switching: Neurologic disorganization refers to an abnormal condition in which the nervous system signals or interprets signals improperly, causing erroneous information to be derived from various AK testing procedures. A review from both the European and American AK literature on the topic of switching and its diagnosis is given. A literature review of biomedical, AK, and acupuncture is also given that suggests how the meridian system in its interaction with the neuromuscular system and the adaptation system (Hans Selye) may play an important role in the switching phenomenon. The rationale for use of the conception vessel and governing vessel in therapy localization is described. — http://www.icak.com/college/papers/2000-2001.shtml

HOMOCYSTEINE – John W. Brimhall, D.C., D.I.B.A.: Intervention and Outcome: The author shows that an AK oral challenge of homocysteine (using just a tiny amount on the patient’s tongue) will cause a previously strong muscle to test weak in the case of elevated homocysteine levels. The administration of the proper nutrient will abolish the weakness.

Conclusion: There is a high percentage of the population that weakens to the oral challenge of homocysteine. The growing awareness of the importance of homocysteine levels in cases of vascular and other diseases makes this suggested method of diagnosis and nutritional treatment worthy of further scientific and clinical investigation. (Collected Papers International College of Applied Kinesiology, 1998-1999;1:31-36) — http://www.icak.com/college/papers/Research_1998-1999.shtml

LEAP for the Assessment and Correction of Specific Learning Difficulties — by Susan J McCrossin
The approach using LEAP can be very effectively applied to specific learning difficulties in children and adults with consistent success, where previously medication was the most common intervention with very limited success.
http://www.crossinology.com/pdf/www.positivehealthKinesiology.pdf

ARTICLES: KINESIOLOGY — Positive Health Online
The idea for Positive Health was born from the frustration of constantly hearing the infuriating assertion that there is no research about complementary medicine. Having trawled through some 10,000 published research articles about cancer and nutrition alone, just in the past decade, convinced Dr Goodman that there is a multitude of research which is being published, but which is not being communicated to a wider audience of interested people who wish to protect their health by knowing the facts. Positive Health was set up in an attempt to fill this imponderable information gap.
http://www.positivehealth.com/article-list.php?subjectid=149