Medical Saga-part 2...the 8 year old chimes in.

 Earlier in the year I was dealing with some other issues encompassing dairy free, gluten free, and the ever-loving joy of chronic nausea. 

Well guess what decided to be added into my oeuvre of health sanity. My 8-year-old, who is my book loving...and now health issue twin. He started getting consistent stomach aches at school and not to mention he kept having pain. I kept him home quite a few times or picked him up early.

I took him to an allergist...and that was a bust. The states best allergist didn't tell us squat. He treated us horribly. We went for a second opinion. They found some interesting allergy issues: tomato, chicken, and avocados. (We were already doing dairy free...some issues have resolved). It has been a learning curve. We love spaghetti in our house and tomatoes with salt and pepper. We are finding new recipes to help.

The doctors see that he is full of it (which we are dealing with) and totally blew us off. Honestly, the medical field is such a bummer. I know there are a lot of people who fake things, but there are some things that really impact kids. There is a very small part of me that feels that he may be embellishing his pain to get a little more of a reaction from us...However, with my years of being constantly in pain and sick...I want to be sure it isn't something more.

As of now...we are working on an elimination diet with lots of fiber. Once everything is under control, hopefully it will alleviate these symptoms and he can be his normal, happy, pain free self. 

Till next time. 

Gluten Free-Dairy Free- oh my...

 *Thank you for reading this if you do. BIG RANT AHEAD.

Ok, so let me start off in my medical saga. I have two boys which are amazing, and I do not plan on having any more. With my last one, I was sick the whole time. After having him a month early, I was feeling ok for about 6 months until the rest of my systems shut down. I ended up gaining the same amount of weight I was when I had my most recent son. SO ON TO THE TESTING.

I see an endocrinologist regularly because I have thyroid issues, which requires constant medication. He and I discussed the weirdness with my weight, and we started down the path of PCOS and Sleep Apnea. It took less than a month to figure out I was having 200 events overnight (which is severe). My hubby had to deal with me sawing logs every night. Well, with my CPAP I no longer snore, and have less than 6 a night usually. So, one thing down.

About this time, I was noticing I was constantly...and I mean constantly nauseous. One of my doctors started me on some nausea meds and It seemed to help a little bit. I went to my gastroenterologist (YOU SEE>>>LOTS OF DOCTORS). My usual guy wasn't in office anymore, so I got the PA. We got some more medication figured out and tried to see what we could do to help my gastroparesis (Slow Stomach...food stays in my stomach too long and it causes issues). One of the medications caused tremors...which were not fun...and the other isn't FDA approved, which means the cost is no longer available or efficient for me. We decided to stay on the anti-nausea pills and see if there was another cause. 

This last week I had another upper GI, which basically they knock you out and put a camera down your throat to take a gander at the inner stomach and take biopsies. Turns out, I do have this stuff called gastritis, which is an inflammation of the stomach lining...but there is not evident cause as to why it is inflamed. *I actually did a lot of research...unfortunately gastroparesis can sometimes cause chronic gastritis in some people (LUCKY ME). The PA I saw, thought having a Botox injection in my stomach lining would help with the nausea...and it actually has been known to help people. Unfortunately, she was misinformed that it is only done on people who have a narrowing of one of the notches in the stomach...which mine is normal sized. So, no shot for me!!! 

YAY!!!

oh Wait...I still have lots of nausea. LAME

That is one thing I am working on to figure out. I have noticed some issues with dairy...so I am going dairy free to see if this helps...Don't worry. I won't become a militant one. LOL.

PCOS- The one thing my endocrinologist thought I had was pcos. This is a syndrome that has 3-5 major issues in women. I checked off the mark on 3 of them. I brought it up with my girly doctor and surprise surprise she actually listened to me and my issues (What a breath of fresh air!). We did an ultrasound and found...By golly, I do have PCOS. So that is another tick of my list of issues. I am switching up birth control stuff and hopefully a longer-term option will help reduce my symptoms.

Today I bought some alternative cheese options...because honestly...I love cheese...a lot! and to cut this out I couldn't just cut it out. So I am going to try these vegan cheeses and see which are good melters, and snackers. Fred Meyers has some fantastic options (THANK YOU). I am not making the boys do it with me...because its just not fair to them. We will all eat the same things...mine will just be altered. 

Signing off from your Celiac and Dairy Free girly...crossing fingers that this works.