So I went to the doctor today...

Message

BackInTex · #1 Post by **BackInTex** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:46 am

For two plus weeks I've had (on and off) extreme pain in the abdomen. Excess gas my wife says, but if feels more like my stomach is finished with its stuff and the small intestine is refusing delivery. Then the stomach tries to force its completed product on the small intestine and a battle ensues causing great discomfort and dull pain.

So I go to the doctor on Tuesday. "Gas". Gives me a pill to take in the morning and says if it doesn't help in 48 hours call me. So 48 hours was yesterday afternoon and I could not concentrate on my work due to the pressure (of my stomach, not the job). So I call him.

"You're constipated. Take a enema and call me afterwards." I'm pretty sure at this point I'd be able to tell if there was a 'clog' down where an enema would help, but I did he enema thing anyway. 30 minutes later, nothing. So I call him. "Take 2 ounces of Milk of Magnesia. It should help by morning." Again, I have my doubts, but he is a good doctor (and my F-I-L) so I follow his orders.

Well, I was able to grab some much needed sleeep around 2AM as the pressure went down. By moring I was feeling much better. No pressure, but I could feel this 'heavy object' in my gut. It felt higher than the colon area so nothing happening with the M of M. So I called him to let him know strike 2.

He has me come in for a blood test and urine test. So I do. He says to go ahead and take another 2 ounces of M of M.

On my way home he calls my cell. "Don't take the M of M. You liver enzymes are very eleveated. I'm thinking you have viral Hepatitis. Avoid everyone in the family. Eat and drink from plastic utensils, then bag them up and through them away immediately. Use a separate bathroom.....Stay away from people until we learn more."

O.K. I'm suppose to take my son to the Astros BoSox game tonight. We have been looking forward to this all year. It is the only game he has specifically requested. So now I'm finishing the drive home thinking who can I get to take him?

So I get home and start reading about Hepatis. The Dr. didn't say which one, A, B, or C. So I'm reading and B sounds pretty bad. Actually they all do, but B says 'death'. Hmm.... But it also says there are immunizations for A&B.

Wait! Remember two years ago when I started my new job and I was suppose to get to travel to exotic places (such as Nigeria)? The company paid to immunize me against most everything immaginable. I remember the Hep A&B was optional. I thought I remembered saying 'yes'. So I call Kelsey-Siebold. Yep, I have been immunized against A&B.

So if it is C, it looks like you can only get it from blood contact. Well, I've had no blood contact with anyone. So WTF?

So now what? I sit and wait for the test results. Something is wrong. I wish it was just gas and constipation. But my liver is in stress for something.

Of course, if the immunization didn't take, it could still be A or B. So this weekend I'm in isolation per doctors instuctions.

silvercamaro · #2 Post by **silvercamaro** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:50 am

Scary stuff. Get better right now! Don't make me come down there.

Seriously, get well fast.

themanintheseersuckersuit · #3 Post by **themanintheseersuckersuit** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:51 am

I don't exactly know what to say in response to this other than, enjoy the game and I hope this turns out to be less dramatic when the tests come back.

Bob Juch · #4 Post by **Bob Juch** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:55 am

Well that sucks. I hope things turn out well.

MarleysGh0st · #5 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:59 am

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:I don't exactly what to say in response to this other than, enjoy the game and I hope this turns out to be less dramatic when the tests come back.

I hope he's not going to the game if he's supposed to be in isolation!

Take care of yourself, BiT.

And maybe demand a little better attention from your F-I-L doctor than "Take some M of M and call me in the morning."

tlynn78 · #6 Post by **tlynn78** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:15 pm

Dang, BiT, that sucks bad. Stay on top of this and get it taken care of, you hear?

t.

Beebs52 · #7 Post by **Beebs52** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:39 pm

Geez, BiT! Go lie down, don't touch anyone, move slowly and sending prayers that this is just some weird glitch.

kayrharris · #8 Post by **kayrharris** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:07 pm

Yikes! Take care & let us know how you're doing.

themanintheseersuckersuit · #9 Post by **themanintheseersuckersuit** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:09 pm

Any chance you were taking any supplements herbal or otherwise. I just got a newsletter with a reference to liver toxicity from Herbalife supplements

mrkelley23 · #10 Post by **mrkelley23** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:21 pm

Here's hoping that it turns out to be something other than Hep C. That's what caused Momma Judd to retire from performing. I think she contracted it while working as a nurse. It's a bad 'un, but at least it's not as bad as Hep B.

Before you get too hyped up, though, there are other causes of elevated liver enzymes. Your doctor is being cautious, which is good, but it's not time to start overstressing yet.

Good luck.

BackInTex · #11 Post by **BackInTex** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:34 pm

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:Any chance you were taking any supplements herbal or otherwise. I just got a newsletter with a reference to liver toxicity from Herbalife supplements

No, I take absolutely nothing. Just drink a lot of coffee. I hope thats it.

themanintheseersuckersuit · #12 Post by **themanintheseersuckersuit** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:40 pm

BackInTex wrote:
themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:Any chance you were taking any supplements herbal or otherwise. I just got a newsletter with a reference to liver toxicity from Herbalife supplements
No, I take absolutely nothing. Just drink a lot of coffee. I hope thats it.

[LesNessman]I guess there was some merit to those rumors about you and Pamela Anderson after all. [/ln]

a1mamacat · #13 Post by **a1mamacat** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:08 pm

Geez BiT, that's scary. Take it slow and rest lots. Sending hugs for you

gsabc · #14 Post by **gsabc** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:43 pm

Ack! I hope they figure this out soon for you. Sorry it screwed up your baseball outing. Good luck and take care.

JBillyGirl · #15 Post by **JBillyGirl** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:49 pm

Damn. It's bad enough to think you might possibly have a serious illness, but disrupting your family life and ruining a treasured outing with your son, well that just sucks. I hope you get better soon and that this turns out to be something that can be cured quickly.

BackInTex · #16 Post by **BackInTex** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:08 pm

Update: Son is at the Astros/BoSox game with his mom.

I took some Advil and feel much better than I did before I took it. If I had to feel that way for 48 to 72 hours before getting a diagnosis I think I would beat myself to death.

I'm suppose to drink lots of water. Trouble is, anytime I put something, even water, in my stomach, is begins the pain again. Of course, water with Advil had the revers affect. I need to check the max daily dosage of Advil. I don't want to undershoot that.

My wife talked to her father. He is stuborn. She asked "What if he doesn't have hepatitis?" He firmly said "He does, I know he does, I just don't know which kind." I'm still not convinced. Immunized to A&B and just can't think of a single thing to put me at risk of C. It will bug me all weekend.

If it is not Hepatitis, then the next step would be x-rays, I guess. I wish we could go ahead and get that done. Along with the MRI and upper and lower GI. What the heck. Check for everything at once rather than eliminate the most likely (at least in his mind) first.

mrkelley23 · #17 Post by **mrkelley23** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:31 pm

Just a warning: the current diagnosis du jour for unspecified abdominal pain is diverticulitis. It's right up there with "take 2 teaspoons of milk of magnesia and call me in the morning." If the doctor tries to pull that one, ask him what his evidence is.

MIL is currently going through a very trying time with this same kind of thing you're describing. She doesn't have the high liver enzymes, but the abdominal pain is debilitating. She's been hospitalized three times in the last three months, and it seems like every doctor has a different diagnosis and prognosis. The current feeling is cysts on the liver, but who knows?

Just to insult you and your doctor's intelligence: the hep A shot is a 2 shot sequence, taken about 6 months apart, and the Hep B sequence is a 3 shot sequence, over a course of about 7 months. Did you have all these? And did they do a test to make sure your antibodies were okay?

Bob Juch · #18 Post by **Bob Juch** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:50 pm

If I hadn't insisted I was having problems with my gall bladder and not any of the other things the doctor thought it might have been, I'd be dead now - of cancer of the gall bladder.

The opthamologist in town I saw a couple of months ago said my severe eye pain was a sinus headache instead of what it really was: an anterior vitreous detachment.

There's a reason they call it a "practice".

T_Bone0806 · #19 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:00 pm

Sheesh. Hope this turns out to be a simple, not-too-serious thing. Or something easily treatable. Take care.

hermillion · #20 Post by **hermillion** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:02 pm

I hope you get to the root of this problem very quickly, and that it it something easily treatable. Sorry you didn't get to the game tonight, but I bet Mom and Son had a good bonding experience.

BackInTex · #21 Post by **BackInTex** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 pm

mrkelley23 wrote: Just to insult you and your doctor's intelligence: the hep A shot is a 2 shot sequence, taken about 6 months apart, and the Hep B sequence is a 3 shot sequence, over a course of about 7 months. Did you have all these? And did they do a test to make sure your antibodies were okay?

Yes, I had the complet series of shots. Three visits from June to November.

But they never tested the antibodies.

silverscreenselect · #22 Post by **silverscreenselect** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:36 am

Be sure you get to the bottom of this and get it taken care of.....

I need to keep those few of you on the Bored who disagree with me in tip top condition so I have someone to argue with....

Sir_Galahad · #23 Post by **Sir_Galahad** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 7:25 am

I hope they locate the source of the problem quickly and can treat it just as quickly. GI problems can often be difficult to isolate and diagnose. My B-I-L had similar symptoms and they finally diagnosed him with diverticulitis.

nitrah55 · #24 Post by **nitrah55** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 8:13 am

Holy crap, dude.

I'm praying for you.