Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Doctors, specialists, and surgeries, oh my! Or why I have to laugh instead of cry

Many know that I've had some stupid health issues going on. It's really been doing a number on my self-esteem and my ability to cope with life in general. I decided to list everything from when the worst of it started, just to get an idea of what I had actually been through. Some minor things happened before this, but this has all happened in the last two years along with a lot of upheaval in my personal life. Putting this all down and seeing it in black and white was both shocking, depressing and uplifting all at once. It's a hell of a lot to go through in two years and, all things considered, I could be a lot worse off at this point. I am so grateful for health insurance and for the doctors that would actually listen, not to mention the people in my life who have stood by me and supported me through all of this. I couldn't have done it without you.


  • July 2015 - Visited emergency room with stomach pain that at the time was believed to be related to my gall bladder and was told to see a gastrointestinal specialist.
  • August - October 2015 - Massive amounts of tests with the GI specialist ending with a diagnosis of possible IBS and the definite diagnosis of a small hiatal hernia.  Given no meds and told to come back if it gets worse.  At this point I had 24/7 pain between a 3-5 as well as constant nausea and with unpredictable and uncontrollable diarrhea.
  • January 2016 - Visited my primary care doctor and begged him to do something, ANYTHING, to help me.  He have me a prescription for Prilosec.  Three days later I was back to normal except for occasional pain or stomach flare ups.
  • March 2016 - Diagnosed with severe anemia.  Talked with primary care doctor about switching Prilosec to a medication that was less likely to block iron.  Switched to Pepcid.
  • April 2016 - First iron infusion.  Started weight loss medication.
  • April 2016 - July 2016 - Hand therapy for carpal tunnel and tendonitis (again... it was my third round of hand therapy since 2012, I believe).
  • June 2016 - Bunion surgery.  Intense pain response. Keloid scarring.
  • August 2016 - Second iron infusion.  Hysterectomy with a bad pain response and poor recovery needing additional meds and several months more recovery than expected.
  • October 2016 - Surgery to remove screws and Keloid scar from my foot.  I’ve now had plastic surgery!
  • December 2016 - March 2017 - Physical therapy for my foot.
  • March 2017 - May 2017 - Physical therapy for my hip and posture.  Cold laser therapy.
  • March 2017 - Emergency scleral banding surgery for a prolapsed retina.  Extreme pain response and an overnight trip to the ER.
  • April 2017 -  Asperger’s/high functioning autism diagnosis.  Stopped weight loss medication with a loss of over 30 lbs.  Started the muscle relaxer cyclobenzaprine.
  • June 2017 - Fibromyalgia diagnosis.  Started a trial of Lyrica.

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