I have
talked about the annoying pain I have had all year under my right rib. The
investigations they’ve done so far to find out what causes it were an abdomen
CT scan and an H. Pylori blood test. The first one is an annoying hour being
stuck in a metal tube that shakes like an everlasting earthquake (God only
knows how closer to cancer I am now – I have had 3 such scans done so far this
year for various things!!), the second one is self explanatory – just draw
blood, send to lab and wait.
The CT
scan looked for something to be wrong with any internal organs, but especially
the liver and the gallbladder. They both turned out peachy. The blood test came
back … positive and then some. The normal range stops at 1. Mine came back an
8. As always, in blood levels of badness, an overachiever. This site
will explain what the infection with this bacteria does, how you get it and how
it can damage your stomach.
So, I
took two kinds of antibiotic for 10 days and hoped the bacteria was
killed. Not sure if this is standard or not, but in the state I live now (which
is very removed from anything “standard”) they won’t repeat the blood test to make
sure the bacteria is killed. I had my new current doctor tell me that “the
bacteria is probably still there”. Thing is, you don’t know if you have this,
unless it’s bad enough that it made ulcers in your stomach which will start
hurting – which they figured is where my right under rib pain comes from.
So,
after the antibiotic, switching doctors and two more extra months, they
scheduled me for an endoscopy
, today. I have done this once before, and I dreaded it, because the general anesthesia
made me incredibly loopy for 3 days and gave me tons of nausea. But I went
ahead with it, because on top of the stomach damaging bacteria, I also have a
long history of GERD with esophagitis
, presumably from the years and years of medication and especially aspirin
which I have taken for FH.
So, I
wanted to know if there is even more damage to my stomach now, in addition to
my esophagus, and that’s where the pain comes from.
Well,
it was not an ulcer, after all, or at least not yet. They took a piece of the
stomach lining and sent it to have a biopsy on it, so that they will find out
if there is any damage yet, that might not be seen on the pictures the camera
inserted in my throat today took.
So, the
good news is: no ulcer. The bad news is: they don’t know, for certain, what
causes my pain. But … if it is just my esophagitis, then (and this is more bad
news) … I must take my acid reducing pills religiously every day. Forever. The really
good news, though, is that unlike the first time when I did this test,
this time, the recovery has been pretty smooth. No nausea at all, and outside
of some sleepiness, nothing really bothers me. I have eaten normal food, and I
am now writing this blog – so, this is good stuff.
No more
tests scheduled yet, to see if the pain might be from elsewhere other than my inflammation,
but both the GI doctor who did the test
today and my general doctor suggested looking more into the gallbladder, with
more topical tests (ultrasound vs CT scan). But nothing scheduled further, for
now.
But the
verdict today is: more meds, in the form of prilosec, or anything like it, that
cuts the production of acid in my stomach, so that my esophagus can heal and
not hurt so much. Of course, I sigh. One more thing to add to the cocktail.
And as
I have said before: I would not mind this disease so much, if it stuck to its
cholesterol values and its blood vessels. When the side effects from drugs and
other symptoms spill into other organs, it kind of … makes my day. Not.
Another
thing I realize now I forgot to mention so far this year is this new cool site/
app that I have signed up for that allows me to look into all of the test
results and investigation that I have done over the years that I have seen the
doctors in the state I live now. Pretty handy. Well, only, I am so flabbergasted
at how much “stuff” doctors just don’t tell you … Maybe most patients just rely
on doctors to tell them the bare minimum and trust that, but I am one of those
people that wants to know details, and chemistry, and anatomy and whys and hows
and all the gory details. I think it
helps me understand my body better and it helps me make better decisions. So,
reading through the tests on my own, I found tons of new things, tests that show
something is wrong somewhere else in my body that I didn’t know about (like a
bone spur in my spine …). So, one word of advice, in the words of my mother:
don’t leave the office without your own results and transcripts in hand, if
you want to know it all and not just have of it.
One
important such test is that I have a complete stenosis into the carotid artery
that irrigates the front of my face (I forget which side, but I think it’s the
right side). My new doctor is shocked (not new to me) that at 36 (which is when
this test was done, 2 years ago) I had such an advanced atherosclerosis in one
pretty large and major artery. He said there are no symptoms yet, because the
front of our faces is extremely well supplied with blood by many, many other
smaller vessels, but it’s still something to watch.
Of
course, with the history of strokes in my family, this is pretty serious to me.
But at
least, for now, no ulcer to explain my abdominal pain. And on that initial
note: I am asking my husband to get tested for the H. Pylori bacteria, too,
because – just a word of caution there: it is transferable from human to
human. If you read the wiki article you’ll see it can wreak havoc on your
stomach and other digestive tract pieces.
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