Possible Eureka? in Life in General

I may have discovered at least part of the cause to my recent stomach issues.

A bit more on recent developments though. I did end up going to the ER one day because the pain was starting to creep up slowly throughout the day. It got to about a 5-6ish pain level and I just decided it would better to be safe than wait for it to get to an unbearable level and need an ambulance or something. But when I got there, I was already feeling a bit better but I was so sick of this rollercoaster of pain I decided to admit myself anyway. They gave me a cocktail of stomach meds (one of them had novocaine and made my mouth numb haha) and ran tests on me. My labs were mostly really good (except for a couple liver enzymes that were higher than they’d ever been but still not like dangerously bad) and they ran a quick ultrasound on my gallbladder and didn’t see anything serious. They told me they couldn’t get emergency imagine done with my labs looking so good (so they probably thought I was just being a big baby haha) so I left. I wasn’t super shocked they couldn’t help me. Once an ER decides you’re not dying, they want you gone. I did get a script for Zofran so at least something will come out of my $1000 ER visit.

One good thing to note is that my kidney numbers were much much better than before. My Chloride was pretty high (it was checked before I got an IV so not that) but my creatinine (the thing that was super elevated last time I got checked) was all normal again. And the rest of my kidney function was good (like my eGFR was back to over 110… it was like 70 something previously). That HCTZ really did fuck me up, I hate the fact that I took it for so long.

I did finally got my GI referral but the soonest appointment is May 8th (it was May 3rd but they called me and pushed it back… great). In the meantime my new doctor wanted me to get an ultrasound. My results showed a couple gall bladder issues, (wall thickening, some sludge, and small debris) but no evidence of infection. My liver does have fat deposits but nothing alarming. I hope I can address both of those things with some diet changes and weight loss.

In the meantime none of this explains my symptoms and why PPIs aren’t addressing my stomach pain. My doctor wants me to keep my GI appointment but I did find a GI (in network of course) that has a slightly sooner appointment so I’m gonna see if they can swap my referral to them.

Another weird symptom I’ve been having lately is that I’m super cold all the time. Like I used to thrive in 68F indoor temp but now if it’s below 74-76 in the house I feel like I’m freezing. That could just be because I’ve been eating less lately (not from lack of appetite though, I could still slam a pizza any time if I wanted), but it’s something to mention next time I speak with my doctor.

Anyway, the other day I was sitting in my office just in agony again and I could feel shivers just starting in my stomach and radiating outwards. It was like a mixture of feeling cold, nausea, and anxiety all mixed together. I have a couple bottles of hydroxyxine but I hadn’t been taking them since I thought my kidneys were struggling and I didn’t want to take any meds that I didn’t absolutely need. But since I got decent kidney results at the ER I figured “what the heck let’s try it”. It was like night and day. Suddenly the pain was extremely tolerable, I wasn’t shivering anymore. I felt way more normal, not perfect (still a little stomach pain) but like a human again. I did the dishes, cleaned the house. Did my normal thing. It was incredible.

It’s still a little early to tell for sure, since the pain does seem to come and go as it pleases, but it could be that my stomach problems all stem from anxiety. I have experienced panic attacks before but not for nothing. Usually it’s a life event or something that triggers it. But maybe I have some general anxiety issues. I’m gonna keep taking the hydroxyzine a few times a day in the meantime to see how I handle it and if the pain stays manageable. If so, maybe I can get on something more permanent.