Thursday, July 6, 2017

A Mystery Solved

Well, the flare continues.  Bummer!

I had hoped that my run with spasticity and a random MS hug would have been the end of it, but it does appear that my whole body is going through some difficult times right now.  From head to toe, I feel like a rubber band that has been stretched too tight - every muscle hurts and it truly has the sensation reminiscent of being "just about ready to cramp."  Especially in my calves; I worry when I go to sleep that I will be woken suddenly by strong cramps, so I have been sleeping with my toes pointed straight up so that I don't angle my foot too much outward.

I did a lot of reading today, as I had to stay home from work.  I became very sick yesterday evening.  I have experienced a lot of abdominal cramping over the past couple of weeks, and it came to a pinnacle yesterday - I was in too much pain to eat more than a few bites of dinner, and I couldn't sleep.  I woke in the middle of the night and threw up - something I very rarely do.  It's been about 3 years since the last time, and even then it was very similar to this.  And four years before that, again a similar situation.  I hadn't in 15 years before then.

Things really got me thinking - as nothing I was doing seemed to help (not a single drug I took last night made me feel better), was this possibly related to my MS?

Over the past seven years, I have had a myriad of intestinal issues.  Looking back, I always describe my "knowing something was wrong" when I started to suffer from daily, almost constant nausea.  As someone who very rarely throws up, being nauseated was like torture.  No matter how many times I would mention this to doctors, no one seemed to care.  Maybe it was my BC, maybe it was the blind UTI, maybe it was stress...pish posh, something was wrong.  Two years later when I developed sudden heartburn that was so severe I couldn't swallow, I was told it was because I didn't eat breakfast.

Oy, to say the least.

Today while researching, I found some information on gastroparesis - and bingo.  It matches my symptoms perfectly and explains soooo many of my long lasting issues.  So while right now I am still very hungry from having too little today, and my stomach still hurts, I feel closer to an answer.  Isn't it strange ho having a reason makes it all so much easier to handle?

Love All,
MSloan