Health Update: Finally saw the Gastroenterologist!

 

    I think that picture says it all... So I've been dealing with digestive issues since, well since I was born I think.  Some of it was definitely linked to anxiety and depression, but some of it was just how I was made.  They really came to a head in the fall of 2016. At that point ANYTHING I consumed, even plain chicken broth, had me doubled over in pain.  I kept finding things that helped a little, but they were band-aids at best and in the spring of 2017 I was diagnosed with SIBO for the first time.  There was a host of other issues present as well including a parasitic infection and a lack of digesting protein or fat.  We treated it aggressively with antibiotics, antiparasitics and a whole host of digestive support supplements as well as the most restrictive diet I've ever heard of.  It started off with me being able to eat a chicken breast (baked over a grate so there would be no fat present and with NO seasoning), ground beef cooked the same way, and boiled/pureed carrots.  That's it.  Nope, that was not fun.  The worst part was that it didn't help all that much.  I slowly added things in, like one every two weeks, and nine months later I was a little better at best.  I think I was just desperate to be able to eat semi-normally.  I was no stranger to special diets as I had cut out dairy, soy, and both at different stages due to my children's allergies, but this was a whole new ballgame. We tried more supplements, more diets, but I never got consistently better.  I even dipped back into the "anything I eats causes extreme pain" stage every 9 months or so after that.  I would have to go on either a liquid diet or a 24 hour intermittent fast for 4-6 weeks to reset things every time.  The doctors I saw just threw up their hands and shrugged.  They didn't know what was going on any more than I did.

    Fast forward to this spring/summer.  The cycle had come back again and everything I ate hurt.  I couldn't face another month of fasting, not with everything else I was dealing with (like a 90 day migraine). I spoke with my doctor about it and we decided it was time to consult an expert.  I had seen a Gastroenterologist back in 2016 without receiving any help, but this time around I was armed with lots more information and a doctor that supported me.  I admit, it took me way longer than it should have to make the appointment, I was in a state of overwhelm and trying to do the research on who I wanted to go to as well as picking up the phone to make the appointment were difficult for me to accomplish.  After researching the local Facebook page for EDS, I found a recommendation for a GI doctor that was familiar with/supportive of EDS.  It couldn't be that simple though!  Of course she was in great demand and there were actually no appointments available to see her in 2022 and the 2023 calendar wouldn't be opened up for months.  So I did what I've done in the past and saw someone else at the practice who was more open, an ARNP that I mentioned in this post.  I wasn't a fan of his, but at least he recognized that my case was beyond his expertise and he referred me to the doctor that I had actually wanted to see in the first place.  It took a few phone calls and a lot of hold time, but I finally got an appointment with her that I had this morning.

    At my appointment I found out that my SIBO test did, indeed, come back positive (a month ago and no one let me know 😠) and we discussed treatment.  As I've been learning, like almost everything else I experience, SIBO is a life-long diagnosis rather than a one-time one.  It's recurrence rate is nearly 100% and the doctor I saw today said that 6 months in between bouts was considered a successful treatment plan.  She's put me on a two-week course of antibiotics and a plan to follow up after.  Not sure how my regular doctor will feel about this as she's not a big SIBO believer, and I'm a little anxious about how to balance the different inputs, but one thing at a time, right?

Here's the thing: I'm NOT a bit antibiotic fan, but I'm not a fan of digestive misery either.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.