Tummy Troubles

Please turn off your wild imaginations, because you do NOT want a mental picture of what I'm about to tell you.

I had lunch last week, and when it snaked its way through my digestive tract, and out the other side, it did so without being digested. At all. And no, it wasn't corn.

It was disturbing. And a bit scary. So I've decided to bite the bullet and go to the doctor. I've also switched myself onto a diet of soft things like cooked vegetables, and liquid meal replacements. As well as some yogurt, which I think I'll cut out for a few days.

I feel so bloated, and uncomfortable, along with being nauseous anytime I put food into me (which includes the liquid foods too).

And in case you're wondering, I'm not pregnant, and its not that time of the month.

But my twitching has pretty much gone away, except in my neck, and I've been given 3 codeine tablets by a fellow in-pain friend of mine, and they actually make the pain go away. So I'll see if I can talk to my doctor about getting some codeine.

Sympathy Cane

I went out to get lunch for work yesterday. When I got to the mall, I parked my car, and reached into the back to grab my cane, as my hip has not been cooperating at all this week. My cane is a spiffy collapsible cane, hollow on the inside, with an elastic running from one end to the other, which pulls it together as soon as you take it out of the carrying case. It's winter, in Canada, and the temperature yesterday was around -30C. So I pulled out my cane, expecting a *Snick-snick-snick* of the cane snapping itself together, and all I got was a *Swish-flop* my cane danging loosely from my fingers.

My poor cane dislocated all three of its joints. I think it'll need a full body cast, and some heat therapy before it can go for a walk again.

I think it caught my EDS. Or it thought it looked like big bunches of fun to be completely dislocated and useless, and decided to try out the whole "I can't, I'm broken" excuse.

I ended up shuffling through the mall, a usually 5 minute walk taking about 20 minutes, each direction. By the time I got back to work I was in so much pain, and I took 2 Tramacet. No effect. 6 hours later, I took 2 more Tramacet, no effect. Same with the 2 I took on Monday, and the 2 I took on Tuesday. Either I have the wrong kind of pain for the medication, or the wrong kind of medication for my body... Either way, I can't seem to get any relief, or catch any breaks. My 2011 is looking a bit less shiny.

But my 2 bright spots in this gloom are:
1) My mommy bought me a cane for Christmas, and it has a shock absorber, which makes it a bit easier on the shoulder, and
2) I've had 10 people put in orders for sweaters, on top of the 5 I had already promised people as gifts, and the 2 which were ordered before Christmas. So I will be able to keep my broken bits distracted from some of the pain with all the crocheting I've got to do.

First Appointment With My New-Old Doctor

Doc: "What brings you in today?"
Me: "Pain."
Doc: "Where does it hurt?"
Me: "Everywhere."
Doc: "What's causing the pain?"
Me: "Dislocated shoulders, spine, hips, ribs, knees, ankles, etc."
Doc: "There's no way you can dislocate all those things."
Me: "I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a couple months back I dislocated my larynx and forgot how to breathe for a while."
Doc: "Oh, right, you're the one with Ehlers. How bad has the pain been lately?"
Me: "Mostly around a five or six, but when I fall, or twitch, and dislocate something it spikes really bad, and I'm just looking for pain meds for breakthrough pain, because I'm pretty used to the all day, every day pain."
Doc: "So what were you thinking for medication?"
Me: "All of the other doctors I've seen have refused to prescribe anything stronger than Tylenol 3, but that stopped working for me years ago."
Doc: "True enough. I'll give you something quite a bit stronger, but you have to be careful not to take it too often."

Then he printed me a prescription for Tramacet, which is a combination of Tramadol and Acetaminophen. I'm hoping it'll work for me, and maybe help me to sleep.

But YAY! I didn't get the "Ehlers Danlos doesn't cause pain" that a lot of doctors spew out, or the "You're too young to hurt that much" or "We don't want to promote drug-seeking behaviour" that a lot of doctors seem to be afraid of these days. It was a simple thing, I told him what I needed, he agreed wholeheartedly, and I was out of there in five minutes. It's no wonder he was my favorite doctor all those years ago before he moved away. 2011 is looking promising.