Those people who spend a lot of time with me know that I have problems - stomach problems, to be exact. Some time in college, I started developing these Irritable Bowel Syndrome type problems... and they've become more of an impediment to normal thought about long trips, camping, vacations, morning commutes... basically everything. Symptoms would appear for several months, then I'd be somewhat normal, then a few months later, reappear - just after I'd decided things weren't inconvenient enough to see a doctor.
To be honest, it's frustrating that everyone else can eat what they want, put off going to the bathroom until its convenient, and have normal bowel movements without fail. It takes no planning, no concern about being out of reach of a restroom. Even my dog takes a hearty, normal poo once a day in the back yard. That's just not right.
Normally, I wouldn't post on my blog about the frustration, because talk of bowel movements is usually enough to turn anyone off. However, I'm abnormally frustrated today. I took the day off work because my doctor and I are trying to figure out what's wrong with my GI functions. I spent four hours being poked, gave 8 different little vials of blood (only got poked 4 times, but I was told the first, largest vial "is basically just waste"), and had to drink the most sugary drink ever devised after having no breakfast or coffee - all in a room right next to the bacon scented cafeteria.
The test today was a glucose tolerance test, and is basically the last step in my general practice doctor trying to diagnose my problem before the GI doctor gets a shot. For the test, you don't eat after midnight the night before, have blood taken upon arrival, drink a sugary drink, then have your blood glucose monitored over the next three hours to see how your body responds to sugar.
The first suggestion my doctor had was to get more fiber in my diet. I worked chewable fiber in to the diet, soluble fiber, and oatmeal for breakfast. Nothing really seemed to help. So, after a long while, I made an appointment for a follow-up visit, and here we are today seeing the last steps in the latest testing phase.
So, now I wait until next week to see what the results of my GTT was, and if those results don't give a clear indication of what's at fault in my belly (or lower), I'll have to have a camera in my bum. Let's just say I'm hoping my body has problems dealing with sugar.
Posted by Jordan at August 15, 2008 3:20 PM | TrackBack