Welcome back fellow readers, bloggers to the world of The Reality of Unseen Illnesses,
Sorry I haven’t written for a few months I have been confined to white tiled rooms we call hospitals, going through the same cycle and struggle of fighting with Medical Health Professionals.
Let’s back it up a bit my last story was the long journey I had taken to discover I had an Illness called Abdominal Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Disorder (Here is a quick re cap on what that disease is : (ACNES) is a condition that causes chronic pain of the abdominal wall. It occurs when terminal branches of the lower thoracicintercostal nerves (7-12) are ‘entrapped’ in abdominal muscles, causing a severe localized neuropathic pain that is usually experienced at ventral portions of the abdomen. It is frequently overlooked and unrecognized, although the incidence is estimated to be 1:2000 patients.[1] )
It was an amazing woman, a woman who looked beyond the norm and discovered that this was the main source of my chronic pain, a wonderful woman named Dr Heide Feberwee
Gold Coast Persistent Pain Management Service
Suite 3, Campus Alpha
2 Investigator Drive
ROBINA QLD 4226
Phone: (07) 5668 6825
Fax: (07) 5680 9539
and after having the (RFA) ablation surgery I was pain free for quite awhile. However because I am only a young 22 year old my nerves grow back quite frequently and I usually have this operation done every 3-6 months.
So lets fast forward a few months to June 2016, I woke up the same as every morning and went through my usual routine and whist normal 22 year old’s morning’s usually consist of breakfast and coffee, this is what my morning consists of 100g of Thyroxine for my under active thyroid (Hypothyroidism) , 1 tablet of inner health plus (because of all the antibiotics I have to take), Movical and Iberogast (to help soften the bowel and help the digestive system whilst on many Opiate related medications. Which is not good. BTW. PLEASE ONLY TAKE MEDICATION AS PRESCRIBED BY GP OR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.)
So in June 2016 , I woke up and realised I had a very bad pain on my right side and at first it felt like that odd sensation before you need to urinate, when this appeared the pain became so unbearable that I remained in a crouched over position clutching my right pelvic side. So I went through the painful steps of organising a GP appointment, the GP sending me off to get a Pelvic Ultra Sound both Internal and External, and for a girl a first time Internal Pelvic Ultra sound is a bit uncomfortable. Transvaginal ultrasound is an examination of the female pelvis and urogenital tract (kidneys and bladder). It helps to see if there is any abnormality in your uterus (womb), cervix (the neck of the womb), endometrium (lining of the womb), fallopian tubes, ovaries, bladder and the pelvic cavity. It differs from an abdominal ultrasound as it looks at the pelvic organs from inside the vagina.
I had that done, got the results and was sent away with the normal anti inflammatory pain killers, but this didn’t do anything so hoped into mums car and drove to my second home ‘Robina Public Hospital.’ went through the usual cycle of explaining the same thing over and over again being pumped with pain killers, getting told there is nothing really wrong, organise another round of ultrasounds and because of the pain killers the hospital pumps me with I end up having to have a catheter (“uretic catheter”:) draining urine from the urinary bladder as in urinary catheterization, e.g., the intermittent catheters or Foley catheter or even when the urethra is damaged as in suprapubic catheterisation.
After a major 48 hours I finally ended up with a questionable diagnosis of Pelvic Inflamatory disease: (inflammation of the female genital tract, accompanied by fever and lower abdominal pain.) I was put on two types of antibiotics Flagyl
(Flagyl (metronidazole) is an antibiotic. It fights bacteria in your body.
Flagyl is used to treat bacterial infections of the vagina, stomach, skin, joints, and respiratory tract. This medication will not treat a vaginal yeast infection.)
and …
Doxycycline is an antibiotic that is used in the treatment of a number of types of infections caused by bacteria and protozoa.
and whilst these medications for the two weeks in combination with strong pain killers did help this pain for a period of time. However because the side effects were so bad I almost considered just living through the unbearable pain. Some of these side effects from both antibiotics included:
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Migraines
- Bleeding
- Loss of appetite
- and the constant feeling of not feeling 100%
So i guess where I am going with this story is that not everyone is happy ending, and I still have to fight to prove my illnesses are real only to end up with a MAYBE or Questionable diagnosis. The only good thing to come out of my stories is that I end up making wonderful friends at the hospital going through similar things to me so they are very understanding, so when you are feeling stressed, sick and alone please remember that you are not alone and that there are people out there just like you!
Lauren x
If you have a story about your invisible illness that you would like to share with me and the world please email : thatsteelmedia@gmail.com
The Reality of Unseen Illnesses 