Fear

• By NancyL
• Posted October 5, 2007 at 2:21 am

Hi Charlotte,

I hope you are doing OK now. I was diaganosed about a month ago after being sick this whole year. I am not sure what your issue is, but if you are here, we have something in common. And it is frightening to be here. I have had a whole lot of terrible stuff happen in the past 5 years so, this is just one more thing for me. Except it is what is pushing me over the age right now. And I trying to find a way to cope. And to hopefully get the healthiest I can, with the problems I have. If you need a friend- you have one!
-Nancy

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• By Charlotte1
• Posted October 5, 2007 at 5:04 am

Nancy,

Thank you for responding to this. I am scared of staying in the pain that I have been in for the last month. The Fentyl patches are not really helping. I do not want to have to deal with this forever. It seems that everyone (including the disability insurance company) thinks that you just wake up one morning and it is gone. How were you diagnosed? I woke up one morning with a miagrane and 4 days later the vomiting continued and this is what I have. The GI doctor states that it does not occur this way, but it did. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charlotte

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• By NancyL
• Posted October 7, 2007 at 7:28 pm

Hi Charlotte,

I had major surgery last year. My diaphram split open and my intestines went up into my chest and collasped my lung. When the doctor put everything back, my intestines no longer worked. He also preformed a nisson fundictomy . The first month I threw up every single day, everytime I ate or drank anything. Once I was able to keep food down, I was not able to go to the bathroom. I have been miserable all year and in the hospital for blockages. And several tests were done before my gastroentrologist told me that my colon was no longer functioning. The surgeon had told me it was a possibility with the surgery. But I had no choice- without the surgery I was going to die. I had started to become constipated about 5 months before the pain got so bad I ended up in the hospital which led to my surgery. I read another post here where a woman talked about long time severe constipation leading to the colon work working. And I think that is a possibility also. So I believe we suffer from different issues, but I do understand. My brother used fentyl patches for years. I welcome your friendship.
-Nancy

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• By Charlotte1
• Posted October 8, 2007 at 12:51 am

Nancy,

I seems our situation is similar in may ways. I am sorry that you are going thru so much. I love your attitude. All my life I have fought to make things right (fix them). This one I can not fix and if you speak to someone with little or no knowledge fo stomach issues they are like get up and shake it off. I have not been successful with that yet. I am tired of the nausea and vomiting. I had a surgeon to tell me that if they did the surgery that they do for gastric bypass it might work. I just do not know. I have missed 5 wks of work and really can't go back right now due to nausea and pain. The Fentyl does not adequate control it, but they are afraid of slowing me down further. Does your brother also have digestive issues?

Thanks for being there,

Charlotte

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• By NancyL
• Posted October 8, 2007 at 3:28 am

Hi Charlotte,

Unfortunately, my brother Russell passed away in May this year. He had a very rare disease called Werner's. It was a premature aging disease. And he had all kinds of terrible problems including alot of digestive issues. Taking care of him is the main reason I took so long to go to the doctor with my own issues.

The nisson fundictomy may be the operation your doctor is talking about when he said the same surgery as a gastric bypass. It was one of many proceedures that was done to me with the surgery I had last November. The way it was explained to me the stomach is flipped upside down and wrapped aroung your esophagus and tied around it. When your stomach gets full the swelling causes your esophagus to close off and nothing else can go up or down. Simply the way the stomach is tied off reduces it's capacity. It is often done for acid reflux to prevent acid from reentering the stomach.

I don't want to scare you, but I will discuss how it went for me for your benefit. I think I would have done better after my surgery if I had not been forced by my doctor to try to eat solids (chicken)within two days of my surgery. If that had been the only proceedure I underwent, then eating so much might have been OK. In my case because of all they had to do, I had hundreds of stitches running down my stomach and internally all the way accross my chest from the midpoint to out to the end of my body. It was very difficult to eat or drink anything and when I did and I threw up- I had all the pain from all the surgery plus what would have happened with just the nisson proceedure.

The nisson itself is no picnic to go through. You have to get used to your stomach being in a very different position (upside down). That takes a few days. Then your esophagus will suddenly close off when your stomach is full. Mine was swollen from all the surgery and would close off after a teaspoon of food (yougurt) in the begining. Without warning, anything else put in would imediately come right back up. And then I would keep trying to throw up without success. Toughest part of the whole deal. The procedure keeps whatever is already in your stomach down. I believe that is why your doc thinks you may benefit. But it was rough to get used to in the begining (first two months for me). Hunger is what drove me to keep trying until I was able to tolerate food.

If I had stuck to yougurt until I felt like eating solids, I would have done better.

My brother was on the Fentyl patch because the pain pills were too hard on his stomach. And he had also taken powerful antibiotics that had done a number on his stomach as well. One thing that helped him that we did not discover until really late was a medicine that increased his appetite. It also seemed to help him keep food down. It was a liquid that had to be refridgerated. He took a teaspoon once a day. He also took a drug for nausea.

We also found out that if he ordered Duregesic (generic Fentyl) the patches worked just as well, but the copay was much cheaper. We paid a fortune for years not knowing there was a generic subsitute.
-Nancy

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• By Charlotte1
• Posted October 8, 2007 at 10:11 pm

Nancy,

I am sorry for the loss of your brother, I can tell you miss him alot. You have been thru it and then some.

I am overwhelmed by what I can't do anymore. Vomiting is old, I have not been dealing with it nearly as long of some members of this site. I am very grateful for the site because I am finally getting straight answers from people who have GP or a similar situations. I currently am in the "lets wait to see if you get better" stage. I am unable to do much of anything which is very frustrating.

Hope you have a good day!

Charlotte

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• By NancyL
• Posted October 9, 2007 at 6:53 pm

I understand feeling overwelmed by what you can't do anymore. I am overwelmed by the drastic change in my health. And like you, I read the comments from the others on this site and I think to myself -all these people have been dealing with this issue longer then me. I am scared when I read about some of the people with my issues that have had multiply surgeries. I am difinitely living day to day. If I start to look at the big picture, I get too overwelmed and then depressed. I prefer to live in the fantasy of this only being temporary. You can handle just about anything for a little while. I do believe I am going to look into an antidepressant to help me cope. I have lost the four closest people in my life in the last 5 years. First my best friend died suddenly and unexpectedly, then my husband disapeered, then my mother died, then my brother died and now my health took a nose dive. It is just too much. And all the stress is not helping me adjust to this new way of my body functioning. I believe there is some kind of trick for getting better even if it is not totally well. And I am going to do the best I can to figure it out and to be as healthy as I can.

I am sorry you are not able to stop vomiting. I hate vomiting (of course no likes too!). I was one of those kids that if anyone around me vomited, I would too. And after my surgery, I would l walk the halls of the hospital with a basin propped on my IV poll vomiting as I walked. No fun. But the nurses were kind and walking got my mind off the pain. And I also think it made me stronger physically and emotionally. I wish I would walk more now, but I haven't felt like it lately.
I hope this finds you having a good day.
-Nancy

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