Update 3: My Body Hates Me

Near the end of the summer I started noticing a theme: I was getting sick everyday. Whenever I ate, no matter what I was eating, I would get super sick. I have been allergic to dairy for years so I go out of my way to avoid dairy. This was not dairy related. I was getting horribly sick. I would have sharp stabby stomach pains all day, I would get tired almost instantly after eating, a migraine quality headache would soon develop and I was experiencing awful joint pain. Initially I did not connect the headaches, fatigue, or joint pain. I went to the doctor shortly after the semester started, just for the sick and stomach pains. We talked about what could be causing it and she order a lot of blood work.

Those that are successful at obtaining my blood without hurting me will be given a huge reward. To my recollection this has never happened. I have had everything from a phlebotamist inserting the needle and moving it around to find the vein. I have had blood taken from both elbows, the back of both hands, and even from between my knuckles at one point. When having my blood drawn at the doctor's office, it took two people. The first person attempted to get blood from my elbow and couldn't do it. The second person came in and took blood from the back of my hand. The problem, then, was that both were from my right arm, my dominate arm. I lost all feeling in my right arm for the rest of the day, which made driving a fun game.

I went back to the doctors this week to follow up. My blood work showed that I am severely anemic and that I have hypothyroidism. The Anemia I can understand but I have not fully understood what exactly hypothyroidism entails. However, the test for bacterial infections and parasites were clean. In between the two doctors visits I realized that everytime I eat wheat I would have all of the symptoms. So I haven't had gluten in a month. I feel so much better and I'm only getting sick when the dining services sneaks gluten into my food.

So it turns out I have Celiac Disease. Apparently 1 in 100 people have it. It's an autoimmune disease that makes it impossible for my intestines to process gluten (the protein found in wheat, barely, rye, and other grains). I have to load up on the fruits and vegetables and I am trying out weird gluten free foods. It has made eating in the dining hall insanely difficult so I am working with housing to try to move out of the dorm.

In one month I have been diagnosed with anemia, hypothyroidism, and Celiac Disease. My body hates me!

RANT ON DAIRY!

What is up with a lack of dairy free options? 

As you know, I've been sick a lot lately. I'm on some killer broad spectrum antibiotics because the doctors can't figure out what's wrong. Part of the issue, im come to realize, though it is not the main issue, is that a lot of food has dairy. PTS seems to cook everything in butter and a lot of options have cheese in them. I haven't been eating meat lately, I'm not too sure why but the smell and taste of red meat repulses me lately. And a lot of the vegetarian stuff has dairy. So I've been eating a lot of salads. But that is a problem because on the salad bar stuff tend to as I termed it "comingulate" (which was pointed out to me is not an actual word).  

Today I went to add some chickpeas to my salad and luckily I realized that someone had dropped some blue cheese into them. If I eat anything that touched dairy, I will have an allergic reaction. My reaction is also steadily getting worse. The smallest iota of dairy will set it all into action. I am sick of getting sick because of dairy. The chaplain on campus is having me talk to dining services to see if we can figure something out but I feel really bad because I do not want to inconvenience them. 

I went to Wegmann's this weekend to try to find something to cook so I could eat for the weekend. I was i their health food section and was shocked at the lack of non-dairy options. They have a whole aisle dedicated to gluten-free food. And don't get me wrong, I am glad that the gluten-free people have their alternatives but where are our Dairy-free choices. The Shaws back in Clinton sold Dairy Free Mac & cheese and I was really hoping for something like it but alas there was none. And when you are able to find a dairy free alternative it is ridiculously expensive! I'm a poor graduate student, I want to be able to eat and not have an allergic reaction to my food but at the same time I cannot afford a lot of the alternative. $2.19 for Sheep Yogurt and $2.49 for goat yogurt, neither of which I have had a chance to try to see if it would work because it is so damn expensive. And Dairy free and Lactose Free are not the same thing! Lactose free means it comes from milk but they've managed to make it easier to digest. Dairy free means it never came from a cow's udder. Being allergic to dairy and being lactose intolerant is not the same thing. I'm not trying to be difficult when I ask if you sell a dairy free product so do not give me a dirty look! For some reason nut allergies get a lot more respect than dairy allergies and I am not sure why.

...end rant...

How Web MD Made Me A Hypochondriac!

Web MD is a fabulous site. You can go on and find out about all kinds of illnesses and bodily type things. You can educate yourself on almost anything having to do with health and diet, bodily functions, diseases, medical conditions, allergens, and drugs and supplements. If there is something you want to know about health, you can probably find it on Web MD. I have used it as a source for papers before.

 

Web MD also has an interesting function on their website called the SYMPTOM CHECKER. You start by selecting your gender and age (wouldn't want to tell a man they're pregnant right?) and then you have two options: you can either click on the body parts that you are trying to diagnose or you can type symptoms into the search feature. For the past to days I have been dealing on and off with an issue. Randomly I will break out into hives. My skin will become super itchy, red, and splotchy. It looks oh so attractive! Someone suggested that perhaps it is stress related but it has been happening when I am at my least stressed. Not when I am presenting a paper, but rather when I am in the class I enjoy. Not when I am doing homework but when I am out at trivia night. Not when I am in the class that is kicking my butt but when I am at work surfing the internet. Very confusing. And it is more frustrating than anything else. 

 

So I went onto Web MD. I haven't changed my soap, or shampoo or lotion or anything I bathe with. I haven't changed laundry detergent (which reminds me I need to do laundry stat!) I simply cannot figure this out! So maybe Web MD could help? I selected the different symptoms, the redness, the itching, the hives and got some very interesting results:

 

• Allergic Reaction- This makes sense, that was my first thought.
• Contact Dermitis- That one makes sense as well. something touched my skin and its affecting me
• Abscsess- hmm, no I think I would notice that
• Poison Ivy, Sumac, Oak- Haven't come into contact with it and I think I'm immune
• Burn- Wouldn't I notice that as well?
• Osteomyelitis- a bone infection caused by bacteria...thats scary!
• Epidermal cysts- it's just some hives and a rash not cysts...
• Acne- Wait, I've been though puberty, I know a pimple when I see one. I do not have pimples all over my hands!
• Brown Recluse spider bite- are you kidding me? Do they even live in New England?
• Phlebitis- an inflammation of the veins. Another scary one? I thought I had a rash, do I have to worry about dying? I shouldn't have looked into this. I don't want to die!
• Medication reaction/ drug allergy- Haven't taken anything, except for the Benedryl to deal with this issue.
• Blepharitis- a Bacterial eye infection, ...?
• Actinic Keratosis- precancerous skin condition that develops in sun-exposed skin, especially face, skin, forearms and neck in pale-skinned, fair-haired, light-eyes people. GREAT! So, I'm dying? pale-skinned? I make paper look tan! Fantastic! I'm already paranoid about cancer based on my genetics. but the description says the itchy patches don't go away, but mine went away yesterday and came back today. But they came back...I'm freaking out!
• Cirrhosis- Seriously? I've only been legal to drink for 16 months! And there hasn't been any binge drinking in there. And where is the correlation between the liver and hives and itchiness on the skin? Cirrhosis is deadly. Do I need a liver transplant? Am I going to die?

 

Web MD is a great resource. But it can turn you into the biggest hypochondriac. After reading this I am fairly certain I am allergic to oxygen, am on fire, have pimples covering my body, my veins are clogged, my liver is scarred, have cancer, dying from spider toxins, and have been rolling in a patch of Poison Ivy that I just don't remember. Yeah it's a great resource to drive me crazy! And now I'm even more itchy...great...