As of 11/09/11, I was diagnosed with IBS. The acronym IBS stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. For those who do not know/understand what IBS is all about this link will help you understand better:
http://www.webmd.com/ibs/digestive-diseases-irritable-bowel-syndrome
Now that you understand IBS, let's move on to my story and how I am going to live with the diagnosis.
I am now 20 years old and my health has significantly changed since June 16, 2011. I was rushed to the ER by my mom at about 11:30 that night. I was having pains in what I believed to be my right ovary. I was wrong. Very wrong. Dr. K. Kuo diagnosed me with a urinary tract infection and swollen lymph nodes which signaled an infection. Ok, so I thought no big deal until the following day. I received a call and was told to be at the imaging center by 8 am that the CT scan revealed a cyst on my liver, and they wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure it looked ok, and nothing else was going on. That Saturday I made it to the imaging center, survived a very painful abdomen ultrasound, keep in mind I was still sore from the stabbing pain in my right side in which I had complained about at the ER the Thursday before this. A lot of prayers were said for me during this 4 day span of time. Thus began the waiting game of calls that would come flooding in from doctors with appointment times and test results. The pain medicine I took that night caused me to have an allergic reaction, meaning a 2 a.m. trip to walmart to pick up...you guessed it...Benadryl! So, Monday morning rolls around. I am still feeling pretty bad, but I suck it up and go babysit my favorite little cousin. After this week is halfway over, I have to go for a followup to see my doctor, S. Palmer. He doesn't have a clear diagnosis either, except swollen lymph nodes, still. Another round of antibiotics and stabbing pains in my right abdominal side comes and goes. I did not have another flare-up of pain, until October. No pains, no nothing, until that night in October. I took a pain pill and laid down, did not have another thought about it. Then came November, starting on Tuesday, November 8 I had the stabbing pains so bad it was intolerable. I went to see a PCP that was in the same clinical group as Dr. Palmer, but these 2 obviously did not see eye-to-eye. She prescribed Flagyl and Cipro for 10 days, follow up with Palmer in 12 days, and proceed from there. Her diagnosis: Mesenteric lymphadenitis. Case closed, am I correct? No. Dr. Palmer sees me in 12 days, repeats bloodwork and makes a new diagnosis: IBS. So, here I am, taking Levbid twice daily and I see him again in a month. I am coping well with the diagnosis, but I dont know how it should affect me in the future. I am scared of course, but that can't stop me. I feel like I am all to young to have so many problems. It is not uncommon for women to have IBS, but for some reason it makes me feel like I can't be spontaneous, I can't be that free, happy go lucky girl anymore, all because IBS. I feel as though I have to make sure I know where the closest bathroom is at all times. Sporting events, concerts, even college will become a slightly more difficult challenge because I have to plan around times, and knowing, of course, where the nearest bathroom is. I pray everyday to the Lord asking Him to show me resources, people, passages in the Bible, anything to help me make life a little easier. Whether I meet another young lady or gentleman with this problem who has advice for me, or vice-versa, or He leads me to go to a support group for this condition. I believe that He has led me to blog about my experiences so that others with IBS can learn from me or post comments of encouragement, or tips they know to help keep life a least a little bit normal.
Here's a link to the Mesenteric Lymphadenitis condition:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/181162-overview
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