Tuesday, April 28, 2015

*sigh* Will this ever end?

have been good, recently.  I did fall off the wagon.  I did go back to eating wheat and dairy, and when I developed hives, I did stop again, thinking maybe there was some connection.  When my stopping the wheat and dairy didn't seem to make any difference to the hives, I went back to eating it, until the doctor ordered me off it again.  She thought maybe my allergy had turned to celiac disease.  The blood test came back negative, but I still need a biopsy to absolutely confirm I haven't developed it.  In the mean time, the hives were still present, and the severe indigestion was there as well.  I've been on multiple prescriptions to get all this to stop.  Finally over the weekend, the hives started to disappear, the stomach problems improved.  I thought I'd turned a corner.  So when Monday around 3 p.m. when I started to get severe indigestion, I was confused.  The stomach pains only ever came when the hives were present, and they were just about gone.  I began popping Tums and Nexium to no avail.  In between bouts of pain, I went out to dinner for a family member's birthday.  At dinner I was careful to only order from their gluten-free menu.  So an hour after dinner, when I was home, not only did the stomach pain return, but my lower lip started to feel funny.  It started feeling hot and tight.  Below are two pictures.  The first is what my lower lip usually looks like, the second was what my lip looked like when I first noticed something was happening.  I had been taking pictures whenever I had hives so my doctor could see what they looked like, because sometimes when I went to the doctor, they cleared up.




Very quickly my lower lip swelled, then my face got red and my cheeks began to swell.  I put ice on my lip or about 20 minutes, but it didn't help.  M convinced me to go to a doctor.  The mini-clinic didn't look open, so we went to the regular hospital emergency room.  As I was walking in the ER, I could feel the swelling spreading up toward my eyes.  When I walked into the ER and tried to say "I think I'm having an allergic reaction, but I don't know why," my voice sounded funny, because apparently my lips couldn't move to enunciate the words properly.  She understood me enough to get me into a room and seen immediately.  As they started an I.V. on me, my throat began to feel clogged.  I kept clearing my throat, not even realizing it was likely swelling shut too.  I was incredibly calm and even dozed for a bit while the drugs began filling my body.  They ran all sorts of tests, but couldn't find anything to indicate what I was reacting to.  The next morning I went to pick up new meds, and my first ever Epi-pen.  I also went to see my regular doctor.  She thinks I might have some sort of auto-immune disorder.  She's referring me to another doctor, plus I'll need to get scoped to see if I have ulcers.  All this while school, repairs, and preparations for moving have to occur.  

3 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Oh My Lordy! That sounds horrendous, my dear! I hope they figure out what is wrong and can get you on the road to recovery, very very soon. Sending Big Healing Hugs your way.......Do keep us informed, my dear.

CyberKitten said...

Could it be something brought on by the stress you guys are bound to be under with all the changes happening? On a smaller scale my hay fever only started during University exam time. Never had it before....

VV said...

Unfortunately, this all started Feb. 1st, long before we knew we were moving.

For CK the book lover