It's not news to a lot of you out there that I am a sickly person. I'm sick 90% of the time, which puts me in a really crappy mood. Most of my friends know that if there is a rare and infections disease running rampant, I will become infected. That is why I can't hack those end of the world plague movies. It sucks, beyond words. However since being diagnosed Celiac, I had been living really healthy. It was a great run while it lasted.
Now, I can honestly say that I haven't been well since I got preggo with Mackenzie. That would be August 2009. That's right, I have been a sick person for 2 whole years. I was a very sick preggo person, then sick after I had her due to blood loss, and then just when I started to feel better I developed IBS. AWESOME. That unfortunately was just the beginning.
This week I found out that I have H. Pylori. What? I know, I had no idea what it was either. It's a bacterial infection that lives in the lining of my stomach. What would appear to be simple acid reflux and severe upper abdominal pain is actually the grossest bacteria known to man. Ok maybe not the grossest, but every time I start to think about it I get all grossed out. It makes my skin crawl to know that there are actually things crawling in my stomach. GROSS!
So how did I pick up these little friends? My Dr. has told me that H. Pylori lives on produce and I most likely got it from salad. Little does the doctor know that salad is one of the staples in my diet since I was diagnosed Celiac in 2002. Since my diagnosis I can't look at salad or even imagine eating it. My doctor also informed me that millions, MILLIONS of people live with H. Pylori in their bodies daily and it never effects them negatively. Millions of people are able to be infected with H. Pylori and their own bodies get rid of it, before you can say "Cobb salad". I'm just one of the lucky ones whose body has decided to invite this bacteria for an extended stay.
It gets better. That is my stab at sarcasm. I now have to take what is called a "PrevPac" for the next 14 days. It's basically the strongest antibiotics known to man and Prilosec to protect the stomach lining from further destruction. Let's just say the side effects include... Well it's just plain gross. What I will tell you is that the side effects for me mirror pregnancy. DOUBLE AWESOME! Yesterday I realized that I don't want to be pregnant EVER AGAIN. I'm supposed to be taking them twice a day, but I have only been able to take them at night. Even then the nausea wakes me, as I toss and turn trying to be still and let it pass. I did find some left over Zofran from my last stint as a preggo and that helped. Unfortunately I only have 8 pills, so until I get more, I'm sticking to the nighttime doses only.
And better yet, my kids probably have it too. It's contagious! Usually passed by saliva, which if you have kids then you know what you drink and eat, they drink and eat. TRIPLE AWESOME. Which would make perfect sense as to why Caitlin has been in pain and so sick as well. The abdominal pain is really severe for me, so I can't imagine what it's like for a littler person. So now comes my questions for the doctor, how do we test them? I just took a simple blood test, so I'm assuming blood test. Well we all know what happens when you assume... The doc reassures me that simple STOOL SAMPLES will let us know. AWESOME TO INFINITY POWER!!! MORE POOP!!!
Basically I'm blogging this to beg you to keep us in your prayers. To pray for me to be able to survive the dreaded PREVPAC. To pray that this unbelievable and incredibly gross H. Pylori takes a hike. To pray that somehow it's spared my kiddos. Also, if I don't post as much, it's because I'm trying to down every pill with every anti-nausea drug, and am probably laying flat on my back while my kids watch Yo Gabba Gabba on loop.
I HAVE to get better. I WILL get better. Wish me luck.
Happy Blogging,
Megan
