so, for at least five years i've had stomach and digestive issues.
let's just say they were more than just issues. :)
my dad was diagnosed with celiacs disease at least ten years ago and we just always attributed my "issues" with that disease since it is hereditary.
so, we did a few tests here and there and they all came out negative. for the life of us though, we couldn't think of what could be wrong with me other than having celiacs and we knew that these tests could come out as false negatives.
i lived with this "yucky tummy",as my dad calls it, for a while and then i started to see a few pretty concerning symptoms that i was not used to. i'll spare you the details...
my parents kinda freaked out and had me go to my dad's gastrointerologist doctor.
the doctor was concerned as well so i got a colonoscopy to check for a few things and an endoscopy that would tell me for sure if i had celiacs or not.
the worst part of the entire procedure is drinking the laxative. i had to get this prescription strength stuff called golytley. it didn't exactly make me "go lightly."
i was supposed to drink a full glass every 10-15 minutes and at one point i was so bloated that when i went to take my next glass, my body said there was no more room and i totally barfed it ALL up...
it tasted like battery acid smells.
after that throw up incidence, my body just rejected it every time i drank. i couldn't drink another glass from then on without gagging every time.
andy was so sweet in helping me and cheering me on and getting me to actually drink it. he's the best boyfriend.
the next morning, my procedure went off without a hitch. i didn't feel any soreness in my throat or luckily, the other end.
my doctor came in a few minutes after i woke up from being knocked out and he let us know that i did have crohn's disease and acid reflux and i would have to come in a week later to find out the results of my biopsy to find out if i really did have celiacs or not.
seeing how my dad has lived for the past 10 years with celiacs and seeing how todd lives with crohns, i was not very excited to be told i had both.
turns out i don't have celiacs!
i laughed with happiness when my doctor told me i didn't have it too. apparently it's like 1 in a million to be diagnosed with both celiacs and crohns. i'm soooooo glad i'm not that 1.
so now, i have a name for how i've been feeling for years. crohns is an autoimmune disease and it is non-cureable so i just have to do my best to try and do everything the doctor tells me to do so i don't get worse.
seeing todd at his lowest of lows from this disease has made me so sad for him. his symptoms were bad from the moment he was diagnosed so luckily i can learn from him and we can help each other and be little sicky crohnsy people together.
i feel like we're too young to be dealing with stuff like this.
i guess this is all just a part of life right?