I'm sorry, Sarita. Things HAVE to get better soon. What is the next step for you?
Co-Moderator for the IBS Forum
I don't know if it was related to the aloe juice or not...it just came on like gangbusters about 20 minutes after I downed it. I knew it was the kind of pain that wouldn't respond to my dicyclomine/heating pad/ginger tea/deep breathing regimen. I get this kind of pain maybe about once a month or once every two months. The kind where you are gasping for air, huddled on the floor like a wounded animal, like a thousand knives are being punched into you. Hadn't had an episode like that since August. It was awful. My doc wondered if it was the aloe that produced it this morning.
So today I've had a cocktail of Demerol, morphine, and now Vicodin. I'm hopped up like crazy but the pain is so much better now. My doc called in a script for Vicodin to the pharmacy when I need it next. I was so frustrated at the hospital. I hate the neurological effects these drugs have...total brain fog and I can barely stay awake for the rest of the day. Luckily I only need them rarely...I can't imagine having to live on these pills like some people do.
My friend has been taking care of me all day; she took the day off work to bring me to the hospital. I love her so much!
Wow, Sarita, you are loaded. You have quite a "cocktail." I'm glad this pain doesn't happen often, but what a drag when it does. I can't say I know how you feel but I do FEEL for you. Hang in there. I really hope you get to feeling back to normal (your normal) soon.
You have a great friend.... Good ones are hard to find so hold on to her tight. 
Co-Moderator for the IBS Forum
Yes, she is an awesome, amazing friend. I am so lucky to have a few of them and they have totally pulled through for me over this past year...even coming to Mayo with me, etc. Not a day goes by I don't thank my lucky stars for them.
I'm feeling a bit more lucid now. Pain's coming back a bit but I'm going to bed soon so hopefully will be able to sleep through it. Also, normally a cocktail like that would totally stop me up but I'm still having the big D! Crazy!
The doc today said my bloodwork looked good, WBC count was normal this time. She did a fecal occult blood test which came up positive again, and thought about doing a CT scan, but didn't want to do another one so close to the one I had done in September because of exposure to too much radiation. I don't think they would have found anything anyway.
Does anyone else ever get really intense pain like this, pain that doesn't respond to your typical regimen? Do you take anything strong for it?
After all that you're still a garden hose!?! What is the deal? I am frustrated for you. Hang in there, something is bound to show up on 1 of your tests some time.
***BIG HUG***
Co-Moderator for the IBS Forum
I am very sorry to hear that you are doing so poorly. I know what it's like to pace the floor hurting, but I don't know what it's like to not even be able to get up due to pain. Did you say before that you have a roommate? I would hate to think of you having to live by yourself when attacks like that can come on so suddenly.
Thanks for the hugs/sweetness as usual, girlies.
When I get the pain like that (and I've had it maybe about 8 times over the past year) it has a few characteristics: comes on super quick, is diffuse (not in any one particular spot; seems to emanate from the bellybutton area), lasts for a few hours and waxes and wanes somewhat during those hours, and D tends to accompany it, but doesn't relieve the pain. It also usually tends to come on during the middle of the night and I'll wake up with it, so this was slightly different this time around.
I do have a roommate, but she's seeing some new guy and is usually over at his house nowadays. But I have people I can call anytime day or night and they'll help me out, so that's good enough I think!
Just posted this in the Crohn's forum about my pain. My internist just called for a chat.
My PCP just called to talk and she is waiting for some food allergy testing to come back; sending my poos off to a parasitologist in Arizona (for yet another battery of parasite tests); and is willing to do the Prometheus tests for me for IBD antibodies. But she was like, "Sarah, are you sure this maybe isn't the result of your looming career decision?" As some of you know, I am contemplating entering medical school, and I suppose she thinks it could be the stress of that causing all this GI stuff.
She's a great doc and I emulate her. But can the stress of thinking about med school (not really a huge stressor in my case) cause GI bleeding, fevers, insane D, etc.? She thinks it can. I know she is just trying to help and is looking at every option, but it makes me feel helpless that maybe there is nothing I can do about this, that maybe it is my mind doing it.
Gads.
Co-Moderator for the IBS Forum
Right now I don't really have a GI except my Mayo guy. I don't know. Today, for some reason, I'm just feeling so ridiculously stupidly crappy about it all. I want to just stop seeing doctors, stop taking 20 pills a day that don't seem to do anything for me, stop running off to the ER and blubbering like a baby, stop thinking about it! ACK!
Thanks for the very generous ears, everyone. I'm thinking of taking a mini-vacation over my 3-day weekend. To Homer, the land at the end of the road in Alaska. Four hours away. It always does wonders for my soul. And stay at a 5-star place on the edge of the ocean that has mad winter discount rates :)
i have to tell you, sarita, you are an inspirational young lady, i think of you on the bad days, "if sarita can crap all day long and still go to work, play in a synphony (can't even spell it!) and laugh about this all, then i can too!" great bit hug to you... i know stress is powerful, but i have a feeling that doctors say that when they are out of options... also didn't this all start before you wanted to go to med school?
i don't know what else to tell you... enjoy your mini vacation if you go..
--bunny
what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
I agree that stress will exacerbate a medical/bodily problem, but not cause it. I wasn't stressed about anything when I got my diarrhea issue, then the only thing I got stressed about was the need to poop constantly. Now I only notice problems if my diet changes, not my mood.
Oh my gosh, bunny, thank you for that. Sometimes I feel tough and other times I feel like a blubbering idiot (especially in the ER when I'm hopped up on 239487 pain meds and they start asking me questions...I'm like, "What do you think you are DOING?"). I think we all have our strong and weak moments. Sometimes you just have to push on through; other times we need some respite.
I've been wanting to go to med school since I was an adolescent. This is a dream about 13 years in the making. The more doctors I see and hear about, however, the more discouraged I tend to become. Sometimes I think the work I am doing now is more effective than being a physician would be and consider going to grad school for social work. It's a very confusing time for me, for sure - but I mean, come on, is it really confusing enough for me to start crapping blood?? Jeez louise...I feel more stable than that!
the first time i had an exploding poop (incontinence, whatever you want to call it) i was on a pleasant 8 mile run through the woods, feeling safe, happy and comfortable... then WAM i crap in my shorts...
it has happened on other runs too, now i recognize what is going to happen and duck behind a tree (harder when i run on roads...)
the day i began crapping blood my husband and i were headed out to sears to get a new vacume cleaner, i was happy that day, i was getting a vacume!
so stress being the main culprit---i don't know about that...
sarita, i meant every word!! you keep your head up and go to med school!!!
and do you like the number 239487? cause i think that is the second time i have seen you post it, it isn't random is it??
WOW, my dog just farted, it smells like cabbage!!!! i gotta leave the room,
--bunny
what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
And as a dr. your skills will be in high demand among free clinics and with elderly patients who can't afford to see a specialist under normal circumstances. You could do volunteer work to help out the community. I think being a doctor--especially a good, caring one--would be the best kind of social work. You may not be helping kids find a new home, but you may be helping a child that's in pain and osteracized because of his bowel disorder.
Be the doctor you wish you had!