Not Eating…
Okay, I know it’s not a good thing, but I have reason.
I haven’t been eating much of anything, because I’ve been sick. (It’s also why I haven’t been writing much either, but that’s besides the point.) I even went to the ER on Tuesday night.
Here’s the story:
For the past 2 weeks or so, occassionally after dinner (regardless of what it was that I had to eat) I’d get these sharp pains in my stomach (no, not just my abdomen, my actual stomach) like hot needles going through in all directions. They’re really painful, though thankfully don’t last more than a couple minutes. It’s sharp pain, most definitely, almost like I can feel the stomach acid shooting out of its little pores and landing on the opposite side of my stomach wall. Something like that I guess. But, it was on and off, and since I have no insurance, I decided that it was probably just my body being weird and my noticing things that I wouldn’t normally notice. (Did you know that some women, including myself, can actually feel their egg break free from the fallopian tube every month? Oh yes… what a fantastic birth control method that is!)
Anyway, Friday night I went to my aunt’s for coffee. At the first sip, it tasted like I was drinking used dishwater. Soapy, really bad. (Now, before you go further, I know for a fact that my aunt’s coffee was fine, and the mug was perfectly clean. This was my tastebuds messing with me, bigtime.)
But at the time, I thought of it as nothing more than a washed, but not thoroughly rinsed, coffee mug. Until the next day, when I tasted that soapy taste in my mouth again. Drinking my own coffee. I figured that was just my brain relating the soapy taste with coffee, no big deal.
Enter Tuesday morning, when my father had washed out the coffee pot and made coffee in the morning. First sip - soap. Second sip - soap. Finish the mug - soap. I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth for 10 minutes, and gargle with listerine (orange flavored). Rinse out my mug, pour a fresh cup and take a sip. Soap.
So I go to the doctor’s office. The head nurse tells me that there are “red patches” on my tonsils and that my left ear is full of fluid. She says the taste of soap might be because my body’s out of whack with some sort of underlying infection. She prescribes Azithromycin, a $50 prescription. I go get it, grab something to eat, and make my way to a fire call. After the call, I ate a small slice of pizza, and immediately (with the first bite almost) got those stomach pains. Remember, I’d had it happen while eating salad for dinner… so spare me the “Its an ulcer because of the tomatoes.” or the “It’s your gall bladder because of the grease.” or the “You’re suddenly lactose intolerant because of the milk in the coffee and the cheese on the pizza.”I get home, and we’re supposed to have our monthly meeting that night at the firehouse, but I immediately changed in to my pajamas. My stomach was queasy, I was hit with a bout of nausea, and really started panicking. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, and I didn’t really like what the nurse said - I had no sore throat, no swollen glands, no feeling of clogged ears or congestion. But the worry got me to tears, so Dad said he would take me to the ER, and I went. (Frightened at the lack of insurance, but more frightened about what the hell could’ve been going on inside my body.)
We get there, my blood pressure’s fine, temp is fine (so that means no infection like the dumb bitch nurse said), and other than the symptoms that were apparent to me, I had no other symptoms.
They get me in the room, the ER doctor comes in and starts talking to me about my symptoms. I listed them out in perfect order. She tells me to lay down and starts pressing on my abdomen. Doesn’t hurt. She jams her fingers in my ribcage where my gallbladder is, and I hurt… BAD. She pushes on the other side, no pain. She’s convinced its my gall bladder, and wants to do xrays.
They come in to do an IV, take 4 vials of blood, make me pee in a cup, and then administer 4 huge syringes of drugs. Two painkillers, Benadryl, and some other crap. I’m practically comatose at this point. I go in for xrays.
About 20 mins later the doctor comes back and says, “Good news is that it’s not your gall bladder. The bad news is that you have a urinary tract infection.”
Pardon me, but HUH!?
I have no symptoms of a UTI - no burning, no change in frequency, no discharge, nothing. NOTHING. However she claims there was a high level of white blood cells in my urine. MMhmm okay…
Gee, could that be because I took 500mg of the most potent antibiotic available just 2 hours ago?
*sigh*
So the bottom line is that I don’t believe either one of them. The doctor told me in fact that my ears are beautifully clean and clear, and my tonsils are perfectly sized, with no patches of anything on them. Combined with the fact that I have not a single symptom of a UTI, but now have paid $80 because of one visit, and who the hell knows how much for the ER visit, plus $10 for a new scrip (and was told not to take the other one), plus $15 for an assload of cranberry juice (and some bagels and some teeny currant-grapes because I needed something sweet but healthy in my body that night) I’m thoroughly confused, not sure if I’m going to be “fixed” and swear to all who look me in the eye (and read this site) that so help THEM God, if there really is a deeper issue here. If it turns out that my appendix bursts or my gall bladder, or that the lining of my stomach perforates from the acid… heads will sure as fuck roll.
So far, I haven’t been hungry, yet haven’t had any pains when I do eat something. So that’s good. But they were “come and go” before, so I’m not counting any chickens just yet. THANK GOD the soapy taste hasn’t returned though… let me tell you, that was more unbearable than the stomach pains…
But that’s that. Why I haven’t eaten much other than bagels and some currant-grapes (last night I tried some penne with meat sauce but had a hard time eating more than a cup of it) and my coffee. Oh, and cranberry juice. I’m surprised my pee isn’t orange.
I’m feeling better though - so far. Just needed to post this up for you guys, and to explain any potential gain/loss from this whole damn thing when Monday comes along. :)
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Categories: Weight Loss
WOW! You’ve had a lot going on hon. Sorry it’s been so rough for you.
All hell broke loose in my professional life yesterday, so my eating yesterday was total crap. 4 good days ruined…today hasn’t been terrible, but it hasn’t been great either.
Good luck and I hope you feel better.
well. i came here to let you see this. although i am sure you know already. but anyway. here http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060908/lf_afp/afplifestylefashion_060908143012
and then. i have a kidney infection. and the worst part of them. i have no symptoms until it is really really bad. as in hospitalization. but never a soapy taste. but who knows. we are all different people. so i guess our bodies react to things differently.
Hi, I stumbled across your website while searching for random info about the Biggest Loser. I continued to read about your stomach pains. I also have sharp stomach pains (and other unpleasant digestive troubles) whenever I drink coffee. It’s not the caffeine, but something about coffee that produces a LOT of acid. Some kind of enzyme I think I read somewhere.
I gave up coffee several months ago and my stomach pains went away completely! Out of curiosity, I had some coffee for the first time in a long time on Monday morning and sure enough by the end of the day I thought I was going to die! I still crave something hot, sweet, and caffeinated in the morning, so I sip green tea with splenda. It’s calorie-free and rumored to boost the metabolism for weight loss.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Just try giving up coffee for 2 or 3 weeks and see if your pains go away. Worth a shot, right?
Oh, and try eating some yogurt…I like Dannon Lite & Fit Peach or Blueberry (only 60 calories) before I workout to avoid my frequent heartburn.
Good Luck!
-Kirsten
I feel like youre writing from my heart. (hugs) Nice site.
I too have the soapy taste. That is how I found you blog. Did you ever find out what caused it? It is nasty.
I have also had this soapy taste and some pains on my right side under my ribcage. No one seems to know what it is. Does anyone here know??? According to my doctor this must be my imagination because everything is fine.