February 2004

February 16

I have my doctor's appointment with the gastroenterologist at 1 pm tomorrow.  It'll be at the University of Michigan Hospital - actually the doctor's offices right next to it.  I just graduated from Michigan, so I suppose I shouldn't be too nervous about that.

Considering the doctor I'm seeing is a faculty member, I'm hoping that she is up- to- date on all the research.  I think she will be, but you never know.  If not, I am...I'll just have to set her straight.

I also have the bar exam a week from tomorrow...I'm really getting worried because I think I lost my brain.  It could be that if I really do have Celiac, my losing my brain is just a symptom of the Celiac.  In any event, I'm going off gluten tomorrow.  I don't care what the doctor says.  I need my brain back so that I can be adequately prepared for that lovely experience known as the bar.  What's sad, is I'm already coming up with excuses as to why I'm not gonna pass the thing.  Not happy thoughts...not helping...not at all.

I'll write again from the other side.

February 12

If you read the post below (February 4), you'll notice I'm somewhat upset.  I started my period the next day.  I think I may have been PMS'ing (just a little) at the time.  Oops.  At least the only people I took it out on are those people reading this site.  I was able to spare everyone else.  Thank God.

I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist on February 17 ... five days away.  I actually typed up all my symptoms to be sure that I wouldn't forget anything.

I'm still really tired.  I can usually get 8 to 9 hours of sleep a day; now I wake up after five hours and can't get back to sleep.

I've been lurking in a number of Celiac forums, trying to determine whether I actually have it or not ... (I'm pretty sure I do.)  Anyway, there is this guy in a couple of the forums who shall remain nameless.  He used to be an electrician.  A number of people ask questions in there of the form, these are my symptoms ... could this be Celiac.  He, without fail, says yes.  Then he essentially gives food prescriptions ... only water for three days, then only bananas, and load up on vitamins.  While it's true that lawyers have a coronary if someone even thinks about giving legal advice without a license, I don't think that someone with no previous medical experience should be giving such advice.  

It's understand that he has had horrible experiences with the medical community.  So have I.  However, if you deal with your doctors in the appropriate way (or even just changing them until you get one who knows what he's talking about and is responsive), they can provide a great deal of help.  Primarily, they can order the medical tests to let you know exactly what is going on with your body, which is very important if you have Celiac.  For instance, I'll need to find out whether I have iron-deficiency anemia and osteoporosis.  Further, maybe it's not Celiac but something worse.  If that is the case, and I don't have everything checked out by the doctor, it can cause problems later on.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to finding out for sure what is going wrong with my body.  It's been a long time (13 years), and hopefully I can just give up gluten to start feeling human again.

February 4

Every morning I wake up and go to directly to turn on my computer, check  my e-mail and hope against hope that someone will give me information about a gastroenterologist (sp?) so I can see to find out about whether I have Celiac Disease.  I've e-mailed my doctor, checked with his office (I know he's been in town at least since Monday), and I haven't heard anything back from him yet.

I'm feeling some time pressure, because I need to go take the Bar Exam at the end of the month, and it will take time to do all these lab tests.  Once I finish the Bar Exam, I'm moving to DC for my job.  Plus, you DON'T give someone news like that (you may have something that will mean that you can never have bread again, puts you at a high risk for intestinal cancer, and means that you are most likely deficient in many vitamins/minerals) and then just ignore them.  This all just sucks.

I would give anything to feel like a normal human again.  I'm getting sick of having chronic diarrhea, no concentration, all my hair falling out (even when my thyroid levels are normal), horrible stomach pains, etc.  I've had problems since my first year of college (early 1991), and now that I'm so close to figuring out what the problem is, I just want this all to happen already so that I can go gluten-free and start getting better.

Further, I think my sister has Celiac.  She had her gall bladder removed this morning.  She has horrible poo problems, too (in her case, constipation), also heart burn. I read something about how Celiac and Gall Bladder problems may be related (although, it wasn't from a reputable source, so I'm not sure if I trust it.)  If I have it, I want to tell her so she can get tested.  I'm afraid to mention anything before hand because she is actually a physician's assistant, so while I may know a lot about this, she knows MUCH more about medicine than I do and is not likely to accept what I have to say (yeah...I'll admit, I'm a known hypochondriac.)

It's also possible that this was the underlying problem with my mom being so sick for all those years.  She also had chronic diarrhea, heartburn so bad she thought she was having a heart attack, and many other problems.  She's already dead (one too many surgeries to try to fix her gastrointestinal tract).  People ask me how she died, and I just say complications for surgery...if they try to get into more detail, I'm not quite sure what to say, except blame the doctors.  It'd be nice to have a name for the reason she needed to have the first surgery.  I understand that just because I have this thing doesn't mean that she does, but ... I don't know.

All I know is that I want to go in tomorrow to get the blood test.  If I can't do that, so help me, I'll scream.

Last Updated: Monday, January 26, 2004