Insurance & Gut Issues.

[Solie123]

Hello! :)

I have been having a couple of health issues lately, and it has truly left me between a rock an a hard place. I don’t know where to ask for general advice, so I figured I would post here. Besides that, I figured I’d update the forum on my general condition. As I get more information, I plan on updating this post regularly, and hopefully, help someone who might be experiencing the same issues.

A couple of weeks ago, I started having excruciating pain around my abdominal. I must admit that my diet hasn’t necessarily been the ‘cleanliest’ the past couple of weeks, but I have never had such a strong reaction to a deviation in my diet as I did this time around. Besides the pain, which made it difficult to walk or do anything, I was very nauseous, and for about two days, I noticed fresh blood in my stool.

Before I noticed any bleeding, I wasn’t going to the bathroom. I thought this was strange, because if it were something I ate, I would expect my body wanting to expel it as quickly as possible. This wasn’t the case, and in my desperation to feel better, I took a saline laxative. My thought was, if there was something that was causing the pain, I needed to get it out. I’m not sure if this made matters worse or not.

The two days after the laxative, I had very lose stool as you can imagine. The laxative did make me feel better however, but that only lasted for about a day and I was right back to having pain a day later.

My stool started to normalize a bit afterward, but was still very inconsistent and yellow. A day or two later, is when I noticed the blood.

I tried to drink plenty of water, especially since I had taken the laxative, but this was very difficult, as I felt very bloated. My appetite had diminished incredibly, although I had noticed an empty stomach made the pain a lot more intense. I ate a lot of carbs and vegetables at the time, because the idea of eating any kind of meat just made me nauseous. I truly tried to eat as normal of a diet as I could, but anytime I put a piece of meat in my mouth, I felt incredibly nauseous.

This lack of food and water probably influenced the next couple of days, where my stool turned very hard, and black. The pain had almost gone away, except for the bloating, gassiness, and a new pain under the right size of my rib cage, which I had just associated with gas.

Recently, I have been able to eat my normal diet, although my stomach feels generally ‘funky’, and my stool remains anywhere between, yellow and inconsistent, to a random bout of diarrhea.

I DO, feel much better than I did initially, but I don’t feel necessarily ‘healthy’.

This whole time, I have not gone the emergency room, or to the doctors. I am currently living in the US, and as many of you may know, you are required by law, to have Health Insurance, and I do not. I had been planning to get insurance with my job, but before that, I had to get past the ‘test’ phase, which is now over but, I have to wait until November for enrollment.

Prior to, insurance hasn’t been something I was able to afford, and I figured it wouldn’t have been a big deal to wait until I was able to enroll through my job. I didn’t expect having the need the see a doctor beforehand, and I know this is a HUGE irresponsibility from my part.

A lot of my friends and family urged me to go to the hospital, but I have not listen them. I told myself that I would get better soon, and in November, I can go see the Doctors and figure out what was wrong. I have gotten a lot better, and I don’t see the urgency to seek medical attention at the moment, especially considering what going to the doctor in my current position would entail. Not only will I receive a hefty hospital bill, but I’ll also receive a very pretty lawsuit, just to add insult to injury.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had trouble with my gut, this has been an ongoing problem for a long time now, but every other time I have gone to the hospital out of pain, all I’ve gotten was, “Well, we don’t know what’s wrong with you, so you go home now,” and a bill in the mail. Fortunately, I had insurance then, and the amount I had to come out of pocket, (well, my parent’s I should say) while still hefty, was no where near the amount of debt I would get myself in this time around.

To me, this debt isn’t worth it for me to go to the ER to be told, “we don’t know what’s wrong with you.” Granted, I wasn’t being completely careless, I had promised myself if things did not get better, I would fly back to my parent’s home country of Dominican Republic, and seek medical attention there, if it became necessary. This would be much much economical for me, and I wouldn’t spare a dime, in this case to get any amount of test done if I had to go.

I know I might be gambling here, but waiting until November is the best option I can think of.

If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would truly appreciate it.

Thanks for reading.

Solie

 

[Foxx]

I'm sorry to hear that you're going through this Solie.

Blood in the stool is a potentially serious condition and can indicate internal bleeding. When you say "fresh blood", was it red? Blood in the stool from internal bleeding it supposed to be black (and may be described as "tar-y"), so if you have black stools without taking something like activated charcoal or possibly pepto bismol, then it could very well be from internal bleeding and should be taken seriously. Red blood may indicate rectal bleeding, which is likely not as serious and could be caused by straining from constipation or local inflammation, however either way the severity of your symptoms should warrant attention.

The two main things I think of when reading your symptoms are an ulcer (specifically a duodenal ulcer, since the pain is worse without food) and significant liver/gallbladder trouble, potentially caused by gallstones (because you have constipation, since bile stimulates bowel movement, yellow stools, suggesting low bile, and pain under the right rib cage). I believe it's possible that an ulcer could bleed and therefore cause internal bleeding and be the source of the blood in the stools, however I'm not 100% sure if this is the case. It would also likely be a good use of time to read about ulcers, H. Pylori, and liver/gallballder issues as well as gallstones in particular and see if the descriptions match your symptoms well, and what kind of treatment options people recommend.

Some immediate things that come to mind that might be worth trying would be aloe (capsules or drinking food-grade aloe juice or gel) and cabbage for the possibility of an ulcer, as well as something to treat H. Pylori. DGL (deglycerized licorice), or just plain licorice, as well as slippery elm root may also be helpful as they help soothe and coat the digestive tract with a mucous lining--both could potentially be taken as tea. Probiotics may also be beneficial, as well as taking an HCL supplement, however exercise caution with HCL since the additional acid could irritate an ulcer. Cabbage juice specifically is sometimes recommended for H. Pylori, however I'm not sure that treatment is adequate to eliminate it, but don't recall any effective treatments for it off the top of my head. Those things may at least alleviate symptoms in the short term while locating a proper treatment for H. Pylori, if that's an issue.

With regards to the liver/gallbladder, the quickest things to try would be beets and beet greens (my theory is that sauteeing them on a low-medium heat in coconut oil such that the oil turns beet-red is the most effective way to prepare them for the liver/gallbladder), apple cider vinegar, and grapefruit. Be cautious with the ACV and grapefruit in case they irritate the ulcer due to acidity. Choline may also be helpful and soy lecithin could potentially work for that, as well as an ox bile supplement. Also be aware that eating beets will result in red stools and possibly red urine--this is normal (although some suggest that it may indicate low stomach acid, which is also typically indicated in cases of H. Pylori).

The first priority in my mind would be to locate something that stops the internal bleeding, if that's what's going on, and to do so quickly. If that isn't resolved in the very near term, then going to a doctor or practitioner would probably be wise.

I don't consider standard doctors to be highly knowledgeable or effective at treating chronic conditions, so I think an alternative practitioner would likely give better results in the long term, however if the condition becomes acute as it is for you now, then standard doctors can have more immediately effective results, and potentially even be necessary. Or in other words, if you let a chronic condition go on long enough, you will likely need acute medical attention.

I hope you find some things that work for you and wish you a speedy recovery!

 

[zak]

Hello Solie,

This isn’t the first time I’ve had trouble with my gut, this has been an ongoing problem for a long time now, but every other time I have gone to the hospital out of pain, all I’ve gotten was, “Well, we don’t know what’s wrong with you, so you go home now,” and a bill in the mail.

You can take a look to this thread Leaky Gut Syndrome

Foxx
The first priority in my mind would be to locate something that stops the internal bleeding, if that's what's going on, and to do so quickly. If that isn't resolved in the very near term, then going to a doctor or practitioner would probably be wise.

Another benefit of taking proteases between meals is to reduce inflammation. Bromelain and papain (protease enzymes derived from pineapple and papaya) have undergone study in great detail for this purpose and are found to be incredibly effective at reducing inflammation. Proteases can reduce inflammation in the gut directly. Bromelain and papain are well-known agents for assisting in healing gastric ulcers. Material leaking through the intestinal lining can make its way to joints and aggravate them to the point of inflammation, or add to inflammation already started. The proteases in the bloodstream break down these sources of inflammation as they pass by in the bloodstream. Then the debris is transported out of the body, freeing the immune system up to do other things, and allowing you to enjoy your life without so much pain.

The nice thing about enzymes is they address the damaged gut, problematic peptides, food intolerances, and nutrient deficiencies all at the same time. You cover a lot of territory by taking just this one type of supplement.

Enzyme Stuff

Wish you a good navigation through all this.

 

[Gaby]

A couple of weeks ago, I started having excruciating pain around my abdominal. I must admit that my diet hasn’t necessarily been the ‘cleanliest’ the past couple of weeks, but I have never had such a strong reaction to a deviation in my diet as I did this time around. Besides the pain, which made it difficult to walk or do anything, I was very nauseous, and for about two days, I noticed fresh blood in my stool.

Where was the pain in the abdomen? Upper, middle, lower? In one side or the other?

Before I noticed any bleeding, I wasn’t going to the bathroom. I thought this was strange, because if it were something I ate, I would expect my body wanting to expel it as quickly as possible. This wasn’t the case, and in my desperation to feel better, I took a saline laxative. My thought was, if there was something that was causing the pain, I needed to get it out. I’m not sure if this made matters worse or not.

The two days after the laxative, I had very lose stool as you can imagine. The laxative did make me feel better however, but that only lasted for about a day and I was right back to having pain a day later.

My stool started to normalize a bit afterward, but was still very inconsistent and yellow. A day or two later, is when I noticed the blood.

I tried to drink plenty of water, especially since I had taken the laxative, but this was very difficult, as I felt very bloated. My appetite had diminished incredibly, although I had noticed an empty stomach made the pain a lot more intense. I ate a lot of carbs and vegetables at the time, because the idea of eating any kind of meat just made me nauseous. I truly tried to eat as normal of a diet as I could, but anytime I put a piece of meat in my mouth, I felt incredibly nauseous.

This lack of food and water probably influenced the next couple of days, where my stool turned very hard, and black. The pain had almost gone away, except for the bloating, gassiness, and a new pain under the right size of my rib cage, which I had just associated with gas.

Recently, I have been able to eat my normal diet, although my stomach feels generally ‘funky’, and my stool remains anywhere between, yellow and inconsistent, to a random bout of diarrhea.

I DO, feel much better than I did initially, but I don’t feel necessarily ‘healthy’.

Black tarry stools with a very peculiar smell are a sure sign of bleeding in the upper digestive tract. As blood gets digested, it turns stools tarry black. In that case, this is potentially an ulcer which could be managed with alternative treatments at best and surgical intervention at worse. If we are looking into an ulcer here, then it is an H.pylori infection that has gone very bad.

Hate to tell you this under your circumstances, but if symptoms persist, medical attention is warranted ASAP.

 

[Kay Kim]

Hello Solie,

Similar thing happened to me few months ago, it was like fresh red blood and mild burning feelings in stomach and nausea.
Then I remembered about 20 some years ago, someone told me about his friend who was bleeding for some years but no doctors could cure him, then he got cure by taking Pepto bismuth.

And few years ago I read book- Dead Doctor Don't Lie by Joel Wallach, I just remembered one thing, that is, the bad microbes in the stomach, only bismuth can kill them.
So, I took Pepto bismuth few days then I got cured. You may try it.

Bismuth subsalicylate
http://www.d.umn.edu/~jfitzake/Lectures/DMED/LowerGI/Antidiarrheals/BismuthSubsalicylate.html

 

[Turgon]

Hi Solie,

The first priority in my mind would be to locate something that stops the internal bleeding, if that's what's going on, and to do so quickly. If that isn't resolved in the very near term, then going to a doctor or practitioner would probably be wise.

I don't consider standard doctors to be highly knowledgeable or effective at treating chronic conditions, so I think an alternative practitioner would likely give better results in the long term, however if the condition becomes acute as it is for you now, then standard doctors can have more immediately effective results, and potentially even be necessary. Or in other words, if you let a chronic condition go on long enough, you will likely need acute medical attention.

These were my thoughts as well. I don't know how things operate in the US, but could going to naturopath and getting some tests done through them bypass the whole ordeal if you don't have medical insurance at the moment? I don't know what your finances are like, but it sounds like it would be worth the money to find out. Possibly getting some stool tests done. Keyhole recommended it to me a few months back and it was worth it. It could at least give you a starting point to finding out what's going on down there.

 

[Konstantin]

About less than a 2 years ago, my father had the same symptoms. He was a heavy drinker his whole life. And then he started to have same symptoms as yours. Black stool and constant problems with guts.
Then he stopped drinking but the problem was still there . The doctors told him that black stool was because he was bleeding but they could never find from where exactly.
His liver was in a very bad situation, so he took some milk thistle and some other medicine for that and after some time it went away. So in his case it was something related to his liver and probably his guts were in a very bad condition.

I hope that you are feeling better.

 

[Siberia]

Hi Solie,

I'm sorry to hear about your suffering. In the past I used to have similar problems. In my situation, the reasons was my crappy diet which mostly consisted of dry carbs. What really helped me to improve my condition back then were soups based on bone broth. Now I have bone broth for lunch almost daily and didn't have any serious problems with digestion for several years so far. In my case, it is usually chicken broth with egg yolks and dill, works well for me. Perhaps it could help in your case too?

I also agree with others that if your condition persists, professional help should be a priority.

Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Solie123]

Thank you everyone for your concerns. I apologize for the late response, it's been a wild past couple of days. I had really thought I was getting better, but last Thursday night, the pain got so intensely sharp, that it became difficult to even breath or move. I tried to breath it out, hoping that the pain would subside, but it just kept getting worse and worse. At that point, I couldn't find any relieve and decided to go to the clinic.

The whole ride to the clinic was dreadful. The motion of the car as well as every little bump in the road hurt me so much. We finally made it to the clinic, (my Bf and I) and I couldn't even stand up straight. I even needed assistance walking the couple of steps to the entrance.

The wait at the clinic wasn't long, and again, I tried to breath through the pain, but every time I inhaled, I felt a stabbing pain at my right side. The physician took a look at me, examined my abdominal and although she was very gentle, I had to bit my tongue to prevent myself from screaming bloody murder. The physician let me know that they would be able to run test at the clinic, but it would take hours or even days, considering that most of the test weren't even on site. She recommended that I go to the hospital immediately for urgent care. I somewhat explained to her my situation, but she advised that I should be more worried about my health instead.

She called the hospital ahead of time, letting them know we were on our way. We made a quick stop at a cafe, since neither my BF or I had anything to eat. It was about 8:00pm at this point, and I figured, no matter how speedy the staff is at the hospital were, we were going to be there for a while. So, we order some quick items, took them to go, and headed to the hospital.

Once we got there, of course they let me know right away that I shouldn't be eating anything, since they were going to run some test that required being on a empty stomach. They did some blood work, took some urine samples, gave me an IV and something for the pain. At first, they did an ultra sound on my upper right quadrant of my stomach to rule out appendicitis, or anything with the gallbladder, which were inconclusive.

At that point, they wanted to run a CAT scan, hoping they could get a better idea of what's going on. They made me drink this horrible tasting white, thick substance, and two and half hours later, I was laying under the CT scanner. A couple of minutes later I was back in my room waiting for the results. Again, results were inconclusive, except some fluids. At this point, they started looking elsewhere. They ran a second ultra sound of my lower abdominal, and found a small cyst on my right ovary but again, nothing conclusive.

At this point it was about 5:00am. I'd been seen by numerous practitioners, and suddenly they had a change of plans; they wanted an OBG to take a look at me, rule out any other causes, and if worst comes to worse, do a surgical diagnostic.

While waiting for the OBG, her assistants came in to see me, and I ask them about the cyst they found, to which they informed me didn't seem like a big deal. It was relatively small, wasn't hampering blood flow to the ovaries, and since it was only a single one, there was nothing I should worry to much about.

A couple of hours past, and the OBG still wouldn't show. The doctor came in again, let me know that if everything turn out okay with the OBG, they would give me antibiotics and continue to monitor me.

More time past, and my BF got up to ask around. Basically, he was told that the OBG was somewhat ignoring us. We were kind of frustrated at this point. I had stayed up all night, haven't rested, haven't eaten anything, haven't showered, and overall, I was uncomfortable. I asked that they discharge me. I felt I would have been in a much better position at home, more comfortable, able to eat as well as rest.

There was the whole spiel about going against medical advice, but alas, they send me home with some antibiotics.

My BF, who had been extremely supportive throughout all of this contacted an MD, to get a second opinion. Basically we were told that the antibiotic protocol was absolutely one of our better options. Although we were on the right track, I still had other issues that remained unexplained, like the blood in the stool that still requires attention, (even though I haven't noticed any blood as of recent) she recommended that when I finally get my insurance to go see a couple of specialist.

Every day after that, the pain was still very intense. I didn't really eat much. Although I got hungry; my stomach would growl; I felt full. And while I understand that sounds strange, that's the best way I could explain it. I was very bloated and my stomach protruded out noticeably.

And this brings me to today. The pains have been subsiding slowly day by day. I'm finally able to stand, and walk up straight, which I wasn't able to do prior. I'm finally getting my appetite back, and while I still feel weak from the whole experience, I feel myself regaining my strength.

I already have plans to go to an OBG (since I never did see one at the hospital), as well as a Gastroenterology. So as of now I will continue the antibiotics, try and keep my diet as clean as possible, and once I get my insurance, I will follow up with a couple of specialist.

 

[A Jay]

Thank you for the update, Solie. I don't have any advice, but I'm glad that you're at least able to stand and walk straight now. If you can think of anything you need that we might be able to provide, don't hesitate to ask. Take care, and I hope you feel better soon!

 

[Gaby]

It was about 8:00pm at this point, and I figured, no matter how speedy the staff is at the hospital were, we were going to be there for a while. So, we order some quick items, took them to go, and headed to the hospital.

As a general rule of thumb, give up on eating and drinking when having highly severe pain in the abdomen that refuses to go away, until an emergency situation is ruled out. It can safe a person's life.

Glad to hear you feel better!

 

[zak]

She recommended that I go to the hospital immediately for urgent care. I somewhat explained to her my situation, but she advised that I should be more worried about my health instead.
(...)
I already have plans to go to an OBG (since I never did see one at the hospital), as well as a Gastroenterology. So as of now I will continue the antibiotics, try and keep my diet as clean as possible, and once I get my insurance, I will follow up with a couple of specialist.

Glad that you feel yourself better Solie, BUT as advised in some posts, it can be a very good plan to go to see a Doc as you said yourself, and this time before that you "fold in four" again in pain.

 

[Marina9]

Hi Solie! Im glad you are feeling better, but it was certainly not a very nice experience, and I hope you don't go through that again :( I think it is very important to see the doctor ASAP as the others have mentioned. Hope things get better and keep us updated.

And I second A Jay, don't hesitate in letting us know if you need something.

 

[Solie123]

As a general rule of thumb, give up on eating and drinking when having highly severe pain in the abdomen that refuses to go away, until an emergency situation is ruled out. It can safe a person's life.

Glad to hear you feel better!

I have certainly learned as much!

Glad that you feel yourself better Solie, BUT as advised in some posts, it can be a very good plan to go to see a Doc as you said yourself, and this time before that you "fold in four" again in pain.

Hi Solie! Im glad you are feeling better, but it was certainly not a very nice experience, and I hope you don't go through that again :( I think it is very important to see the doctor ASAP as the others have mentioned. Hope things get better and keep us updated.

And I second A Jay, don't hesitate in letting us know if you need something.

Absolutely! I had been extremely careless prior; with reason I think; but your health is more important than the money.

Thanks again guys, I appreciate all of your concerns and advice. I will keep you posted as things develop.

 

[Nienna]

Holy moly, Solie, what an ordeal you have been through. I have no advice to give, either, except, as others have said, to go see a doctor, which you are planning on doing. I hope that you get things straightened out.