Well well well…
What a fortnight it has been, my friends.
For years now my body has been doing that weird thing where it just suddenly becomes allergic to something. It happened with the random two month anaphylactic nut allergy. It made me lactose intolerant after my body drank too much Ensure when my stomach decided to peace out on me. It happens all the time in the form of random hives and eye itchiness. And now it’s back to wreak havoc on me and my house once more. And by house I mean body. My bone house. That sounds weird. Pretend I didn’t say that because I’m too lazy to edit this.
Exactly 15 days ago (so a fortnight and a bit) I was going to have some of my lovely friends over to play a 17 hour (rough estimate) long board game called Battlestar Galactica. I was feeling about a Chronic Illness 9 out of 10 (which is about a 3 out of 10 for a healthy person) and I was excited to drink one cider and game the night away. I ate some Mac and cheese for supper and then tidied up a bit before people showed up. And then it happened. The Reckoning. I developed a sharp pain in my stomach and then less than 3 minutes later I was screaming bloody murder and rushing to the bathroom to be sick. Then I got to the bathroom and realized I needed to tie my hair in a ponytail but I can’t do that thanks to the god awful cast I have on my left arm all the way up past my elbow. So I grabbed a hair tie and ran out of the bathroom to get my husband to tie my hair up for me. He was just starting to do it when I started crying from pain and sickness, passed out onto the floor, came to quickly, shouted “I’M SO SICK OMG JUST TIE UP MY HAIR,” crawled back into the bathroom, and shut the door behind me. My hair fell out of the ponytail immediately and then I was the second (non-gastroparesis) sickest I’ve ever been in my entire life.
It was awful and I deserve a medal for surviving that. But after like two hours I felt okay other than being haunted by the memory of how sick I was. I thought it was a one time thing and that I could move on with my life.
Hahahaha. Of course not, Lisa!
It just kept going and going. Yesterday was the first day since that fateful Battlestar Galactica Night that I haven’t been sick after every single meal or snack I’ve eaten save for a few blueberry muffins here and there. I called it the stomach plague, but I figured there was a reason it kept happening. So I started keeping much closer track of what I was eating along the way and discovered that my body is reacting to dairy every single time. That would explain why I died a little every time I ate a Boost pudding to try to get some nutrients.
I thought I made peace with dairy well over a year ago. I thought we put our differences aside and called a truce. We were so happy together. WHERE DID IT GO WRONG??
So now I’m just moping about, waiting on a doctor’s appointment where I can go in and dramatically retell this tale to my GP to see if she thinks its the same monster from all those other random allergic reactions. And then I will see what her plan is to slay the beast. Okay I already know what that plan is and it’s definitely “just don’t eat dairy, it’s not the end of the world, Lisa, stop crying while looking at pictures of chocolate on your phone.”
And I’m also one step closer to seeing an Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome specialist in Halifax and that’s where I plan on discussing the Mast Cell thing in more detail because that’s what my doctors here in Newfoundland tell me to do. Apparently it can go hand in hand with EDS a lot, and it would make a lot of sense for me. But we will see what she says! *dancing girl emoji*
Hopefully this allergy nonsense only lasts a little while and I can be reunited with chocolate in no time. Mini egg season is fast approaching. *fingers crossed emoji* (I’m also too lazy to find out how to add emojis to a blog post)
OH, and to make matters worse – while all of this was going down, my heating pad died on me. When I needed it most it wasn’t there for me. I have two new ones now and they are very supportive but I feel a little betrayed by the heating pad industry, to be honest.
Pray for me during this plight of all plights (I say that in a joking “I’m being super dramatic” way of course).
Xoxo,
Gossip Girl
11 Comments on My Stomach Has Betrayed Me Again But In A Different Way This Time
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Eliza
February 11, 2019 at 11:29 am (4 years ago)Gah! How awful! I’m so sorry. Dairy is a no go for me as well (though strangely goat dairy is mostly fine?), so I know your pain. It sure sounds like a super intense mast cell reaction to me. So fun! Do you like dark chocolate?
damselinadress
February 11, 2019 at 12:05 pm (4 years ago)I’m sorry dairy also hates you :'(
I dislike dark chocolate very very much but maybe I can grow to only dislike it a little bit? hahaha
Elizabeth
February 11, 2019 at 2:40 pm (4 years ago)Oh no! You can get milk chocolate made with coconut milk. Maybe that would help?
Brandi
February 12, 2019 at 6:36 am (4 years ago)Dear friend! I didn’t know you were suffering so badly. I’m sorry you’re hurting and that dairy is being a jerk.
I had to comment and tell you about Enjoy Life chocolate bars – they make two types of chocolate bars that got me through a dairy free year and they actually taste good. There is a “milk” chocolate version and one that has crispy rice and there’s only like 4-5 ingredients in each. Absolutely zero milk ingredients. You can get them at Sobey’s (or probably Dominion, the enemy – hiss) in the health section! Send that man out for ya! (P.S. they also make really good chocolate chips, so cookies and muffins do not have to be a thing of the past!!!)
(I don’t have an allergy [lactose intolerance, yes], but N had Allergic Proctocolitis for over a year when I was nursing, hence my dairy free year.)
damselinadress
April 1, 2019 at 1:04 pm (4 years ago)I legit didn’t see any of these comments until today because I’m a bad blogger. But thank you for this info! I am friends with dairy again but chances are it will happen to me again and I will definitely look into these chocolate bars if/when that happens! <3
Shelley
March 14, 2019 at 9:09 pm (4 years ago)Hi there! I’m so sorry that dairy is betraying you. Ugh! I have some potential good news regarding your deceased heating pad… You may be able to contact the company that made it and get a new heating pad for free. My heating pads are made by Sunbeam and Pure Enrichment/Pure Relief and they both provide a 5 year no-hassle warranty on all heating pads. I just recently discovered this and it was like Christmas because heating pads make my chronic pain immensely more livable! Woohoo! I’m really sorry about the chocolate. I really love dark chocolate. Hopefully you can grow to love it too! 🙂
damselinadress
April 1, 2019 at 1:02 pm (4 years ago)THIS IS AMAZING NEWS!!! THANK YOU!! I will definitely be looking into this to see if I can get a replacement heating pad for free. If not this time, definitely when the next one craps out. You are a blessing.
dana biscotti myskowski
March 20, 2019 at 1:19 pm (4 years ago)Dairy does a similar dance with me. For a few years I had to leave it behind on an island as I sailed away in a stormy sea of coconut milk and other juices squeezed from random nuts and oats. Two summers ago, I had a joyful reunion with ice cream, but that fizzled last summer when pain gripped my main section so completely that three times I thought I was having a heart attack. My doctor ordered a CT scan to see what was actually going on, but because I live in the divided states of not quite north enough to be Canada, I can’t afford the scan. Well, I could, but refuse to pay the hospital the ridiculous fees. My naturopath and I agree it’s the dairy, so a CT scan is just too much radiation anyway. So…this long comment is just to say I hear & feel & live your pain–especially chocolate (I even launched a website “Confessions of a Chocoholic” a few years ago after being so traumatized by having to give it up. https: // confessionsofachocoholic . weebly . com). It’s also a chance to say I saw you’re from Newfoundland. My husband & I visited a couple years ago to see St. John’s and visit with one of his cousins. We fell in live with the province, and are scheduled to visit again this August. Small world. Even smaller if you’re planning to travel to New Hampshire. 😉 Cheers!
damselinadress
April 1, 2019 at 1:07 pm (4 years ago)I love this comment. It’s like a fun mini blog post at the end of my blog post! Haha
I will check your site out! As a fellow chocoholic it would be sacrilegious NOT to check it out.
I was in New Hampshire once! My cousin got married there so I went for a weekend in high school. It was lovely. I’m glad you love Newfoundland! August is a great time to visit – the snow SHOULD be gone by then ;P
Vividdiagnostics
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