Stomach Problems
Warning: I am going to write exactly what happens- and it ain't pretty!
Since I was a baby I have always had tummy trouble. Tummy ache would often occur when I was woke from sleep and this is still the case. Sleep has always been a big issue for me. I'll expand on this in another post but I believe it's a contributing factor to why I was diagnosed with Abdominal Migraines (also known as Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome).
A neurologist explained that Migraines are like seizures. There is a little switch in the brain that will flicker 4 days before the attack will occur.
Since the age of 5 I have suffered from the same cycle of episodic sickness. Abdominal Migraines are apparently common in young children but it's something people tend to grow out of- it may manifest into your common headache migraines in adulthood. However my migraines have never changed. I don't experience headaches or aura my migraine goes like this:
The day before
I will feel fine! I will be on top form. There is never any warning. The only thing I can comment in recent years is that I will have a bigger appetite than normal; it's like my body wants to fill up so it has something for me to get rid of.
Early hours of the morning
I wake from having a nightmare/vivid dream with bad stomach ache at times it's crippling pain in my lower abdomen. The ache/pain is sometimes difficult to locate. I will have nausea and discomfort in my upper chest, throat area. I can't lie down, I have to prop myself up or else I'll feel even more like death. I experience sulphuric burping that tastes of rotten egg and fills the room. It is so disgusting! I will also salivate a lot and yawn constantly.
It's been described as a 'conscious coma' which describes it perfectly! I will look very pale and very 'out of it' and be unable to muster any energy to talk or move apart from staggering to the bathroom. I will feel extremely cold and shivery. There have been times where I have experienced numbness in my legs, I've also hallucinated or rambled nonsense but these symptoms have been rare.
Within the hour I will be sick. When I was younger because I was often complained about stomach aches I hardly ate (even as a baby I would only take a small bottle) so during an episode I would throw up bile. Nowadays its food then when there's nothing left my body will throw up bile- I will dry heave and violently and intensely vomit and salivate until my throat is raw and I'm spitting out blood. I will involuntary cry too whilst vomiting. In my recent 2 episodes there is a moment of 10 seconds where I am choking on my vomit which is really scary especially as I'm often alone during the attack.
Throughout the vomiting my other end is producing huge amounts of diarrhoea. (This addition to the drama rarely occurred when I was child but has started in recent years) It is as if my body is trying to rid itself of a parasite. These symptoms will last for about 5 hours. I will fall asleep in the bathroom often even on the toilet!
Once the vomiting has subsided a little I will return to bed, propped up (with layers and a hot water bottle) and fall into a very long and deep sleep. I won't be able to be woken easily. I will sleep for the day and when I wake up I will be pretty much 'back to normal'. I will be of course headachy due to dehydration and fragile.
Later on in the day
I will crave something sweet to eat. Cake/scone with jam or toast with chocolate spread are what I would go for. I sip something cooling like diluted squash. To pep myself up after an attack I'll take a shower and because I live in my own place I like to clean and tidy- it sounds odd but it really gives me a lift and helps me get on with life after the morning's setback. When I was a child I would spend the day in front of TV and be able to take the next day of school to let my body recover.
However now that I'm an adult I don't have this luxury especially as I don't 'look ill' the day before or the day after an attack. I will have to take the day off work on the day of the attack (obviously) but then go back in the next day still quite weak and fragile. I have had a disciplinary meeting at my work because I was taking these sporadic days off and they thought I was bunking. I was told I have to 'stop being ill' *rolls eyes* do they really think I want to put myself through all that I've described above just so I get a day off?? I feel trapped in my job because it's taken so many years for them to understand my condition that if I move jobs I'll be back to square one again.
What are the triggers?
Well if I knew that, I would be trying to avoid them! It's been dictated by medical professionals that it's Lifestyle. Stress is thought to be the main trigger: not just a negative response to situations but also heightened excitement. If I have a large heavy meal of foods ie: Chinese/pizza takaways that contain MSG (monosodium glutamate) this at times will lead to an episode but not always so I don't totally avoid these foods.
Between attacks
Between attacks I feel fine, with the odd stomach ache down to high anxiety and tension but nothing that stops me from living life. The attacks seem to be likely to occur in the winter time: October, December, January and March being the main months. The attacks come in cycles so that I may have sickness recurring days or weeks apart.
Any medications?
I have been on countless medications for this and nothing has worked so at the moment all I take is an anti-depressant to keep my serotonin levels up so stress doesn't affect me as badly as it naturally would; Triple X brings lower stress-thresholds. The only treatment that seems to sometimes stop cycles from progressing is to have lymphatic drainage massages that help move the toxins and tension out of my body naturally. I have one of these massages every 3 weeks, it doesn't stop the episodes but since starting this therapy it gives some light relief from the tension that builds up in my body.
> I have tried Topiramate which is prescribed for headache migraines- that did nothing.
> After seeing a Gastroenterologist I had a long phase of taking VSL#3: an intense probiotic- that helped my digestion but didn't stop the attacks, it's also very expensive to take long term.
> I was given anti-sickness melts that you place under your upper lip to 'stop' an episode from progressing
- this also did nothing.
> Finally I did 18 months on Pizotifen- another headache migraine treatment of which the side effects were awful so much so that I missed being sick! I was constantly hungry to the point that I would snack on icecream sprinkles if there wasn't anything else to eat. I put on so much weight, I was constantly irritable and depressed and constantly tired.
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20 or so years on and we still don't know the reason I suffer with these attacks of sickness and diarrhoea, even my only hope- a teaching hospital were not able to give me a reason or treatment. I've had all manner or tests done to rule out things like gall stones etc.
The only possible explanation is that through dealing with life's everyday stress, lack of sleep (my body misses out on time to restore itself) and perhaps hypotonia (weak muscle tone) in my digestive system my body crashes. All food and waste ferments in my body making me sick and then my body forces me into deep sleep to enable restoration.
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I would love to know if anyone else with Triple X suffers the same symptoms! Hope this has been a useful read!