Gastroenteritis is a pain in the ....

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

You finished the thread title without help, didn’t you?

I dropped out of sight (which may or may not have been noticed) when I was hospitalized in January with norovirus-induced gastroenteritis. Only in the hospital two days, mainly to deal with/prevent dehydration and Be Observed (which seem to consist in no small part of waking me up at 3 am - “Are you sleeping OK?” well, I was…)

Anyhow, fluids only for a few days, followed by squishy food. I’m still Having Issues. The bureaucrats from work are [expletive deleted] - the next time I’m asked for “objective evidence of continuing medical problems” I am going to leave a stool sample on someone’s desk. (In an appropriate container - I’m not a total barbarian! Shame on you if you thought otherwise!)

This post is really to start off an Epic Saga about my Medical Adventures – if anyone is interested. Could be as fascinating as the infamous “Zit From Hell” posting I did a number of years back - or it could be totally boring.

Also explains/makes up for my recent lack of aviation adventure posting. Needless to say, I have not been flying of late, except flying down the hall to the toilet.

2

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Sending supporting thoughts your way!

3

In the stomach. It’s a pain in the stomach. It’s like having a rabid dog inside, and you can’t hold down any food… you, who never puke, will throw up anything more solid than water… you get written down for “missing the celebration lunch” whose pizza you could smell from two buildings away… and after 4 weeks like that, You Still Haven’t Lost Weight!

Hope it gets better soon. A couple bosses ago I had one who wouldn’t believe anybody had The Sick unless it was a version he also got: hangovers were serious and deserved days off, but having an arm swollen to twice normal size was something you were faking - I’d like to know how do you fake that. I was able to leave the job without ever losing my temper and slapping him with a Singing Bass, but the li’l freak sure deserved it.

4

Actually, not being able to hold water down is how I landed in the hospital.

5

Wow, I’m impressed.

[grandma]
What did you do to catch that, eh?
[/grandma]

6

Wow. I also have missed some good flying weather due to some unexpected, near-porcelain adventures. I actually had wondered what happened to you (was about to post some flying stories, to try and draw you out). I hope you’re getting better… I was out of commission for a full week. The only good thing is that I got no static at work because, due to re-org issues, we have [drum-roll] no boss for the next 2 months. :stuck_out_tongue:

I really, really hope you get better soon.

7

Shame on me, promise a big saga then don’t post for a week!

Well, I’d gone back to work and had so little energy that I just dropped off to sleep tonight, but today I’m not only feeling better, the office is closed due to weather (Amazing! Our office never closes…!)

Today’s peeve - told by the GI doc not to eat fruit like berries, or with fiberous pulp or seeds and such, but do eat yogurt. Went to store. Confronted with rows and rows of yogurt, nearly all which contained either berries or granola-crunchy stuff or both. Apparently, not much call for plain yogurt. Took me quite some time to find it.

I discovered I still don’t care much for yogurt, but the vanilla flavor was tolerable and it agreed with my stomach so I can live with it.

Anyhow - back to the story. New Year’s Eve I came down with diarrhea and a peculiar form of dry heaves. Well, it wasn’t all dry, but I wasn’t eating much, if anything, so there wasn’t much to be rid of. The peculiar thing was that I never felt nauseous. It was just this muscle-spasm thing happening, but none of the usual dizziness, weak and shakey feeling, and stuff. So much for New Year’s - had to pass on the munchie tray I usually fix up, skip the alcoholic beverage, and I think I tucked into bed around 9 pm. No, I wasn’t feeling good at all.

Obviously, I had some stomach bug. I couldn’t sleep straight through the night because I kept waking up to crap. Had a couple episodes of sweats/chills over the next couple of days, but never ran a fever. After a few days/nights of this I went to a doctor.

This was further complicated by the fact my usual doctor was visiting family in Australia. It was a little further trip than I thought I could handle, so my Other Half found a doc in the area that would take me on short notice.

What struck me, sitting in the waiting room, was that instead of usual moaning and whining about half the folks there were talking about how wonderful the doctor was. Well, that was reassuring as I sat there, my intestines practicing their new hobby of turning into macrame.

After examination the doc said he was pretty sure it was norovirus, we’d been having outbreaks of it in NW Indiana, and that I’d probably be over it in a few days. If not, please come back. Lots of rest, plenty of fluids, stick to soup broth and jello for meals.

…to be continued…

8

This is becomming very disjointed, but what the hell…

I am learning to love Ensure, and nutrional drink disguised as “chocolate shake” and “vanilla shake”. There are other flavors, which I will attempt to sample when I go to the store today. They taste better than the yogurt, and they agree with my stomach. All good.

You know, it is just as bad to be underweight as overweight. Those of us who have lots significant weight in a precipitous manner, particularly when it involves vomitting, diarrhea, and the like, really do not appreciate the Diet Obsessed going “OH, I’d LOVE to lose 20 lbs like that!” No, you wouldn’t. And if you did like it, you’d be crazy.

WTF do people think it’s OK to comment on other peoples’ weight?

NO, THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO BUY NEW CLOTHES!!!

9

This is becomming very disjointed, but what the hell…

I am learning to love Ensure, and nutrional drink disguised as “chocolate shake” and “vanilla shake”. There are other flavors, which I will attempt to sample when I go to the store today. They taste better than the yogurt, and they agree with my stomach. All good.

You know, it is just as bad to be underweight as overweight. Those of us who have lots significant weight in a precipitous manner, particularly when it involves vomitting, diarrhea, and the like, really do not appreciate the Diet Obsessed going “OH, I’d LOVE to lose 20 lbs like that!” No, you wouldn’t. And if you did like it, you’d be crazy.

WTF do people think it’s OK to comment on other peoples’ weight?

NO, THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO BUY NEW CLOTHES!!!

10

Double post - huh.

I didn’t think I’d even hit “submit”…

Huh.

Anyhow - the Diet Obessed have also been commenting on my new eating habits.

“You can’t live on that! There’s not FIBER in that! MY GOD YOUR DOCTOR IS GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”

No, he’s not. No, I do not need fiber. My system need NO encouragement to houseclean at present. At some future date I hope to need fiber again, because I like many fiberous foods, but right now they’re off limits.

“You’re not getting proper nutrition.”

This is why we invented supplements

“Try this herb/potion/pill/etc.”

No. Not unless approved by the doctor. Why? Because his advice took me from being a limp noodle to having a life again in just two days. I also notice that also our coworkers who actually have medical training are in agreement with my doctor. You, however, are just a layperson. Pardon me, but given how much I’ve spent on medical experts lately I think I’ll favor their advice over yours.

“You shouldn’t put so much sugar in your tea. You’re going to get fat.”

:rolleyes:

“Wow - I see you lost weight. Another 20 lbs and you’ll look like a fashion model.”

Another 20 lbs I’ll be back in the hospital. Who wants to look like a fashion model, anyhow? Ew.

“Wow, I wish I could take a one month vacation!”

:smack:

“Eat it. It’s fresh fruit. It’s natural. It can’t possibly hurt you.”

>sigh<

11

I just got over a bout of stomach something or other. No headache or barfing but really bad stomach cramps and the shits like I’ve never had before. (I’m 66)
I worry about colon cancer and was sure I was a goner, but finallly it went away. Had to stay within 15 feet of a bathroom with lots of toilet paper. There’s peanut butter salmonella going around these days, maybe I had that. Had 2 jars with the code “2111” (Not sure of the code) on the lid and tossed them toot sweet. Maybe that’s what you had?

12

An acquaintance of mine had surgery last summer. I think it was for fibroids. Mostly I just remember her saying something about the recovery process being similar to that which one undergoes when one has a baby. (Gee thanks, I’ve not actually had any babies!) She was looking forward to having 6 weeks off from work, especially since she was hoping to have a couple of weeks where she would be well enough to do what she wanted to do, but not yet well enough to work in a job where she was on her feet all day.

And then she had the surgery, and ended up staying at her parents’ house longer than she originally planned on, because she was in a lot more pain than she expected to be in. (It was not clear that she was in an unusual amount of pain, for women who have this kind of surgery. Just more than she’d ever dealt with before). While the cause of her situtation is different from yours, that feeling that taking a few weeks off from work (for health related reasons) sounds better than it is in practice is certainly still there.

I know another lady who lost a significant amount of weight for reasons more similar to yours. In her case, she did look good twenty or more pounds lighter. But it was annoying having to get an outfit for some special event altered to fit her skinnier body. (The cost in dollars is more or less immaterial, the cost in time and energy for fittings coupled with the rest of her schedule was enormous. Especially since she was having problems where she was always a little afraid to eat in public because she wasn’t sure what would agree with her system. )

So, while I can’t say I’ve been in your shoes, thankfully, I do know people who have been, and who agree that it is no fun. I hope that you start (or continue (I’m not sure which is more appropriate)) to feel better.

13

Looks like you did the right thing.

14

Nope.

I don’t eat peanut butter.

Doc seems pretty sure it was a norovirus infection, with a few complications

15

At the grocery store today I was carefully selecting what I will be eating the next week. Quite a bit of it liquid in nature.

Of course, not usually buying this stuff, I had to inquire where it is. I was constantly steered towards “You’ll want this - it’s low calorie.” NO! I need calories right now! Put weight on.

::: look of complete and utter bafflement from cleark ::: “Why would you need to put weight on?”

I finally went to the pharmacist. The pharmacists there know me and the Other Half, and made concerned noises about my obvious weight loss. MUCH more sympathetic. Told me where to find exactly what I needed, inquired as to whether I needed the high protein formulations. Very much more pleasent experience.

Did you know that you can now get plain salmon in a pouch, like deli meat? I’m allowed to eat plain fish! I like salmon! This might be a good thing…

Remarkably enough, despite buying prepared foods and stuff in cans it wasn’t much more than the usual grocery bill. Of course, I have no problem with house brand stuff. That helps.

16

Sorry you are feelin bad. Get better and go have an adventure and write about it.

No, don’t, I forgot for a minute that an adventure is just abject terror in retrospect.

17

I was going to turn this into an “adventure” but I haven’t been that organized and coherent.

The thing bugging me most right now, now that I can eat without pain if I’m careful, is the loss of strength.

I lost 20 lbs in a month. That’s a lot. A couple of stupid ninnies have insisted “Oh, that’s water weight”. No, it isn’t. When I was in the hospital they made sure I was more than adequately hydrated. I was putting out 6-7 liters of urine a day. We know this, because they measured it. If anything, they put water weight ON. (I learned my usual urine deposit is 800 ml, and I can hold slightly over a liter. I don’t know if that’s ever going to be useful knowledge, but what the hey…)

So the weight loss was “real me”. Some fat, yes, but I also lost muscle. I am just not as physically strong as I used to be, and that bugs me a lot. I’m just going to have to build back up gradually, I guess. But it sure is frustrating.

18

People forget that a lot what with TV and movies showing people waking up from a comma or some such and walking around. Bawahahaha, the muscles suffer anthropy <sp> in just a few days.

Lay in bed a week and lose muscle mass too and itty bitty kitties can whup on you with ease.

Walk, stretch, walk, do light weights, walk, stretch, eat as best you can, exercise, and you’ll get there.

19

Yeah, when my dad had pancreatitis, and spent 2-3 days lying around at home, followed by most of a week in the hospital, not eating, he was unpleasantly surprised by how much strength and endurance he lost. He got them back, in time, but a short walk through the neighborhood exhausted him more than he would have believed possible.