It was, I think, the third, perhaps fourth wheelbarrow load I’d pushed out from the barn to the manure pile. I was nearly there when a thought popped into my head:
“I feel better.”
Just that: “I feel better.”
I’ve been suffering from digestive problems for several months now. Stretches of decent health have alternated with stretches of more or less considerable misery. A colonoscopy is scheduled for mid-January to see what the heck is going on in there. In the last week the misery has ratcheted up and expanded its repertoire. Going once again from solid food to clear liquids , yogurt and jello, and starting a new course of ciprofloxacin has done little to relieve the current discomfort.
So the sudden irruption in my mind of “I feel better” was surprising. I thought about that thought as I dumped, returned to the barn and continued mucking. Given that the belly discomfort was still niggling at me, it seemed an odd thought. And yet, it felt right. I realized that, for the first time in a couple of days, I wasn’t tending (or fighting the tendency) to hunch over protectively. Wasn’t wholly wrapped in a dull fog of inward focus.
Now, some several hours later, I continue to feel as if a measure of misery has dissipated. Oh, there’s still enough of it bubbling in my gut to tell me things are not right, but incremental progress is better than none, eh?
For the last couple of weeks my doctor has been trying to adjust my psych meds in order to make me feel better in general. It has not been going well. The addition of a new medicine landed me in the ER with a rash which might or might not have been life-threatening (it wasn’t) and lasted way too long. The recent attempt at change brought on an almost blinding headache and severe nausea that would get better and then come back again and again. At this point I think I’d rather stay slightly deranged than deal with any more of this. :p:D
Good luck with your colonoscopy. I hope there is a relatively simple fix.
Thank you, Pie, for your good wishes. There had darn well better be a relatively simple fix! Or I’ll… I’ll…
I’ll cope with whatever must be coped with. Not much choice, eh?
I’m sorry to hear that the titration of your meds is going so unhappily. Those drugs are powerful beasties, aren’t they? Getting them just right, without doing more harm than good, strikes me as more an art than a science at this stage of our knowledge. Fingers crossed* that you’ll get squared away soon!
*Fingers crossed – perhaps that’s why all the typos I have to keep clearing up.
I truly empathize. On the last day of my early August vacation, I got so constipated that I threw up. Things didn’t clear up until the start of my late September vacation. And on the last day of that, it all started up again. I wasn’t quite right until around Thanksgiving. (When I was thankful for regular bowel movements.)
Yeesh! That’s horrible, tdn. Did you ever find out what was causing the problems?
One irony for me is that I was always a darn good fiber-devourer before this happened, and lots of fiber is supposed to help prevent diverticulitis. But once it’s flared up, you have to avoid fiber and seek out a low-residue diet. So many things I like, I had to stop eating!
About the only saving grace is that you CAN eat bacon on that sort of diet. Bacon bacon bacon! Bacon-burgers! YES!!! Normally, being a duly heart-health-conscious person I would avoid that sort of thing, but given all the other good things I must sacrifice, I am damn well going to indulge in a bacon burger now and then.
For one, I was travelling a bit, and they say that travel can cause constipation. Dry air, lack of water, rich or non-nutritious foods, that sort of thing. I was also going out a lot and eating poorly because of it. Not enough vegetation in my diet. And certainly not enough exercise.
