I am a 28 year old living with gastroparesis and diabetes. I've been a diabetic for 24yrs and ive had GP for 4 1/2 yrs. In the beginning when I first started to get sick with GP, it was a Struggle. It took a year to finally get a diagnoses. Two months after knowing what was wrong, I was still struggling and was getting no help from the doctors and they weren't giving no insight into my situation.
After two months of no improvement my family took me to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,MN. I was their for two weeks and they confirmed I had GP. they referred me to 1 of 2, I believe, GP specialists in Canada, where Im from. As soon as I started seeing him there was a huge improvement. I went 7 1/2 months with no symptoms, and a big thing for me is I was able to work during that time! I lived a normal everyday life. A regular day for a healthy person is a dream come true for me!
I would go into the hospital with extreme pain and intense nausea and vomiting. I'd average 10 days in hospital for every bad episode. Many things can cause an episode, could be something you eat or drink, stress, infections, or could be your blood sugars. I'd get home and only be there for 1-2 days then back in the hospital. If I was home for 5 days or a week it was like heaven to me! The longest stay i've had in hospital was 2 months. I went 2 years with little improvement. In the 4 1/2 years with GP I've spent 2 of those years in the hospital.
I went through rough times dealing with doctors about giving me the right medications and then the right dosages. For the first 2yrs I'd say about 70% of the time my hospital stays would be almost torture and a lot of suffering. I'd lay in bed not able to move because the nausea is so bad, in a hospital, in severe pain, and no one would do anything for me. The #1 reason they wouldn't give me pain meds was because they didnt believe in giving narcotics (morphine) for abdominal pain. For me, the only way to stop the nausea and vomiting is to get rid of the pain, its as simple as that I've learnt.
The last 2yrs have been a lot better with a lot of improvement. My endocrinologist stepped up and realized I need the right meds. So she wrote a care plan for me for when I go into emerge and then the docs know what meds and the dosages to give me.
I've learnt what works for me as far as diet, and what doesn't work. I've learnt that positive thinking is KEY!!, reduce as much stress as you can. Exercise when you can. Whether its a little walk, stretches, yoga, pilates, anything to help keep your strength up. Rest is also key, if I dont get rest one night the next day could end up being a right off and im sick all day not able to eat or drink anything, and the nausea limits my mobility. I take nothing for granted anymore because without your health you have nothing. It doesn't matter who you are, what your age, sex or race is, health conditions and chronic illness don't discriminate. Don't let any opportunity pass you by. Try new thing as often as you can and create new experiences when you can. Having a chronic illness, let alone 2 of them, is life changing. You will learn a new "normal". You'll have bad days but the good ones do come, they might not stay long but the bad do eventually come to an end. Good days will hopefully become more frequent.
My #1 rule for living with GP is POSITIVE THINKING!!!!!!. The mind is a powerful tool!!...and I've learnt to take advantage of that and it really does help!!
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