slippin' out the back door

[the_siobhan]

panic_girl kindly hooked me up with a copy of the Yeast Connection and I read the first 100 pages last night. It includes a test to see if you are likely to have a yeast problem, and as I usually do with such tests, I filled out two sets of answers. One with my immediate response, one more conservative set that excluded factors that have an alternative explanation, that might have a suggestability factor in my response, or are just too woo-woo.

Book says the diagnosis is definite at 140 points. My "conservative" results were 280. Hrm.

Well, they seem to think I have it.

As a prelude to going on any weird-ass diets, I checked in with the doctor to rule out any other, more serious problems. I am delighted to discover that the barium milkshake test for ulcers appears to be a thing of the past. Now they just check your blood for H. pylori. Nice.

I have to get an ultrasound on Friday, which makes sense because gall bladder problems run in my family. When I was looking at the bloodwork request I noticed my doctor put down some tests for hepatic function, which also makes sense because my sister has an auto-immune disease that attacks her liver and Gods know mine has seen enough abuse in it's lifetime.

And then in a couple of months I have to go for a poop-scope.

Eep!

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I discovered this week that I'm out of the habit of having fingernails. When I worked at the Blood Bank I spent so much time with my hands in freezers that they would just shatter if I touched anything metal. So other than filing off the ragged edges, I never paid any attention to them.

So I've gotten out of the habit of cutting them, and yesterday they were so long that I accidentally poked myself in the eye when I was trying to scratch my forehead. Motherfucker.

Scissors came out as soon as I got home.

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One more half-hour until my vacation starts.

Comments

[ex-helygen254.livejournal.com]

*falls over laughing*

New icon?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

cincinnatus_c_ made it for me! Ain't it great? :-)

[individuation.livejournal.com]

Medical stuff: You must really wanna avoid that diet if you're willing to go through all those tests ;)

nail stuff: Am I a bad person for laughing out loud at that?

I love you.
I really do. :)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Medical stuff: You must really wanna avoid that diet if you're willing to go through all those tests ;)

It's not so much that I'm trying to avoid the diet as I'd feel really stupid if I went on it for six months and then found out that my stomach hurts because I have gallstones.


nail stuff: Am I a bad person for laughing out loud at that?

I am so not a girl.

[artistatlarge.livejournal.com]

Of the poop-scope: er, haven't had it myself, but friends who have (some more than once) all swear that the prep is *by far* the worst part of it. The liquid laxatives, the enema, the hours in the can.

Of the test itself, painless: you're pleasantly zonked on decent pharmaceuticals. And after, have a nice, pink, clean-as-a-whistle bowel. For a day or so, anyway. :-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

Hmm, they didn't zonk *me* when I had it done. That certainly sounds preferable, even if I wouldn't have been able to so fully appreciate the view on the TV screen.

Here's one of my favourite scary stories about human nature: somebody did a study where, for one group of colonoscopy patients, they left the scope in--just sitting there--for a couple of minutes after they were done poking around, and for the other group, they took it right out. They found that the group that had it left in for the extra couple of minutes rated the experience as less unpleasant than the group that had it taken right out, and were less reluctant to have it done again.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I'm scheduled for the zonking. They want me to get somebody to drive me home.

The story about the camera doesn't surprise me - it's pretty sensitive tissue, letting it rest for a moment gives the nerve-endings a chance to quiet down before dragging something across them again.

Woot!

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

Shawinigan Handshake! :D

I did the h. pylori blood test thing a few years ago, and then a while later I went to a gastroenterologist who told me that the blood test isn't particularly reliable, and that they just do it because it's cheap. (He stuck a camera down my throat and conclusively determined that I have no ulcers (as well as no Barrett's esophagus, which is what he was looking for). *gurgle*)

Re: Woot!

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I have to get the esophageal one also. To be honest, that one spooks me more.

Re: Woot!

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Make sure you're zonked for that one. I used to know someone who didn't want an unnecessary general so had it while awake. Cue panic attack. And she was not a panic attack kind of person.

Re: Woot!

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

I was *terrified* going in. Particularly while listening to the one before mine.

But then there was the zonking, and I was mostly unconscious, and I felt *wonderful* when I came to. Apart from a bit of a sore throat.

So, yeah, in the end, much less unpleasant than the other one.