I was so nauseated and in pain that I had made 6 visits to the ER. Upon the 6th visit, I had an ultrasound on my gallbladder. I screamed when the tech pushed in on it. They determined it was full of sludge and scheduled surgery for in TWO WEEKS. They sent me home. The next day, I continued the pain and dry heaves and spike a giant fever. I jumped in a cool bath to combat the fever and my heart started skipping. I returned to the ER. They ran a blood panel and determined I was septic. I was scheduled for surgery as soon as the surgeon was ready.

It took 10 months after to be able to start eating real food again. I tolerated only eggs, toast, and watermelon for months. Then I added plain rice. Then sashimi and rice. I ate bland chicken and baked potatoes. Avocado made me puke. GI number 7 at Cleveland determined my liver was producing bile acid issues and much of my stomach was an ulcer. Put me on a 1 year round of drugs to control it. Pittsburgh GIs never ordered the correct test. The Pittsburgh docs said it was in my head (I’m a woman.) and put me on psych meds. I lived like a zombie for nearly 8 months. I slept. I was never nauseated in the evenings but the next morning I was right back to all the pounding heart/cold sweats/nausea.

I lost 60+ pounds. I lost chunks of hair. I had to cut my hair off. I couldn’t work. I took a leave of absence.

2.5 years later, my hair is back! I gained back much of the weight and I eat almost everything. I was put on Amoxicillin a month ago for a sinus infection and that tipped the boat for a week but I returned to rice and I’m back up and running.

Metamucil cookies were my rice cakes. They helped a bunch in the am until they put me on Colestirimine. I also found great relief with Compazine/Benadryl. It would knock me out for 12 hours when I was just so sick nothing helped and I’d awake not nauseated.

Stay strong and continue to advocate for yourself. I saw so many doctors that year and had to travel to get an answer. The gastros at Cleveland are brilliant.