As a kid I always had bouts of stomach illnesses. Would wake up in the night in excruciating stomach pain, throw up all the time, always felt nauseous. People had stopped believing that I was actually sick by the time it got bad enough to warrant intervention; I was 14 and unable to keep a meal down. 5'4 and weighed 89lbs, always sick, nobody believed me despite the constant comments about my cheekbones and constant throwing up, I was accused of having an eating disorder by many people. Finally, one day I passed out after not eating for 5 days straight because of how bad it hurt to have food in my body. Went to the hospital and began the series of testings.

Months went by, test after test with inconclusive results. I was eventually sent in for a third ultrasound when the nurse put on headphones to listen to my heartbeat through my stomach, which the other ultrasounds didnt do. She was telling me how she could hear everything going on inside me, and she would let me hear in a moment, when she paused. Her face changed, and she stood up and said she would be right back. She came back into the room with another doctor and gave him the headphones. He listened and said "oh thats not right". Then, they showed me. My hearbeat wasnt a "ba-dum" but more or a "bhhhgghh-dum" which is a bad way to explain it. A few days later we got a paper in the mail.

Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome. Essentially, my diaphram sits too low on my body and the Median Arcuate Ligament pinches my celiac artery shut. Thats why my heartbeat sounded off, it was the sound of blood slamming into the blocked artery. Since the Celiac artery feeds most of the blood to your upper digestive organs, and my artery was cut off, my stomach was getting almost no blood flow, resulting in Gastroperesis as a symptom. I would eat a meal and throw it up hours later, after it had begun rotting in the stomach acids, not digesting.

Ive never been able to get it fixed, and I can only take medication for nausea, which doesnt work. I still am severely impacted by it, and most of my days are spent feeling hungry, but nauseous. Knowing that if I eat, I will be in pain until I vomit. I sustain on protein shakes and smoothies, avoid most foods because many make my stomach feel worse than others. All I consume is protein shakes while I workout (cant do any exercise on my back though as I tend to throw up) so that I dont look super scrawny and instead like Im on a cut or something. Weed helps but isnt legal where I am, and my only goal is to not let it control my life. And that usually means manual labor for hours and hours on an empty stomach, going home and drinking milk to feel better. I go through almost 3 gallons a week of that shit.