Wednesday March 17, 2010

Taking the week off as I got scolded by my doctor yesterday and he scared me enough to keep me out of the gym at least for the rest of the week.

I've been having abdominal issues. Started the day of my 7 1/2 mile outdoor run with my neighbor. Pretty bad pain in my upper adbdomen - right underneath my xyphoid process (bottom of the breastbone). Not GI issues, not nausea, not heartburn, not hunger. Tums didn't help. Nothing helped. Just a continual pain - not enough to stop my activity, but enough to bother me. I have had this several times in the past... I went to the ER with it when I was pregnant with Ryann - so that was Dec 2003, but that wasn't the first time. I've had it kind of off and on throughout the years, but it never lasted this long.

Went to the dr. on monday, he ordered an ultra sound to check on my gallbladder. Also gave me some samples of Protonix to quiet the acid in my stomach. I laughed at him and told him I didn't have heartburn. I took them for 2 days, rolled my eyes and stopped - this was NOT heartburn.

Thursday I went out to do errands and was nauseous the entire time. Thought that maybe if I ate, it would get better, but it didn't. Nausea, hunger, no appetite. Annoyance.

Friday I went in for my U/S.

Saturday I ran 9 miles and felt really good all weekend.

Monday ran 5 miles and the nausea, hunger and no appetite returned. As did the annoyance. Got the results of the U/S - everything was within normal limits. Went to my self-diagnosis flow chart book and looked at continual vomitting (or nausea). The flow chart led me to ulcer. I called my sister and my dad, who have both had ulcers and they described the exact same symtoms. I went to Walgreens and got some otc prilosec and figured that would fix it.

Tuesday, same symptoms, but couldn't get past it. Couldn't get past the idea that this might ruin our trip. Totally stressing out. Made an appointment to see the doc. Went in at 4.

I apologized for laughing off the idea of the ulcer and for not taking the protonix. To my defense, though (and I didn't tell him this), he was not clear about his reasoning for giving me the protonix. He also did not indicate that it was a long term thing, not a short term fix. Had I known that I would have trusted him and would have been taking it.

Anyway, he said that because I hadn't been taking the protonix, and was now experiencing these symptoms he couldn't make a very accurate judgement. Had I been taking the meds and was now feeling this way he would send me for a scope. SO, I need to take the protonix 2x/day for the next two weeks and see him again.

While talking, I told him we were going on vacation. He indicated that the relaxation would be good for me - I told him we'd be skiing everyday for 5 days. I also mentioned that I was training for a half-marathon and that my lack of appetite was concerning to me because I know I'm not eating enough with the amount of training I'm doing.

He was not happy with any of this information. He told me I needed to stop running immediately and consider doing something other than skiing in Colorado. That made me stop in my tracks. No way. He told me that if I still felt like this I wouldn't want to be skiing anyway - I told him he didn't know me very well. So he went into lecture mode and gave me the worst case scenario of this becoming a bleeding ulcer if I don't give my body time to repair itself. I could be out on the slopes and drop and end up in ICU. Basically, my body is screaming at me to stop and it will scream louder and louder until I listen and if I don't listen it will make me drop in order to listen. He was a bunch of no fun.

So I finally was able to get his okay that if I feel good on Saturday, I can ski. That was enough incentive for me to stay out of the gym for the rest of the week and try to take it as easy as possible this week.