My (Current) Health Situation!

UPDATE--SEPT. 17, 2017

FIRST OFF: My sincerest thanx to everyone who's supported me and thanked me, and voted on my lists, or this list for that matter. I didn't think anyone would care enough about me. Your attention in stopping in to read what I have written is more than enough, more than I deserve. Thank U all so very, very much ;-D

SECOND: So very sorry for the long overdue update. I know I kind of left y'all hanging. My fault!

I got quite busy over the summer and didn't have much time to keep up with updating everyone on my condition. My condition improved VASTLY over the summer, I met a great group of new friends. Actually, they were my classmates. I took an 8-week long college course at Sprott Shaw. The course was on Tourism & Hospitality Training, I got to learn and acquire a whole bunch of new skills. Toward the end of the course we were learning a lot about Wine Introduction. I got to do a few tastings.

I got so used to going to class that I looked upon my classmates (there were only 4 of us who stuck around till the end of the course) as my secondary family. Needless to say, once the course was over, and we all had to say our goodbyes, I got deeply introverted. Again... my fault (problem).

***

I will say this though, I wish I had better news to report but unfortunately my stomach issues have began to resurface and I'm struggling between dealing with that and trying to look for work. Neither task is as easy as it sounds.

THE FIRES

On top of which, I don't know how much my fellow readers or fellow Listal members, follow Canadian news, but this past summer has been a SHITSTORM for extreme Canadian weather. Most of May to June British Columbia was bombarded and pelted with heavy rain showers (no doubt, due in some part to the mass chemtrails we were experiencing over our skies???) many local small businesses suffered a significant hit during the summer because of the damages the water levels did, a lot of homes suffered damage as well and there were even some evacuations taking place. People couldn't even get to work because large sink holes were developing in the middle of roads. There was a massive relief effort that took place to due sandbagging on many of the dikes and riverbeds.

THEN!!--

If that wasn't enough. No sooner did it begin to warm up, we went from extreme cold to extreme heat. The FIRES began, the most devastating natural disaster to hit my province, perhaps the entire country at that, in nearly all of recorded history. So many thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of hectares of forestry, LOST due to massive amounts of forest fires that sprung up over the summer. The situation has become so extreme that it's now become standard policy/citizens are encouraged to 'narc' should they spot someone flicking discarded cigarette butts into the brush.

SO MANY evacuations, SO MANY homes lost, lives ruined, businesses destroyed, it's been a three month long waking nightmare!! :-O And the strangest part of it all. A lot of the fires turned out to be confirmed by local RCMP to be undoubtedly 'set deliberately'. That's right folks, somebody out there is going around trying to burn my fuckin' country down. And everybody's mad as hell!!

I have a friend who says this is all part of something called Agenda 2030, but... that's another subject for another day.

EUREKA! - (March 17th, 2017)

Just got a call back from the hospital. My x-ray app. is for this Friday. Here's the odd part, will come back to this in a minute.

So, the doc. on the other end was just as confused as I am that we haven't received any letter in the mail yet. She said it should arrive really soon. I was told my app. is for this Friday, at 12:30pm, and that I will need to be at the hospital at least 15 min. early. (Which means we gotta arrive even earlier than that because it will probably take us that long just to find some parking?) But here's my question...

She hung up before I could remember to ask her. She kept saying this Friday. And today's Friday (11:30am) does she mean like right now, or next week?... Guess we'll find out when I check the mail later today. It's too late to get to the hospital now, if I'm informed that it was for the 17th I'm gonna be SUPER PISSED!!! All I can do is just call back and ask for a re-schedule.

UPDATE - MARCH 13th, 2017

I've chosen (with the added advice of my doc-friend on FB) to skip the pushups for a day or two, see what happens. I woke up today and felt like shit! Had digestive issues last night, but I think that's attributed to the strain put on my muscles. I really overdid it yesterday. Am trying to advance from 10 to 15, and then possibly 20. Tried as such last night. BIG MISTAKE!

There's definitely something wrong with my right shoulder blade. GOD I wish the hospital would hurry up and let me get my x-ray done already!!

The thing about hospital apps., I'm sure I'm not alone in this? is that no matter how short or how long you have to wait for an appointment, it feels like an eternity. And the longer you wait, the more your mind starts to play tricks on you. You start to think over the many various possibilities your illness could be. "Let's see, do I have 'this' symptom? What about that? Oh, there was that thing I did last month, do you think the two things are related?" It's funny though, there's something to be said about, kids never have to go through this. I never remember worrying this much when I was younger. I only went to the hospital because I knew I was ill, and the only thing I hated about going was that there were so many damned 'sick people' in the waiting room they stuck you in. Man, if I wasn't ill coming here, I sure as hell am now!?...

MY CURRENT HEALTH STATUS

-I'm doing the 10 pushups like the doctor said. My neck does look a little filled in, and my chest a little pumped out, but it depends, daily. Some days I seem fuller, others I look depleted.
-The pain in my neck goes away, then it comes back, then it goes away, then--you get the picutre!
-I have no idea what to eat, or how to eat, that will help me put fat back on to my bones and make it stick.
-I'm 'terrified' to try coconut oil anymore.
-Still waiting for Penticton to send me my x-ray app., meanwhile the pain in the right side of my upper back is starting to become noticeable, ever since the doc went poking around in there.
-I have friends and family members who lovingly support me but despite this, nothing they suggest seems to help, or if it does, only seems to bring about new symptoms.
-I've been taking Vitamin K2 cause a friend of the family was diagnosed with scoliosis and she said Vitamin K2 and calcium really helped her through it.
-I've been reflecting a lot on how all this may have got started and keep coming back to it in my mind, the idea that this all really kick-started after the loss of my cat. Who's usually with me wherever I go at home. The doctor told me he thought I was carrying a lot of tension in my shoulders. It's true I do worry a lot. And my family puts me under a considerable deal of pressure. I've heard it said that often in alternative physical therapy concepts, some believe there's a reason you always see people who live alone with a lot of cats under their roof. It's because stroking a cat, and the calming effect one has in the cat's purr, can act as a natural stress relief. Could this be why everything went to shit as soon as my kitty kicked the bucket?!

ADDITIONAL INFO

-I sleep with a neck pillow (like the kind used on airplanes). I asked my friend if this might somehow attribute to my fucked up spine but he said he didn't think so.

THE RECENT DOC. VISITS

The last two appointments I had with my regular doctor, the first one I decided to have my mom accompany me. She was very eager to find out for herself, "if you told him he's in perfect health, how come he needs to go off the gluten?!" Well, she finally got to ask him that. It turns out... I don't.

He never bothered to test me for celiacs because he says there's little point. EVERYONE is allergic to gluten. He says in 90% of cases, people who are actually positive, test negative, because gluten makes EVERYONE'S stomach inflamed. I have a close personal friend from High School, who recently got back in touch with me, who has several years of medical training, he was OUTRAGED when I told him, and thought it was highly unprofessional for my doc to treat me for celiacs, without first testing me to see if I had it.

I have currently switched back to a gluten-rich diet, mostly in hopes that it will help but the fat back on my naked exposed flesh. It was recommended by my mom and friend, who thought I should experiment. So far, can't really say I've experienced anything inflammatory in the gut?

As for the second visit. I became concerned about my weight loss, and the app. before last my doc told my mom and me, that I ought to have protein with every meal, or at least daily, and my portions should be larger (apparently I was eating too little) and I should exercise. So I the following week, I started drinking protein shakes, eating large, and lifting weights... ...BIG MISTAKE!

I pulled something in my neck. Now my neck muscles are all strained, makes it hard to talk, swallow, and so forth, sometimes. I went to the doc and he told me, when starting a new fitness regiment, pain is to be expected. He told me to start light, and showed me a different style of push ups for if I wanted to put mass on and keep it on. So I've been taking his advice. Don't know why I should at this point?

Before I left the appointment he took a minute to examine my posture. He put his hands all over my back, shoulders and neck, and was just about to tell me I'm in perfect condition when... ooh, wait, what's this?

He feels some sort of knot in my right shoulder blade. He tells me there's some sort of abnormal alignment, and that something loose in there. He says he thinks it might be a form of Scoliosis. Whatever that is? He books me for an x-ray in the following two or three days later. I show up. Only, because this is a clinic and not a fully equipped hospital, they tell me the test can't be done here. I have to book an appointment with the hospital in the neighboring city. The lady puts the paperwork through and tells me they will MAIL me my appointment date. So that's where I'm currently at, waiting patiently for the hospital to mail me my app. date, which seems to be taking FOREVER!

DEC. 27th, 2016

I finally get in to see my family doctor. Everyone says he's nice. He's South African, and doesn't frown on alternative medicine.

He likes all the meds I'm taking, but can't really do much for me (insomnia-wise) and can't really go any further without first some blood work. Here we go! *roll eyes* So, they check my blood, stool, and urine, for parasites, thyroid, blood sugar, and kidneys. Because it's New Year's, I can't get the results until the second week of 2017. This is where I finally start getting the sleep in, only because of the heating pad and pain meds. I guess I was jumping ahead earlier. Sorry, like I said... I should have been keeping a diary.

FINALLY, the results come in. The heating pad and pain meds treatment has lost it's potency. I feel like shit when I got to see the doc. I was feeling sick that morning so I took my water and crackers with me to see him. RIGHT THE MOMENT the doc walks in to the room, his eyes dart toward what I brought with me. I take note of that. He reads me my results, and basically tells me according to the blood work I'm in perfect health ... ...I'm waiting for the punch-line.

How can that be? I mean, LOOK AT ME? Although he never actually diagnoses me with anything, he strongly recommends that I get off gluten, dairy, and sugar. It's at this point he chooses to point toward the crackers I brought with me and says, "by the way, you know those have gluten in them don't you?" I felt like a complete moron. I had been making myself sick this whole time, and I didn't even realize how. Crackers and toast were all I was eating at the time.

By now, you're thinking this is going to have a happy ending after all? Yeah... that's what I thought too.

THE DIET

It wasn't easy, me being out of work, and too sick to go looking for a job. I was weak, and the only work I had been doing up to that point was orchard work, fruit picking, pruning, thinning, ect. Requires muscles which I no long had (have). I have been TRYING to get on social assistance, but it's increasingly more difficult here in Canada than you may think. I got shot down the first time cause I didn't meet the 2-year financial independence requirement. I'm currently working with someone to try and set up a second application.

Normally, I wouldn't be looking for a handout like that but because--as my family and I found out quite quickly--switching to an all gluten-free diet is quite COSTLY. MY GOD the shit is expensive. And my mom is recently out of work too (I'm living with my family currently, cut me some slack, the economy's not great in Canada) so she needs to find another job, but nobody will hire her because she's a senior citizen. Right now we're living off EI and Debit Card.

SIDE EFFECTS:
-I experienced an explainable rash in a very private area. The doctor told me it was folliculitis, and unrelated to my diet change. I later went to one of the local pharmacists and asked her opinion and she disagreed. We had a long in-depth discussion about the benefits of coconut oil. I started taking some cause I heard it was a great omega. And I read on the internet that this is something people on gluten-free diets need because it lubricates the bowels. (I know I know, gross right? Trust me, this is info I didn't want to know, but the experts say it's necessary because all the fiber is in the bread.)
-Here's where it gets SCARY! I ended up taking too much of the coconut oil (and Vital Greens in the morning) and I lost a 'dangerous' amount of weight. With no upper body muscle mass to even it out my family has recently become very worried for me. My ribs are showing and my chest fat is very thin. It's disturbing, and I nightmare I wake up to daily.

HOW IT STARTED

First, came the stomach cramps. I thought I had eaten a 'bad sandwich' because I had had Subway earlier that day. When I went to the bathroom it felt like having to pass a sword. EXCRUCIATING! I decided to take it easy on what I was eating to see if the problem would clear itself up. It usually does.

It didn't.

It got worse. Now, I was really beginning to think I may have picked up a bug or something. I stopped eating really heavy foods, like dairy, meat, and mainly just focused on things like crackers and toast. Wait, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, I wish I kept a diary of this whole ordeal? At some point that became my main diet, because it seemed like the only thing that would settle my stomach. I started experiencing 'biblically' epic acid-reflux, in particular whenever I laid flat on my back at night. I tossed. I turned. And then the INSOMNIA started.

I started staying up, or trying to sleep sitting up, nothing worked. And this caused me a great deal of stress. At one point I was so stressed out about not sleeping I ended up suffering a panic attack and was forced to call the paramedics cause I was afraid of suffering a stroke. They came to the house, and they talked to me, but didn't see any immediate concern that they should rush me to the hospital.
-I should mention at this point that I live in a small secluded town, that doesn't possess a hospital. The nearest one is a 45 min. drive into the next city over.

I was 'mortified' about becoming a hypochondriac, I STILL AM, but I'm the cautious type, it's the way I was raised, and figured it was best to get medical advice NOW, rather than be the guy on the news who the reporters say, "if only he had sought medical attention, sooner." So I tried to book an appointment to see my family doctor the following day or two later, but since it was Christmas, the nearest appointment couldn't be booked until Dec. 27. That was like five or six days away at the time. I kept telling everyone, "there's NO WAY I'm gonna make that, I'll be dead before then." And I nearly didn't make it, my insomnia got so bad that I up for almost 48 hours. FINALLY got about 15 min. of sleep just before the appointment, and BOY did it feel AWESOME!!

OTHER SYMPTOMS:
-I had been experiencing stomach cramps as I said. People have asked me to describe it, I told them, "it feels like a bowling balls, rolling around in my guts!" Very tight, very painful. Felt better when I laid down, but then the nausea starts.
-Gurgling in my stomach and/or intestines, that's so loud, and disruptive, it keeps me awake. This is whenever I lay down.
-Spontaneously, my bowling ball symptoms would go away from time to time, and whenever it did, the diarrhea would begin. It would last a RIDICULOUS amount of time, by that I mean I had to keep going back and forth to the bathroom--hope nobody else had any plans?

SELF-TREATMENTS:
-Although I never really experienced pain in my bones of any kind (at the time) what's strange is that when waiting to get in to see the doctor, the only things that seemed to work were Recovery and Fast Pain-Relief I took as a muscle relaxant. (Although after a while, this stuff started to lose it's potency.) And I would use a heating pad when I sat or laid down. First, I would treat my lower back, then I would later notice using it on the UPPER back seemed to be what helped me finally get some sleep. I was sleeping at irregular hours. Would go to bed around 6 or 7 in the evening, and wake up around midnight or 1 in the morning, if I was lucky, 3 am.
-For the nausea. I found that using Ginger, or Dr. Bell's Indigestion Tea seemed to work the best. I was also taking Probiotics, and that seemed to work the fastest, without making me constipated.
-In the morning I would take Serrapeptase to clean my blood out.
-I take Oil of Oregano before bed, as an anti-viral.
-And at one point, where the possibility of gall stones became likely, I was taking Apple Cider Vinegar, in hopes of dissolving them.

***

Yeah I know, just wait... it gets worse.

DEC. 13th, 2016

Actually, I can't be certain that's when this all began, but it was around that time. During this period a lot of things were happening in my personal life, that may or may not have attributed to what's happening to me now. I will list them as I go along.

-The reason I recall Dec. 13, is because I remember a very specific Tuesday the 13th. See, right around the time I started getting sick, at the exact same time I was dealing with a family crisis. My cat, Georgette, caught a serious case of 'fleas' and it ended up killing her. She died very close to Christmas and I remember I didn't even get proper time to grieve about it because I got sick RIGHT AWAY after it happened. Although it was a devastating loss, she was my best friend and would often rest on my lap or sleep near my head in bed with me. (This may or may not become relevant as you read further).