Sharyn Needs Info/Suggestions (LONG)

[Guest guest]

I need to pick y’all’s brains a bit. And I apologize ahead of time to those on both the HAWK and RawFoods lists for seeing this twice, but I’d really like both perspectives and in the interests of saving energy am just posting the same email to both lists. (And I thank you in advance for all your good thoughts so we don’t clog up the lists with those. You’re welcome to email me privately if you’d like.)

Last Monday night all was well. I made dinner (boneless, skinless chicken breasts marinated in shoyu, chopped scallions and ginger and steamed with broccoli and Brussels sprouts) and I had a glass of sake and my dh had a glass of red wine. I went to bed at 10:30pm, feeling fine. I awoke at 12:20pm with a blinding headache and everything in me coming out both ends. I originally thought it was a migraine (dh was still sleeping soundly, so not food poisoning) and resolved to see it through. I spent the night on the couch alternating with running to the bathroom. When the dh got up the next morning, I went back to bed, where I stayed until Thursday morning.

I could not eat or drink anything except water. We have good water at this house – a whole house carbon filter – so I wasn’t too concerned. I decided I would treat it as a forced choice water fast and let my system clean itself out. The water went down easy, but every time it did, it still came back out one end or the other. I knew my biggest danger was dehydration so just made sure to keep drinking all I could get in me.

By Thursday morning (Thanksgiving) I was feeling marginally better (I thought!) and, because my dh was beside himself with worry, changed my intake from plain water to fresh squeezed orange juice/water in a 1:3 to 2:3 ratio. I drank this all day Thursday. I continued to remain the same, though. Vomiting, diarrhea, headache (although by now down to a dull roar), and now I had a tight pain in my solar plexus/diaphragm area, both at the base of my breastbone and under the left breast.

Thursday night into Friday morning I continued to worsen. My chest was really hurting, I knew I was dehydrated, and by this time I had developed Restless Leg Syndrome (geez, how annoying is THAT?!?!?). When my dh awoke in the morning he hauled me bodily off to the ER, where I submitted to all sorts of indignities just to get an IV drip to replace the fluids I so badly needed.

So here’s my question. I’m still not well. I am no longer vomiting (unless I try to eat anything – I can only keep down clear tepid liquids; just the thought of solid food makes my throat close up), but I still have diarrhea and my chest still hurts. The ER diagnosed the chest as GERD. They also did a CAT scan of my head (I don’t have a brain tumor, but I turned down the dubious pleasure of a lumbar puncture, so am not sure that I’m not bleeding into my spinal column, but I don’t think so<G>). They also did an ulcer test, for the chest pain, which was negative. So I know what I don't have.

But I can’t eat. I don’t want to eat. It’s driving my dh crazy because it’s been almost a week since I’ve had any food in my system. And I don’t mind so much, but it would be nice to eat *something* at this point. Yesterday I did eat a ripe banana for breakfast, well chewed into liquid. I have bananas, dates and apples in the fridge (plus lots of fresh veggies, including some lovely celery). I have a full medicine cabinet, including Total Nutrition, Total Tonic, and a gazillion herbal and homeopathic remedies, tinctures, and teas. And anything you all can think of that I don’t have and need my dh will be more than happy to go out and get me.

As an aside (being a homeopath by nature, I believe the remedy picture is in the details), I’ve had the chest pain intermittently since a visit to Britain this past summer. In Cornwall I ate half a Cornish pasty (scrumptious but horribly unhealthy calzone-type thing with meat, potatoes and veggies), -- my mother ate the other half – and within a half hour the pain started. It was like that pasty was just lodged at the base of my breastbone and not going anywhere. I finally dissipated it with some soda (the bubbles helped move it along) and some clotted cream Cornish ice cream. I know, not the best of things, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. So I’m thinking this pain has something to do with the pasty. Not a parasite, because my mother ate half and she’s fine. But maybe an esophageal hernia or something? If so, what can I do for that, short of doctors and hospitals? The pain did go away in the ER when they gave me Maalox with lidocaine in it.

So…I’m open to suggestions. I’d like to be able to eat something. I’d like to get rid of the headache, diarrhea, and chest pain. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Sharyn

--

No virus found in this outgoing message.

Checked by AVG Free Edition.

Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.8/183 - Release Date: 11/25/2005