Gasritis

So after the visit to the ER for the allergic reaction, my doctors put me on more meds to counter act. The Spinal doctor originally prescribed me Naproxen to help with the inflammation in my back. The dangers of this drug is not mixing any NSaids so no over the counter medication without doctor’s approval, no ibuprofen or Excedrin, nothing nada zip. If you forget to take with food, your body will cramp up. There are so many wonderful things to say about this one. The doctors figure that with the double dosage of steroids and the naproxen caused the next issue.
Almost a week later I just lost it at work. I was shaking and in so much pain, I decided to talk with my director and go out on medical leave. My Primary care doctor thought it was for the best as well, since the stress of the year end and peak season was not helping promote my healing process. The next morning, exactly a week to the day (from the last ER visit) I woke up with the worst stomach pain I have ever experienced. Words cannot describe this pain, all I know is that it was so bad I could not stand up straight, nor move that well. I hopped into the shower and made the decision to go to the hospital. I was extremely nauseous and I felt the pain was getting worse.

I was lucky to have the green light pass straight back to a room, no wait whatsoever. I had 3 nurses and a doctor working on me to get me set. After a CT scan to make sure it was not my appendix and lots of morphine later, they diagnosed me with Gastritis. Basically, my stomach lining is inflamed and there is room for concern of stomach ulcers or bleeding ulcers. They removed me from the naproxen and added a higher dosage of omeprazone, more Percocet and carafate. They also made me drink something called “GI Slider”; this is hands down the sickest thing I have ever drank! It consists of liquid lidocaine, Mylanta and Benadryl. It basically numbs the esophagus down to coat the stomach.

Once I was released, I met with my doctor the next day. We went over the FMLA and leave paperwork and plan of action to get better. At this point, I had cried so much and just was ready to be done with everything. I decided to make the trip home for Christmas a little bit earlier. I left the following day to head up to my parent’s house in Idaho. It was nice to take the 4 hours to just relax and go over everything in my mind. My parents agreed to help me out with my bills and give me a cabin to help me detox and get better.

Most doctors say that gastritis goes away in about 2 weeks. Once I came back to salt lake on the 27th, my doctor was concerned that my stomach was not getting better. Due to my financial issues, I decided to go back to work earlier than she would have wanted me to. She also referred me to Gastro doctor to see if they can find something else that could be wrong.