I’m in a long term battle with health issues that started when I was a teenager. Recently, I found a doctor that is taking me seriously and is trying to figure out what is happening in my body. This stemmed partially from a serious uptick in my episodes, and the fact that all of a sudden I am gaining weight like no other (30 lbs in about 8 months). So over the last several weeks I have done multiple tests to try to get to the bottom of this (pun intended…).

I started with a CBC and thyroid count to make sure that there was nothing glaring there. As usual, everything came back perfectly normal, even my A1C, which I was slightly worried about because of having gestational diabetes with my third pregnancy. Because those results were all normal, we moved onto my favorite (not at all) test, the fecal sample. This is one of the most demoralizing things ever, but it has become routine for me now. Basically, for those of you who don’t know, a fecal sample consists of a variety of things, but in my case they were trying to look for traces of blood in my stool, cholesterol traces in the stool, and any parasites or high levels of bacteria. This is probably the 15th time I have had to complete this kind of collection, so I am a pro now. The gist of it is that you have to catch your bowel movements over three days and collect small samples from each. It is pretty gross, but doable if you are prepared. I find the worst part to be when I have to return the samples and the poor lab people have to take a paper sac of poo from me.

Those results came back mostly normal. I always have a slightly high white cell count in my samples, which is indicative of inflammation of my bowels. One other thing that was interesting with the level of fat present in my samples. This is an indication that my body is not absorbing my nutrients properly. Again, this is pretty normal for me. But this can also indicate that my pancreas is not working properly, so that may be something we explore later on.

Because my results were pretty normal, my doctor decided to order an MRI to get a good look at everything. This of course meant going through my insurance, so I had to wait to hear back on it. In the meantime, my doc recommended that I try a new medication on the market. She had enough samples to get me through 6 weeks, which would give me a good idea if the meds were working. I started those immediately and had pretty great results. They lessened the episodes I was having, and they worked to take away some of the pain I experienced during an episode. Because of the meds, I was actually able to stop taking Immodium, which is pretty awesome. However, I was still having several episodes a week, which is both exhausting and frustrating.

My insurance company denied the request for an MRI, so the next step was to do a capsule study. This meant swallowing a “large vitamin sized” pill, which would take four photos per second of my digestive tract. This sounded ok to me so I started the prep to take the pill. This meant that two weeks prior to taking the camera pill, I would have to take a practice pill. I had to be on a full liquid diet for two days prior to taking the pill, and I had to be monitored via x ray to ensure that the pill had passed. It did within 24 hours, which was confirmed by an x ray. This meant that this week I got to take the camera pill.

Starting 5 days prior to the pill, I cut out all nuts, seeds, dyed foods, and several other things. This was to ensure that nothing in my digestive tract could be confused for affected tissue. Two days prior I went to a full liquid diet, and then the day prior I was on a clear liquid diet. I also had to complete a colonoscopy prep, which is one of the worst things ever. On the morning of taking the pill, I had to be at the office to get strapped up to a continuous monitor. Once that was complete, I was able to swallow the pill. This was the scariest part for me because it is seriously huge. It is honestly the size of a small tampon. But I was lucky and it went down easy. The monitor I had on had to be checked every 5 minutes to make sure it was still operating correctly, so I worked from home and checked and marked off a box every 15 minutes. 4 hours after taking the pill, I was allowed to eat a small meal, which was soooo good because I was terribly hungry. Then 8 hours after taking the pill, I returned to the doctors office, where they removed all the monitors. The pill is supposed to pass within 48 hours, and I have not “seen” it yet. There is a small chance that it can get stuck, so if for whatever reason it is not out after 48 hours, I will have to have another x ray.

So far I am hopeful, but I think that this will be similar to other testing I have had done where nothing groundbreaking is discovered. Either way, with this complete, the next step is to apply again with the insurance to have an MRI, and it is more likely to be granted now because this was the last step before moving onto an MRI. I would like to know that my pancreas is working properly, and that my digestive tract is either a total mess or is fine. I have resigned myself to the fact that this is my life and I will likely have to deal with it for the remainder of my time on earth, but a tiny glimmer of hope still shines somewhere in there. Hopefully I’ll have an update to share in the next few weeks.