Well, in the last couple days I broke down due to the fatigue and overwhelm, and wound up eating some especially rich foods, and over-eating. And that was over-filling, but then when I took my antibiotics which are known for stomach upset (with a small snack), I started getting some severe abdominal pain in the upper middle abdomen below the ribs and the pain increased so badly during the night that I couldn't sleep. I found pepto bismol wasn't working, which is different than usual for me. Normally I do have occasional stomach pain and pepto bismol totally resolves it for me. No amount was working and only tylenol could get me to sleep.
The next day (today) it was still surprisingly severe pain, but it did calm down noticeably from the night before. I felt like I had a fever but I bought a thermometer and apparently no, I don't really have a fever. I felt weak, but it is true I have a number of reasons why I would feel weak right now especially if I'm overwhelmed by pain.
But regardless, this falls into a category of an alarming symptom. Although the food and antibiotics make it seem like it could just be gastronitestinal issues, it's also true it is one of the symptoms of sepsis, like say if the infection (the abscess) had gone septic. But I don't have other symptoms of sepsis like fainting, vomiting, chest pain, diarrhea or crazy stools. It's just I feel like such a train wreck.
The thing that interests me the most is that these kinds of symptoms, if they get worse, could mean a stomach ulcer. It could mean other issues like pancreas and liver too, but a part of me feels the stomach ulcer might explain a lot of my problems since May. My doctor is already on the search for internal bleeding which may have begun sooner than the recent ER visit and a part of me thinks the internal bleeding from a stomach ulcer could have been a factor all this time. But with an ulcer, you can't really know if you have it until the symptoms worsen. It can't be diagnosed just by symptoms at a lighter level. We will see.
Anyway, I've decided to discuss it with a nurse at 8-1-1 the free medical advice helpline. Just because I've never experienced this kind of abdominal / stomach pain anywhere near as badly as this before. And it's weird that it lasted so long. I've never experienced that. I'll update this post once I've talked to the nurse.
Update : I spoke to the nurse and sae said if I develop any nausea or fever / chills I should for sure go to the ER :( So far so good. I'm even feeling a little better after napping when I was waiting for an hour on hold.
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