further adventures in medicine
Aug. 11th, 2010 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianYesterday afternoon and this morning I had pain bad enough that I started taking leftover Percocet, and it felt a lot like the same problem that sent me to the ER in June.
Unfortunately, I also have my traditional bad menstrual cramps. It was hard to tell the difference, but the ibuprofen I've been trying for cramps wasn't doing much for this pain, and the pain felt sharper. When it was still bad enough this morning that I really wouldn't have gotten up if not for several experiments that urgently needed attention, I called the doctor and got an appointment even though the only one available conflicted with lab meeting.
I was at the lab all morning and reasonably content though uncomfortable on my 600mg ibuprofen and one oxycodone, then went to my GP. He flailed a bit and got me immediate blood and urine tests, I think hoping that my white blood cell count would be high and we'd just have a recurrence of the previous diagnosis of infection. It came back within half an hour, so I'd just gotten home when he called to say my white count was 10500 and normal is up to 10800. He wanted me to get an abdominal CT anyway.
But, you may recall, I had an abdominal CT before. Apparently that one didn't allow visualization inside the GI tract, since I'd only had injected contrast, and he wanted more info. I called the imaging lab to schedule and got a bizarre message saying that they'd turned off their phones for administrative reasons (?) and would turn them back on in half an hour, but I could leave a message. I did so, then dozed on the couch until almost 6pm. No call back. I called back and they then said to come right in, so I did.
I checked in and was confronted with a liter of pink stuff to drink. It wasn't as bad as I feared, though of course it palled fairly rapidly. Think of the most boring lemonade ever and you'll have the general idea. I drank it over the course of an hour, as ordered, got my CT scan with the injectable contrast too, and waited a while with the IV still in for the verdict.
The radiologist figures my intestines are fine, which I guess is good news. They now claim I have a hemorrhagic ovarian cyst on the right (though most of the pain's still on the left) and need to see a gynecologist tomorrow. I am extremely skeptical, though it's true that the time I had the worst pain during my ER adventure was when they were poking my left ovary, so there could be some kind of chronic cyst-proneness issue in both ovaries? The doc was quizzing me about endometriosis symptoms, but I don't think I have that at all, and I tend to think the ultrasound in June would've picked it up if I did.
I guess something is probably up, but frankly my current front-running hypothesis is that there was an isolated weird incident in June and all problems since then have been caused by my system not liking large doses of ibuprofen. On the other hand, my periods have always been awful and if treatment for this putative problem might also abate the cramps, I am for it. We'll see what this gyno has to say, hopefully tomorrow.
Unfortunately, I also have my traditional bad menstrual cramps. It was hard to tell the difference, but the ibuprofen I've been trying for cramps wasn't doing much for this pain, and the pain felt sharper. When it was still bad enough this morning that I really wouldn't have gotten up if not for several experiments that urgently needed attention, I called the doctor and got an appointment even though the only one available conflicted with lab meeting.
I was at the lab all morning and reasonably content though uncomfortable on my 600mg ibuprofen and one oxycodone, then went to my GP. He flailed a bit and got me immediate blood and urine tests, I think hoping that my white blood cell count would be high and we'd just have a recurrence of the previous diagnosis of infection. It came back within half an hour, so I'd just gotten home when he called to say my white count was 10500 and normal is up to 10800. He wanted me to get an abdominal CT anyway.
But, you may recall, I had an abdominal CT before. Apparently that one didn't allow visualization inside the GI tract, since I'd only had injected contrast, and he wanted more info. I called the imaging lab to schedule and got a bizarre message saying that they'd turned off their phones for administrative reasons (?) and would turn them back on in half an hour, but I could leave a message. I did so, then dozed on the couch until almost 6pm. No call back. I called back and they then said to come right in, so I did.
I checked in and was confronted with a liter of pink stuff to drink. It wasn't as bad as I feared, though of course it palled fairly rapidly. Think of the most boring lemonade ever and you'll have the general idea. I drank it over the course of an hour, as ordered, got my CT scan with the injectable contrast too, and waited a while with the IV still in for the verdict.
The radiologist figures my intestines are fine, which I guess is good news. They now claim I have a hemorrhagic ovarian cyst on the right (though most of the pain's still on the left) and need to see a gynecologist tomorrow. I am extremely skeptical, though it's true that the time I had the worst pain during my ER adventure was when they were poking my left ovary, so there could be some kind of chronic cyst-proneness issue in both ovaries? The doc was quizzing me about endometriosis symptoms, but I don't think I have that at all, and I tend to think the ultrasound in June would've picked it up if I did.
I guess something is probably up, but frankly my current front-running hypothesis is that there was an isolated weird incident in June and all problems since then have been caused by my system not liking large doses of ibuprofen. On the other hand, my periods have always been awful and if treatment for this putative problem might also abate the cramps, I am for it. We'll see what this gyno has to say, hopefully tomorrow.
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oh and also
Date: 2010-08-12 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 06:59 am (UTC)May be worth asking the doctor whether there is any reason you can't take Buscopan (http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100000395.html). It's an antispasmodic, sold over the counter as an IBS treatment - but it is AWESOME for gallstones and also for period cramps! I discovered its use for period pain by accident by talking to a pharmacist at BiCon - it's certainly not well labelled for this use.
May also be worth asking the doctor for an NSAID other than ibuprofen? Possibly mefenamic acid (http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100002100.html), which is supposedly THE BEST for menstrual cramps.