Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened to start me throwing up, it literally came out of nowhere... I was at work and felt absolutely fine, when it got to lunchtime I went and had my usual jacket potato and still felt absolutely fine but within half an hour of sitting back at my desk I was violently throwing up and was sent home by my boss.
Woke up next morning and felt absolutely fine again, so went back to work and picked up where I'd left off the previous day. Lunchtime came, I bought myself my normal jacket potato again and felt absolutely fine until about half an hour later again when I was violently blowing chunks again. My boss sent me home with strict instructions to see my GP and get signed off until I stopped throwing up.
My GP prescribed a week's worth of anti-emetics and they worked brilliantly, so I went back to work with my new prescription in my bag.
I was fine until I had my lunch and you'll never guess what happened lol I downed a couple of the anti-emetics and carried on working.
My work colleagues started to get concerned about me looking green and yet again my boss sent me home.
I was bored out of my tree watching day-time television so I asked Dr Google what it could be and how to stop being sick all the time. Dr Google said to try ginger as long as I wasn't pregnant, so I went back into town to get myself a pregnancy test and can of ginger beer. I did the pregnancy test while I was still in town and it was negative so I opened the ginger beer and nervously took a sip.
It didn't come back up for the first time in 3 days, so I took another sip which stayed down too... had Dr Google been right? Was ginger beer the answer to me being able to go back to work without chucking my guts up?
A lot of nausea and temporary relief using ginger beer (about 3-6 months I think, but could be wrong) later and I spotted an advert for food allergy testing in a health food shop in town. It was expensive at about £50 but maybe this was what was wrong with me? I went in, paid my last £50 in my account and booked my slot. When my appointment rolled around I went to it and was tested for something like 50-75 different foods. I was intollerent or allergic to everything except meat (I've been vegetarian since I was 12), soya, ginger, sugar and water. The nutritionist had never seen so many - she said that her previous highest had been about 35. I asked for some recipe ideas and she seriously struggled to come up with anything.
Went back downstairs and into the health food shop and stocked up on everything soya and ginger. The assistant asked if I'd found the food allergy testing useful and I laughed and explained that I'd be stocking up on ginger in a big way from now on. She suggested crystalised ginger to help with the nausea when I was feeling especially sick. I nervously grabbed their entire supply and paid for it all. It sent me overdrawn, but by that point I was willing to try anything to stop feeling sick and get back to work again.
I got home and nervously opened the first small packet of crystalised ginger.
Took a bite.
It didn't come back up.
By the time I'd finished the pack the nausea had completely disappeared.
I got straight on the phone to my GP and got an appointment to discuss the results of the test I'd had at the health food shop.
His response was that he "didn't believe in food allergies" and by this point I'd given up trying to get support from him so went searching for a different doctors surgery.
I spotted one and got straight on the phone to them.
Within a week I had a new doctor, support and an urgent referral to a Gastroenterologist. I'd lost my job by this point and the pretty much constant throwing up meant that I'd gone from size 10 to size 6. The appointment was a week later. I got poked and prodded and tested for pretty much everything under the sun and the Gastroenterologist even agreed to test me officially for food allergies.
I was too ill to leave the house soon after that, which must have been 2002 and I couldn't even get out of bed safely so had to rely on my hubby to empty sick, wee and poo down the toilet for me.
Fast forward to Christmas Day and I apparently insisted that the hubby spent the day with his family as a break from emptying out what my body was producing. He said that he came home at about 7pm to find me unconscious in bed and I'd wet myself too so he got straight on the phone to NHS Direct and explained my recent medical history, they sent the ambulance and I was rushed straight to the ICU.
Apparently by the time I got to the Neurology ward I was significantly psychotic so was tranquilised and put onto the maximum dose of anti-psychotics. I remember exactly nothing about it, but I left the hospital in mid-March 2003 with my current diagnosis including the dairy allergy and I've slowly been recovering ever since.
My leg problems started before I was rushed into hospital because my too-low weight meant that I just couldn't safely stay upright and I've never been right ever since. It just is what it is and I'm used to it now.
Bet you regret asking now, @MarilynL? lol
Amanda - a Fitbit Inspire user since 29th September 2019
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