Tag Archives: gas

Is My Tummy Ever Going to Be Normal Again?

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I started this blog to keep track of everything that was going on with what turned out to be a diagnosis of Peripheral Neuropathy and Parkinson’s Disease. Once the PD diagnosis was made, the Neurologist seemed to basically ignore the PN diagnosis. Since I can’t really tell that I’m not feeling things as well on my right side, that’s OK with me, as long as I can walk normally. And I can say, that as long as I’m faithful to take my PD meds, I am walking normally enough to appear to be symptom free to the uneducated eye.

So, what’s the problem? It has been, and continues to be, my digestive system. As I sit here writing this, my stomach feels like I have some kind of heavy weight in it, and there’s the feeling of a lump all the way up to my throat. I’ve had good days, usually several in a row, but I’ve had more bad days than good since I started taking the PD meds. Since I do have good days, I keep trying to find a pattern, something I’m doing right, or wrong, that will give me some clues as to how to avoid this bloated uncomfortable feeling. But I can’t find a pattern at all. It’s very frustrating to go to the doctor, and they start asking all of their neat little questions, and you can’t give them any neat little answers!

OK, I’ve whined long enough. This is turning into a major problem for me, as I’m losing weight rather rapidly, simply because I don’t feel like eating. I have a Gastroenterologist appointment on the 20th, and hopefully by then I’ll have something to tell him besides it feels like a weight and a lump!

One More Thing I Can’t Eat Any More :(

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I really like well made pork and beans, and we had some good ones for Thanksgiving. I wasn’t able to enjoy them on Thanksgiving Day, because my stomach was really giving me a hard time, with lots of cramping and pain. But I’ve tried several times since, while eating the left-overs, to take just a small amount of the beans, after being careful to take a BEANO tablet first. It didn’t do any good. Almost as soon as the beans hit my stomach, the cramping would start. Since I enjoy eating them so much, I’ve tried it again today, but the results were the same. So, that’s one more thing I can’t eat.

It wouldn’t surprise you that I’m losing weight, would it? After all, most of the things I really enjoy eating are now off limits, not because somebody just told me to quit eating them (which would never work), but because they make me sick. That’s a pretty good incentive to do without some of my all time favorites, like milkshakes and chocolate … sigh. These were always my comfort foods, and now I can’t eat them at all. Bummer.

Of course, I really do need to lose the weight, so I shouldn’t be upset. But I really would love to have a thick chocolate shake about now. I can dream about one, anyway, right?

If we lived near Birmingham, I’d try some Soy chocolate ice cream, but we don’t, so that’s not an option. The next time we go to the doctor I’m definitely getting some, though. That’s a promise to me!

Life’s Unexpected Turns

Day by Day with a Movement Disorder Posted on by 2

This has certainly been a strange last couple of days for me. It started with my laptop suddenly getting the dreaded Blue Screen of Death over and over, for no apparent reason, right before Thanksgiving. We had all the family coming for dinner, and that meant moving all the eBay stuff out of the guest bedroom, so the grandkids could spend the night. That meant there was no time to work on the ole ‘puter, so I had my first taste of computer withdrawal LOL.

I behaved myself, and only worked on the computer in between housework, as I found out very quickly that I have no stamina at all. I used to be able to move all the stuff quite easily, dust and vacuum, and generally straighten the house with no trouble, but not any more. It seemed like I needed to sit down every few minutes and catch my breath. Thank goodness my dear hubby was doing all he could to straighten up the place, and of course he did all the shopping.

Our family helped out a lot on Thanksgiving, instead of just coming and sitting down to the meal, the way they always have before. Our SIL cooked the turkey, and our daughters took care of the deserts, so DH fixed the vegetables, and I didn’t have to do anything. It’s just as well, as I woke up with those bad stomach cramps and the bloating again on Thanksgiving Day. I spent most of the day with a hot pad on my tummy, ate almost nothing at lunch, but did enjoy having everybody here. Daddy ate almost nothing, and no amount of prodding would get another bite in him. The kids were particularly good this year, as they stayed quiet all day. I asked DD if she had threatened them within an inch of their lives, but she said she hadn’t said a thing to them. So they hadn’t made Daddy nervous, as they sometimes do with their playful noise, so it didn’t make sense that he wasn’t eating.

We had a wonderful time enjoying getting to visit with everybody all at once, particularly since our older daughter and her hubby will be with his parents for Christmas this year. Younger daughter and the girls spent the night and didn’t go home until Friday afternoon, so we did get on our other laptop and do some Wishlist shopping for the girls, so I’ll have some things to pick from that they really want.

After such a pleasant day and a half, even with my stomach cramping, our whole world turned upside down when I got up to Daddy’s to fix his supper Friday evening. I found him in the living room floor, conscious, but unable to get out of the floor. He was not hurt, evidently, and doesn’t remember falling, but he’d been on the floor most of the day. Mind you, he has one of those “I’ve Fallen, and I Can’t Get Up” buttons in his shirt pockets, but he wouldn’t use it! I’ve never been able to get him to use it. No matter how many times I explain it to him, he thinks it’s going to call an ambulance and take him to the hospital. But I have it set to call us, and then a neighbor, and only call the EMT’s as a last resort.

So I called my DH, and he all but ran up there, and got him out of the floor, by the hardest. He was very weak, as he had not eaten since breakfast, and he’s diabetic. We got some juice and a banana into him, and soon realized that he must have had a mild stroke, as his speech was slurred.

So, I’ve been taking care of him now for the last few days. He seems to be getting stronger, and his appetite is improving. His speech is still slurred and I’m being really careful to feed him thick foods like oatmeal, so he won’t choke. I’m not sure what we will do today. It would be extremely difficult to take him to the doctor, and I’m not so sure it would accomplish anything if we did.

As for me, I can really tell the stress has put a strain on my Parkinson’s meds. My balance is poor, because I’m really tired, and my back is bothering me from trying to help him stand up. Luckily, I’ve had lots of practice at care giving, and I do know the correct way to do things, body mechanics wise.

Daddy will be 102 in March, so it’s going to be very difficult for him to recover from whatever happened Friday. He wants to stay home, and I want to be able to help him do that if it’s at all possible. If I could be fairly certain that taking him to the doctor would get us some Hospice help, then it would be worth the trouble of getting him in and out of the car and the doctor’s office.

Another Great Day!

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We had a wonderful Date Day yesterday, with beautiful Fall weather, and some really nice finds at a handful of garage/moving and Estate sales. Because of the direction we headed, DH didn’t have to deal with horrible Friday afternoon traffic when it was time to head home, like he usually does, so that made it even better.

We ate out at a buffet, so I was able to find plenty that I could eat, while he could get what he wanted. I’ve gotten in the habit of taking a couple of Beano caplets before I eat, anytime I even suspect that I’m going to eat something that might produce gas, and that seems to be helping, too. All and all, I seem to be settling into a pretty good idea of how to eat in such a way as to protect my stomach, as things have been pretty calm for several days now.

I wrote to the Ask the Doctor mailing list on the National Parkinson’s Foundation site last week, and my post showed up in the email today. It takes about a week between sending in a question and getting an answer, as these are practicing physicians, who take the time to answer the questions. I had asked the mailing list doctor if he could suggest any meds that I could take in patch form, to bypass my stomach.

The doctor suggested I try the form of Selegiline, called Zelepar, that dissolves under the tongue and bypasses the stomach, and also go back to Sinemet, with a larger dose of Lodocyn. According to him, Requip causes more nausea than Sinemet does. My Dr. S. had said he couldn’t promise that the Requip wouldn’t make me more nauseated, but that he wanted to give it a try.

So, for now, at least, I’ll stick to the Requip, but if the nausea and bloating start up again, I think I’ll make an appointment with the Neurologist for as soon as possible, and see what he says about the Parkinsons’s Foundation Doctor’s suggestion.

Blog Move Is Finished, More or Less

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I’ve been a very busy lady, working to turn the plain black and white template into what looks as much like what I had before as I possibly can. There’s bound to be something I’ve forgotten to do, but I’m sure I’ll realize it sooner or later ;).

I’ve been sitting very still at the computer pretty much all day for the last few days, as that’s the only way I can keep the nausea under control. I’ve had a bad headache, too, for the last few days. My neck and shoulder muscles have been so tight that I think that’s where the headache is coming from. I’m thinking the Requip dose may not be quite strong enough, but my stomach is not handling the dose I’m on now as well as I’d hoped.

I’ve sent off a description of my situation and my meds to ASK THE DOCTOR – National Parkinson Foundation to see what that doctor thinks would be the best course of action.

So I seem to go from a few good days to weeks of feeling not so good. I don’t know which doctor to call again, and that’s why I’ve written to the Ask the Doctor site, hoping they could give me some guidance.

PS. I just checked the blog with IE, and I see that it only has one column! I played around with the column width just for a moment, with no change at all. So that chore will have to wait for another day. Just bear with me, folks.

Still Puny Today

Day by Day with a Movement Disorder Posted on by 5

I wasn’t as sick today as I was yesterday evening, I don’t think, but I still felt pretty rotten today. I really didn’t feel like trying to go to church this morning, and we didn’t have the service at our church this evening, because it was the Fifth Sunday Singing. That rotates around among the churches in the area, and I wouldn’t have gone to that, anyway.

I’ve tried to do the research on the Internet today, to decide if it’s the Sinemet or the Requip doing it, since I got sick Saturday, after I had upped the dose of Requip on Friday. The dose is pretty good sized now, so it may be the Requip. That makes me think I need to call the Neurologist, rather than the Gastroenterologist, in the morning. I don’t think I can wait until my Thursday appointment. I’m losing weight awfully fast, because I’m really eating very little. I just don’t feel like putting anything in my stomach right now. It’s much too uncomfortable. And I’m getting weak again, too.

I’ll be glad when this whole medicine regimen is worked out, and my digestive system settles down!!

Oh, another side effect is definitely showing up. I’ve suspected it for some time, but now I’ve let enough time go by to be sure — I’m beginning to lose my hair. I wear it really short anyway, so it’s not going to be long before it’s noticeable on top. But this is a vanity issue, and doesn’t effect my ability to eat or move or anything important, so I can live with it, even though it would have been nice if this particular side effect had passed me by.

Why Is It Problems Always Worsen on Weekends?

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Well, if things don’t get dramatically better by Monday, I will definitely be calling the Gastroenterologist. I felt really good when I got up during the night to go to the bathroom, and I felt good when I got up this morning, too. But just as soon as I drank some water, my stomach immediately felt like it had a lead weight in it, and I felt yucky. I have no appetite at all, and I continue to belch a lot.

I’ve continued to feel awful all day. My stomach is very tender, and I’m extremely bloated. I look like I’m 6 months pregnant!! I’m wearing the biggest pair of pants I have, which should have all but fallen off of me, and they fit. So something is definitely wrong. Nature called this morning, so I don’t think that’s the problem.

It sure does seem like things like this choose the weekend to happen, doesn’t it?