Perhaps I should start by saying that my health has always been a bit of an issue. I had cancer (ganglioneuroblastoma) what I was 1 1/2 years old. When I was 12, I began having severe stomach cramps, hot flashes, etc. The doctors spent months telling my mom that it was "just stress" and later that I was "being a teenager" and making it up. Finally, my mom and I decided I had to have a bacterial infection or something. I had a stool culture done. I was told the results were negative, but after my mom called the lab they said they never had even done all the tests. They redid them and it turned out I had invasive serum group C Salmonella. I was hospitalized and put on IV meds which seemed to help.
Over the past winter, I began to notice that my abdomen was getting larger. I thought I must be getting fatter so I started to run on the treadmill. By the time spring came around I was able to jog 20 minutes at a time, several times a week. My abdomen seemed bigger. I started trying to eat healthier. I cut back on fats. By May I no longer ate lunch at school but instead waited until I could come home and have a healthier veggie burger (I have been a vegetarian for 6 1/2 years)
By June, it started to look like I was pregnant and I knew something was wrong. My doctor said to do more crunches. That didn't work. I had a upper and lower GI series done and was told the results were normal. I had been worried abou a tumor with my history. I had several series of bloodwork done which did not turn up much. I also had a cystogram and IVP done unrelated to my recent problems but my kideys were fine. I insisted to my doctor that something was wrong. She put me on a 1400 calorie diet, which I cut back to 1200 calories along with daily exercise. I weight 117 pounds and I am 5'3, but my abdomen is still protruding very noticeably. I had an abdominal ultrasound and CT scan done. The CT scan showed that my bladder was very full and my intestines were also very full even though I had been fasting. I never felt constipated and I have several small bowel movements each day, but I apparently was very constipated.
I went to a GI doctor who wanted to call it all irritable bowel syndrome, but I am not sure about this. I wanted a stool culture done. It came back normal also. Then, I had more bloodwork done and discovered that I have high cholesterol (250). This makes no sense since I am eating no more than 10 grams of fat a day, one or two of which might be saturated, and only a couple grams of cholesterol. I eat high fiber (and I have been on fiber supplements for IBS) and tons of veggies since I am a vegetarian. I drink water and other low/no calorie drinks and when I have milk it is skim milk. I only eat fat free cheese and egg beaters instead of eggs. I exercizse regularly, so why is my cholesterol 250???
My other symptoms include hot flashes, bloating (my abdomen is smaller now since I have been on Prevacid for a couple of weeks), intermitten nausea/dizziness, and either constipaion or diarrhea. My intestines are moving very slowly and when the doctors relooked at the GI series scans they saw that I had a lot in my intestines then too (after fasting for 12 hours before the scans). Saturdays are my splurge day for my diet. Two weeks ago I had pizza on Sat night for the first time in a couple of weeks. After one piece and some salad, I had a bad hot flash. My blood pressure went up and I started to have trouble breathing. My stomach was very distended. This past Sat. I had lasagnea for my splurge dinner and had very bad bloating and gas pains for several hours. I could breath okay as long as I kept walking to try to move things through. I tried giving myself an enema, but not much came out.
Does anybody have any ideas for what to do next or what could be wrong? I leave for college in 3 weeks and I have to try to resolve this before then! I will have no car or access to doctors/labs/etc when I go and I will be going out of state. Please help!!
Recent health issues
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