the poop happens world we live in thread 2XXX

[Maxpphire]

Also terrible nausea is now a symptom. Roommate suggested that I drink water in tiny sips every five minutes or so to "massage the intestines" and water is making me feel like I'm going to vomit.

Uhg, it hasn't gotten worse, but it still exists. I might try waiting out the 11 days to my doctors appointment (it is with a GI doctor. I was told at the hospital a couple months ago that feeling any kind of back pain along with the stomach pain is bad, so I'll just tell him about it.), but if it gets worse then hospital time. Unfortunately, even with insurance a hospital trip it like $60, specialty doctors visit is only $35. I don't really have that kind of money right now because I need to get my car roadworthy, and while my health is more important then that, I'd much rather only pay $35 rather then $95 in medical bills this month.

[Kriven]

Now I can be marveled by it and not hide behind a couch

[PatientZero]

Also terrible nausea is now a symptom. Roommate suggested that I drink water in tiny sips every five minutes or so to "massage the intestines" and water is making me feel like I'm going to vomit.

Uhg, it hasn't gotten worse, but it still exists. I might try waiting out the 11 days to my doctors appointment (it is with a GI doctor. I was told at the hospital a couple months ago that feeling any kind of back pain along with the stomach pain is bad, so I'll just tell him about it.), but if it gets worse then hospital time. Unfortunately, even with insurance a hospital trip it like $60, specialty doctors visit is only $35. I don't really have that kind of money right now because I need to get my car roadworthy, and while my health is more important then that, I'd much rather only pay $35 rather then $95 in medical bills this month.

Ok, I'm not entirely sure where to start here, but I feel like I should apologize to everyone that I seem to be basically stealing this thread for playing doctor, I hope I'm not getting too annoying for the healthy folks around these parts.

That said, I can see what your roommate is thinking, but really sipping water like that is only recommended if you're actually vomiting, otherwise it's better to just drink like you normally would.
(for vomiting it's good because you need to keep fluids down, and sipping water usually doesn't set it off.)

Now, I'm loathe to say this but it looks like I'm just gonna have to give it to you straight, please remember that on paper I'm still leaning on "you're going to be fine" but if you're putting off getting examined you should be aware of the possibilities.

Right, the symptoms I'm going by are nausea and gradually escalating lower-left abdominal/back pain.
Aside from cramp, strain or other muscular injury, the lower-left side has some specific organs that could be in trouble, with conditions ranging from "temporarily uncomfortable" to "permanently fatal".
Without digging into research, it could be a bowel obstruction, blockage or inflammation, a hernia, appendicitis, an aneurysm, bowel or kidney abscesses, bowel cancer, or kidney stones.
And unfortunately because of some more gender-specific organs, there's also the possibility of ovarian cysts, twists, ruptures, cancers, or even an ectopic pregnancy.

Again, I'm not trying to scare you and I'm not even close to being qualified enough to diagnose anything for certain, but since you haven't seen a doctor already it tells me you should at least know why you should get examined to rule out the possibilities.

[Garamonde]

No we (or at least I) enjoy reading your medical summaries!

[Kami]

I'm sad since money issues prevented me from going to otakon this summer.

[Marth]

My mother is just generally a miserable, horrible, and impossible person to deal with anymore.

Please mom, leave.

[alexmach1]

just helped replace the refrigerator, and only 3 words come to mind when I think about it
mummified mouse babies

[Gwen]

just helped replace the refrigerator, and only 3 words come to mind when I think about it
mummified mouse babies

A friend just explained this to me.

[Vipershark]

My mother brother is just generally a miserable, horrible, and impossible person to deal with anymore.

Please mom brother, leave.

[Rosencrantz]

That feel when there will never be awesome robots like Megaman.

As someone whose college department has an active robotics field










aw fuck who am I kidding I'm a structures guy

[Sol]

every day I just entertain the idea of walking out the door and disappearing more and more

[Kami]

FUUUUUUU! stupid Second year classes that are really freaken far away. Now my foot's all dried up, white, and wrinkly because of the distance I'm stuck walking. It seems all of my skin on the bottom on my foot is completely dead. My foot fucking hurts right now. And the fucking rain, it made it worse since it waterloged my shoes making my foot worse by making my socks stick too my shoes and my feet to my socks.

[Maxpphire]

Honestly PZ, all those things have been running through my mind, so you're not scaring me more then I've already done to myself.

Pain has been gone and been feeling better since midnightish. I kinda don't even know what my body is doing anymore asdfghjkl.

[Devicho]

hahahahahahajustkillme
I already hate, hate fuckinghate babysitting, it is causing me stress to the point where I seriously have been feeling physically unwell for weeks because of it, and then I suddenly get a nice "Hey my boyfriend is moving in, how about we move the baby's bed into your room!!" so that I can be the one to have to deal with her dad dropping her off at 5-6 am and having to hope to god she doesn't want to stay up from then because my mom will be starting a night job and won't be home at 5-6. Oh speaking of the night job of hers, her schedule won't be consistent which means unless she can work shit out I have no way at all of planning anything for work, so how the fuck am I going to work? My general manager plans schedules in advance and NOBODY ever covers for me.

Mom I'm going to kill myself someday I hope that cleaning my blood out of the carpet doesn't inconvenience you too much since I know how you hate stains.

[PatientZero]

Honestly PZ, all those things have been running through my mind, so you're not scaring me more then I've already done to myself.

Pain has been gone and been feeling better since midnightish. I kinda don't even know what my body is doing anymore asdfghjkl.

Decreasing pain is a very good sign, assuming it wasn't a sudden relief and doesn't involve any numbness, that rules out a lot of the more serious worries.
(Feel free to have a nice big sigh of relief, I know that always makes me feel better)

I hope you don't mind but I had a short consult with a friend of mine who also has a head for medicine, didn't name any names or anything else identifying, but the outcome was that the back pain could be just be a knock-on effect of the stomach pain.
It sounds counter-intuitive at first, but essentially if your stomach hurts you'll naturally be putting more strain on your back, which won't be doing it any favours, and because your back hurts you'll rely more on your stomach muscles, then they'll start to hurt, and so on.

Since we know you have stomach ulcers, let's assume that's the cause of everything and see if we can't at least get you a little relief and a chance for some sleep if nothing else.

Unfortunately there is no obvious course of action, but there are always a few tricks up my sleeve.
(I'm actually not wearing any sleeves but hopefully that shouldn't make it any less effective.)
First and foremost, I'm not sure about your personal drugs of choice, but you're going to want to avoid smoking (as much as is realistic), drinking alcohol, eating spicy foods, dairy products (milk, cheese, etc), and sadly, caffeine.
That last one sucks a lot and I'm sorry.

Next, and this is where the magic happens, you need antacids.
An ulcer is like an open sore, it can be aggravated by various substances, but I don't think I need to tell you that stomach acid on an open sore is not a happy time.
There are various antacids you can get over the counter, but you should be aware they can have side effects, the ones you need to look out for are the ones that contain aluminium (can cause constipation) and ones that contain Magnesium (can cause diarrhoea).
If you do a little bit of logical thinking, it doesn't take a great mind to see that your best bet would be to alternate between them.
There are also H2 blockers which you can get and do the job much better, but you need a prescription for those so we'll ignore those for now.

Ok, everybody brace yourselves, I'm going to break out the cane and take some vicodin for this one.
Peptic ulcers can be caused by a bacteria known as H.pylori, which almost everyone will have swimming around inside them, most of the time it's no big thing but in some unlucky people it burrows into the stomach or intestinal lining and causes ulcers.
Luckily there is a magical substance called bismuth subsalicylate, which not only coats stomach ulcers and shields them from stomach acid, but also kills H.pylori, unfortunately as you can imagine with it being that good, it's only available to highly qualified medical researchers and specially trained doctors.

Oh no wait I lied. It's Pepto-Bismol, go and find some and get it in you.

Interestingly enough, if peptic ulcers are the root of the problem, aside from prescribing you antibiotics a doctor will most likely give you more-or-less the same advice, just follow the dosage instructions on any medication you take and you'll be fine, and it won't mess up any future treatment if you're worried about that.
(actually in reality you'll be cutting some time off the treatment by getting a jump on it, hurrah)

So in summary, watch your diet, take antacids, Pepto-Bismol is your friend. Hopefully you can enjoy a good nights sleep and some relief from the pain and nausea, I imagine you could do with it.