Cross Post: Internal Hernia? What Should I Do?

 Most of you here know my story, but not everyone, so I tried to be as thorough as I can and explain myself as succinctly as I can. I don't think I'm very good at that. 

So...for those of you who don't know, I had RNY in November of 2005. I spent two years researching this surgery, talking to people, praying about it, fighting for insurance approval, etc., before taking the plunge. I really thought I knew what I was getting into. I knew nothing about reactive hypoglycemia and the possibility of an internal hernia. I just never heard of those things. I had a great surgeon, but he had little to no aftercare set up for his patients. And in his defense, I didn't seek out his help much after my surgery. I felt my PCP could do the job just as well. 

Well, about four years out, I began to have trouble with low blood pressure and wicked blood sugar crashes and terrible, terrible weakness and fatigue. I went to my doctor and we decided that my problem was adrenal insufficiency and he put me on steroids. 

Three weeks later I learned that my insurance dropped my PCP of twelve years.  I was referred to a new PCP who, to be honest, was an asshole. I spent months trying to find a new doctor, but no one knew what to do with me (I was having some trouble with nutrition and my hypothyroidism as well. Long story), and I kept getting told to see other specialists. 

So here I was, sick, no doctor, had no clue what was going on with me, and I was making my own medical decisions, which was stupid, stupid, stupid. I kept asking for more steroid prescriptions and for higher doses. At one point I was taking 70 mgs of hydrocortisone! A normal dosage is around 15 mgs, I think. I know, I know. This was bad. Believe me, I'm paying for it. 

With me so far? Good. Don't worry, I'm almost done with my sad tale.

Ok, so the steroid did some nasty things to me. My teeth began rotting like crazy (As you know, we don't absorb calcium well and steroids interfere with calcium absorption. Double whammy.), I was feverish and sick all the time (Steroids lower the immune system as well), and I ended up having to pull almost all of my bottom teeth, they were so rotten. Hey, it was my teeth or my health. I chose my health. 

I finally weaned myself off the steroid last April. I was on the steroid from May of 2009 to last April. Two years of that sh*t. It took me the better part of a year to get off them. Going cold turkey is dangerous, I had to wean slowly. 

But I think I have another problem that may or may not be related to the steroid. Steroids thin the skin, right? For awhile there, my skin was so thin that it was cracking and splitting in the folds of my body...umm, like under my boobs, for instance. Ouch. And the thinning of the skin doesn't just apply to the outer body, it affects internal organs as well. So I'm wondering if the steroid weakened the suture areas inside my body. Does that make sense? Like maybe the mesentery area was weakened and I'm experiencing an internal hernia? Maybe the hernia comes and goes? 

For the past two or three months I've had stomach pain, episodes of constipation (like for almost a week at a time) with painful bloating to the point I look pregnant, then it's as if something breaks free and I have frequent, loose, BMs where there is A LOT of stool (sorry, that's gross, I know). Then the cycle starts up again. 

As time has gone by, things have gotten worse. I have pain when I eat now. I have sharp pain intermittently under my left ribs and it hurts when I breathe. I'm nauseated much of the time. I'm still having the bloating constipation cycle that I mentioned above. But the pain is more frequent now and eating hurts, like I said (that worries me). I went to the ER twice. On my last visit they did a CT with contrast, but couldn't find anything. I had an endoscopy done last Thursday, looking for ulcers. No ulcers. My surgeon wants copies of my CT scan–he said he knows what to look for–and he mentioned doing exploratory surgery to look for a hernia. Ugh. 

I'm worried about this. Do my symptoms sound like an internal hernia? Anyone with experience with this? 

I absolutely do not want to go under the knife unless it's for a revision to a DS procedure. Know what I mean? I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired. 

I'd like to mention too that my blood pressure is up and down, mostly down, and I'm on Florinef for it. It helps somewhat but it's sort of a steroid. And that scares me. Also, I have unexplained tachycardia and my ears ring in time with my heartbeat. It's all so weird. 

For those of you on the DS board, turns out I don't have cardiovascular disease, just in case you were wondering. Apparently my tachycardia is related to swinging blood pressure. Whatever.

Anyway, thanks in advance for your help and once again, sorry it's so long.

Lynda

 Mainly I'd like to learn of other's experiences. I learn best that way. 

I searched the Internet, but not much out there. And what I did find was overly technical and geared towards doctors, not patients. That's why I decided to come here. 

Thanks again!

Lynda

Why haven't you gotten a DS yet?

Why haven't I had my DS yet? I've been fighting my health issues. Also, and I'm embarrassed to admit this, we are losing our home. 

We built our home in 2003 and at the time, we were doing well financially. Then, in 2006, my husband's company began outsourcing their work to India, and he and dozens of his coworkers were laid off. He found a new job a few months later, but was forced to take a large pay cut. The truth is, my husband was earning much more than what is standard in our area for his profession (he's a technical writer). There was just no way we could find a job that paid what his old job paid. I was working though, so we got by. 

But then I got laid off...then I got sick...and the medical bills piled up. We tried modifying our mortgage with our bank, but that was a disaster. Things have finally gotten to the point where we have decided to file bankruptcy and surrender the house as part of it. It sucks. Filing bankruptcy is going to nuke our credit. And it will be another three years before we can even hope of getting another mortgage. Believe it or not, two years ago our credit rating was 775. Hah, not anymore. 

And you know what else? We owe fifty seven thousand dollars more on the house than what it's worth! What the eff is going on in this country??

So now we get to be renters again. Ugh. And we have no idea how long we can stay in the house. Right now, we're living rent-free, which is cool–it allows us to sock some money away–but we're kind of in limbo. It's hard for me to make any solid plans regarding my surgery right now since we don't know what the future holds. 

Oh, and Dr. Simper wants me to go on a retarded three to six month diet to prove that I'm not a f*ck up. Or something like that.

Well, I bet you didn't expect to hear my whole life story as part of your answer, did you? I have a problem with keeping things short and sweet. Hell, I can talk to a fence post and keep myself entertained!

For what it's worth,

Lynda

I'm in the same situation with my house.  I've been dealing with it since 2008.

Does your insurance cover you to get a DS currently?  Would your health problems be solved if you got one?

Have you consulted with a good reviision/ DS surgeon and discussed this all with them? That might be best as I doubt anyone's guesses here are going to be of much help to self diagnose your internal pains & what you think might be happening. I know  a few people who do that sort of thing with their health and I have seen them get in trouble trying to figure it out themselves or by just  reading. That is just my thoughts on this . .

 I was just hoping that someone would come forward and say, "Yeah, I had those same symptoms, and here's what happened to me." Everything I've read about internal hernia is so vague where symptoms are concerned.

Something is up, I know that. I don't know what's wrong but I know something's going on. Why do my ears ring constantly in time with my heart? Why does my heart beat too fast? Why am I so fatigued all the time and why the pain when I eat or drink anything? I think I've fixed the dental issues, but there are more things I have to fix. Coming here was part of the process of getting fixed. 

I'm making an appt with my surgeon tomorrow and I'll just go from there. 

So, zuzupetals, how the heck are you, anyway?

Lynda

That constipation/bloating then having a break through moment is something I have gone through.  It was bacterial overgrowth.  Have you tried a course of antibiotics?

Kayla,

Which antibiotics did you take for your bacterial overgrowth?  

Flagyl worked the best.

I also tried rifaximin which only helped somewhat.