Stop reading this post now if you get easily grossed out or simply do not want to know about a slightly gross medical issue I'm about to share with you (for the purposes of the few who do want to know)...
Saturday morning, 10 minutes before we were due to leave for Sherah's wedding, I was a little... um... "stopped up" we'll say.... After I was done going to the bathroom, I looked (you're always supposed to look just to make sure everything is normal) and I screamed, hollered at my husband, I'm freaking out, he came and helped me look to see if we could figure out why there was so much blood in the toilet when it shouldn't have been, and tried to get me to calm down. I had him run grab my birth control pack and sure enough, I was still a week and a half from the start of my period and given that I'm always regular, I wasn't confident that was the issue.
But I went ahead and prepared like it was my period, we spent some time looking up side effects of Lyrica but saw nothing that jumped out at us, talked about it some, gathered our stuff, and finally left about 20 minutes later (10 minutes past when we'd planned to). We debated about whether or not to swing by a convenient care center or try to call my doctor, but decided we didn't think it was anything that urgent so we went ahead to the wedding and reception and I kept an eye on things the entire day. Thankfully the wedding kept me distracted so it didn't weigh heavily on my mind until the ride home.
On the way home, about 5 or so hours later, I did call my doctor. After going into a lot of detail, she shared with me several thoughts on what it could be, but was pretty sure it sounded like a hemorrhoid. Tim had one of those last year, so we had also considered that a possibility, but it was still really freaky for me. Adding one more symptom or issue to my list was just not something I wanted right then.
Needless to say, and I'll save you all the details, the past few days have been quite uncomfortable (and uh, bloody). I believe this could all be related to Lyrica... my constipation only started after taking that (a few days into it) and the constipation and straining could have caused the hemorrhoids (but no way to really know for sure, and they want me to keep trying it... hopefully after a couple weeks the side effects will dull and the benefits of the drug will rise).
I did go to the doctor today, she examined me, and I have both an external AND internal hemorrhoid. UGH! And let me tell you, that was one very not fun exam. I keep thinking "this is just preparing me for when I have kids... I know it'll be much worse..." So anyway... more fiber, more water, bath soaks, and a prescription for suppositories. :( Blech. Sticking stuff up my butt for 14 nights is about the furthest thing from what I need right now. But I will do it and be good about it since if I don't it could result in bigger problems in the future. Colon problems run in my family, and I'm at risk for colon cancer, so I have to take care of it the best that I can.
I keep thinking that God is teaching me and molding me. I know he's allowed this for his purposes... whether that's to teach me something or someone else, I don't know but I pray that he'll use it to his glory. So as icky and not fun this is to hear or talk about, if it helps anyone then TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
Well, thank you for listening to me and putting up with the grossness of this post. It's one of those things you hear about and know some people go through, but you just don't ever really think it'll be you, so I wanted to share it really does happen to people like us!
1 comment:
Awww, poor thing. They are terrible I hope you feel better soon.
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