Sunday, April 10, 2011

OUCH! Doctors Again...


Salaam alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh everyone, insh'Allah you're all doing well, and are in the best of health and the highest of iman! ^_^ So, as of Friday, my husband and I are back with the in-laws for a little bit. Alhamdolillah I'm happy about this because I was starting to feel quite lonely... Anyways, my stomach hasn't been feeling too well for a while now, but on Friday, the pain was absolutely excruciating. I woke up feeling nauseous, and with a mild headache, so I decided to take it easy and to just eat a bowl of plain rice for breakfast, thinking that I would feel better afterwards. Fast forward about an hour an a half later, my headache had turned into a full-blown migraine, and my stomach was feeling worse. As time progressed, I was convinced that not only was my head going to split open, but that my stomach was eating itself. This wasn't hunger pain...it was like I had swallowed fire, or some sort of really strong acid, and it was giving me the worst heart burn I have ever had. Alarmed, I called my husband at work and told him how I was feeling. He told me to try to hang on until he got off at 5pm, and he would bring me some medicine for my excruciating migraine (which was what was bothering me the most at that moment...I can deal with pretty much every type of pain except for migraines). A few hours later he called me again to ask how I was feeling, I told him I felt exactly the same, if not worse. He told me he would try to get off work early because he was worried about me (awww! What a sweetheart ^_^ <3) About thirty minutes later he arrived with my MIL at our appartment. By then I had managed to puke up all of the rice that I had eaten five or so hours before all over the floor next to our bed, and had found it strange that none of it was in the least bit digested. When my husband came into the room I immediatley appologized for the puke all over the floor (he didn't care <3), and he asked me how long ago I had eaten it. When I told him that it had been at least five hours, he also found it strange. He told me that we were going to go to stay with my in-laws so that I could go see a doctor the following morning to make sure everything was okay. When we got there, I took some medicine for my poor head, and alhamdolillah after a while my migraine felt better. My MIL made me some grapefruit juice, which normally I love, but with just one sip my heartburn and the fiery pain in my stomach doubled. After that she gave me some syrup that she uses to help her sleep, and I managed to get some rest. The following day I went to the doctors early with one of my husband's aunts. Unfortunately he didn't speak English, unlike the other doctor, but I managed to properly communicate with him in French. He was an old man, and I definitely felt like he knew what he was doing, which was comforting. I would have preferred a female doctor...but unfortunately COMPETANT female doctors are few and far between here :( He asked me what my symptoms were, and he did a thorough examination. He pressed a few areas of my stomach and asked me if it hurt...which it did, a bit. That lead him to want to do an ultrasound (which he did for free, mash'Allah...normally you have to pay 150dhs extra). The first question he asked me was, "have you been sleeping well at night?" I haven't slept properly through the night for months...I have trouble falling asleep, and I always wake up at least twice during the night. After hearing this, he replied, "well, this might explain why..." and pointed to a bunch of white splotches. Apparently, I have developed ulcers in my stomach and intestine. The doctor told me that I need to try to relax. I hadn't realized before, but I am under a lot of stress. Being a newly-wed is a happy time in one's life, but it does come with quite a bit of stress. However, being a newly-wed in a strange country, surrounded by a strange language, thousands of miles away from all of my family and friends is even more stressful. I guess it kind of just snuck up on me. I didn't recognize it at first, because I've always associated stress with negativity and sadness...and since I've come here, I've been happier than I have been in a while. So, I am on a strict no-spice diet, and I've been put on three different medications to help with the heartburn and stomach pain (and one for my migraine headaches). I've also been told that I MUST try my best to relax. The doctor told me that I should drink louisa tea (a type of herbal tea) to relax before bed because I told him I didn't want sleeping medication. I am hoping that my stomach can heal quickly, and that I can be back to normal soon, insh'Allah.

9 comments:

  1. Salaam alaikum

    Inshallah you will be back to normal soon. I can't imagine how painful that must have been :(

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  2. wa alaikum salaam sister Amal,

    jazak Allah khair, alhamdolillah since I've altered my diet and been on the medicine, I've been feeling a bit better...insh'Allah I hope I'm 100% healed soon.

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  3. may Allah guide you!! is there ever some one in the world eat plain rice as breakfast food?! i know it was not the cause of all this but it sounds you have not been care much about your food!! do not worry insha'Allah your stomach will recover soon,follow your doctors directions strictly, stay away from spiced food,cola,coffee and even red tea. eat the 3 medicines exactly on time and insha'Allah it won't take longer than one month and your stomach is fine again. may Allah recover you soon and make the previous time of you being sick as your sin penance. but why you have migraine ?!

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  4. @ tedua:
    Ameen. As I mentioned before, I ate a bowl of plain rice for breakfast because my stomach wasn't feeling that great, and I wanted to eat something plain that wouldn't aggrivate it (by the way, I believe a lot of folks in eastern Asia eat plain rice for breakfast). And, quite frankly, my husband and I don't have a huge selection of food in our appartment because we don't have a refridgerator yet...so my meal selection is always limited. The doctor said that ulcers are caused by an overabundance of a certain bacteria in the stomach. They can be aggrivated by a spicy or acidic diet and stress, but these are not causes of ulcers. Alhamdolillah I've been feeling better since taking the medicine and altering my diet, so insh'Allah it won't take too long for me to heal 100%. As for the migraines, the doctor said it was probably a combination of me not wearing my glasses as much as I should be, and hormones (I've always had problems with migraines...they've just recently gotten worse since I got married).

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  5. ahh .. i just wrote a long comment and it did not post !! :-/ . first i'm sorry for my previous comment if it sounded little rude,i was mad you getting all that all the sudden because these illness are serious and i thought you might neglected yourself for a bit.i used to advise you in a previous comment of me on your blog about you getting fat to drink a tea with mint (i did not know you have this back then ) DO NOT DRINK that ! specially the mint because mint/basil would irritate your stomach ache and make your treatment useless !! avoid all fragrant food /drinks too . cooked potatoes will be good for you. and you guys can have dates in your kitchen, it does not need to be kept in a refrigerator and you can eat it best as breakfast! never heard the prophet peace be upon him when he said "a house without dates in it, its people are hungry"?. you were right about eastern guys eat rice as breakfast (i see by myself Indonesian people eat it) but i do not think it's good as breakfast ! who ever get up from bed and has a appetite to eat rice !?, best to eat it as lunch and you can eat it as supper if you want to stay fat :D, better you eat dates with your regular breakfast meal instead. may Allah heal up your stomach and head soon and wear your glasses Ashley !! :-)

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  6. ^_^ I used to have stomach problems, but since I reduced meat in my diet I feel so much better. There is an interesting article about why we should eat vegetables and avoid meat which takes a long time to digest, contains animal waste products such as adrenaline& bacteria and meat is very acidic. here is the link http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/why-is-it-good-for-you-to-be-a-vegetarian/
    i have to blog about this :)

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  7. i completely agree with the comment above, better if you avoid much of meat (specially RED meat, and let's say better if you do not eat red meat at all during your treatment period ) and you can eat white meat chickens/ fish instead . sorry i have written many comments on this topic :D .

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