stomach infection | Living My Full Life

Sorry I have taken forever to post about my endoscopy! For a quick review, I was diagnosed with a H. pylori infection in July, was given strong antibiotics for two weeks and had to have an endoscopy on August 16th.

About the endoscopy:

Basically, an endoscopy is a medical procedure to look inside your body. Mine was performed to look at my esophagus, stomach and duodenum to see if I still had a stomach infection.

The doctor put me under anesthesia, inserted a tube with a camera on it into my mouth, down my throat, & into my stomach and took a lot of scrapes (or biopsies) of my stomach and esophagus. I scheduled my appointment bright and early so I wouldn’t have to fast all day for the procedure. What can I say, I hate being hungry ;).

I arrived at the office, checked in, got my id band, and was ushered into a recovery/prep room where I had to change into a hospital gown.

A nurse inserted an IV with fluids into my arm and my bed was rolled into the room where the endoscopy was performed. I chatted about Spinning (LOL!) a little with the doctor and nurses before the anesthesiologist randomly “put me to sleep” in the middle of my discussion of Spin bikes with one of the nurses. Oh well!

I woke up about an hour or so later back in my recovery/prep room. My mom was waiting for me in there and I made her take a picture (or two..) of me so I could make fun of myself later. I was a little loopy ;). A nurse gave me some water in a Styrofoam cup. After I finished the cup my mom offered to throw it away for me but I just whipped it on the ground and started cracking up for no reason. Good times! LOLZ.

My mom and I headed home and I made her take me to Red Lobster (because we had a gift card .. yaaaay) when I wasn’t “under the influence” anymore. My throat was sore for a few days, but other than that I was fine.

The only thing the doctor said the day of the endoscopy was that I have esophagitis, which is when the esophagus is irritated due to stomach acid back flowing into it. It can be chronic or acute (chronic in my case) and causes symptoms like heart burn and ulcers. It’s pretty manageable with some diet/lifestyle changes, so I’m not worried about it too much.

I got the results about the infection about a week after the test. The biopsies of my stomach were negative for the infection!! I’m in the clear :).

I am so thankful and really learned a lot from this experience. I have a lot of compassion for others who are sick or taking medications, I became a lot closer to God, my family, & Jimmy and I really appreciate my health. I’m so glad that I don’t have the start the school year on the insane medication I had to take in July-August!

Thank you to everyone who commented, tweeted, emailed, and text messaged me during this tough time in my life. It meant more than you will ever know ❤

Bible verse of the day: Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. Psalm 30:2

Edited to add: If you want to talk to me about my experience with H. Pylori and the medicine I took, please feel free to email me at allie(at)southboundenterprises(dot)com. Thanks!

I posted this on Facebook this morning:

So, I haven’t really said anything, but I’ve been kinda sick for the past few months. I have been having diarrhea constantly (sometimes with blood), bloating, stomach pain, weight loss, heart burn and a host of other stomach problems.

I went to the doctor and had an upper GI performed, an ultrasound, and lots of blood work. The doctor was thinking I had gallstones, Celiac disease, or a thyroid problem.

It turned out, through blood work, that I have a bacterial infection in my stomach that irritates the esophagus and stomach and causes ulcers. The bacteria I’m infected with is common in third world countries that have poor sanitation, unclean water, and close living quarters. I’m not sure how I got it or if I’ll ever know. I do know that it is contagious.

The good news is that I can take medicine to hopefully heal this infection and cure the ulcers in my stomach. I learned sometimes the antibiotics don’t cure the infection the first time, though.

Tomorrow I start taking a triple therapy PrevPac for two weeks.

I’m going to be taking eight pills a day–four in the morning and four in the evening–with some uncomfortable side effects.

Some of the side effects are diarrhea, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and abnormal taste. I’m kind of sick of diarrhea at this point, but if this medicine heals me, I’m going to deal with it.

My doctor is also having me have an endoscopy (a procedure where they look at your esophagus and stomach by a long tube inserted in your throat) to check if the medicine eliminates the infection.

I’m happy to know what has been causing all of the pain and I’m very blessed that this condition can be treated and that I live in a country that medication is readily available and doctors abound. I fully trust that God is going to take care of me, whatever happens.

The Lord is my rock, and my safe place, and the One Who takes me out of trouble. My God is my rock in Whom I am safe. He is my safe-covering, my saving strength, and my strong tower. Psalm 18:2

Edited to add: If you want to talk to me about my experience with H. Pylori and the medicine I took, please feel free to email me at alliezottola(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks!

You can find my other posts about H.Pylori below:

Stomach Update
Stomach Update #2
Endoscopy Results
My Experience with H.Pylori