# There Might be Hope



## piyykcir (Aug 3, 2013)

Sept 26th 2013



Spoiler



I want to start off by saying that I'm not diagnosed with IBS but I do have symptoms very much like it and i've been dealing with them for the pass 5 years. I will tell you my story and what is happening right now in hopes that it might help others if it might not help me.

I will put a section of my story and then the important part of what's happening now that might help you. (I will update this part when I get updates of my own).

*MY LONG STORY*



Spoiler



I'm 26 years old, My birthday just passed on the 12th of Sept. I'm an Asian male currently living in Canada. I didn't want to live a life next to a computer and decided to go into the field of fire protection. My life long goal was to become a fire fighter and transition into air rescue in my later years. My life wasn't always easy, my parents are a very loving couple. We took care of our grandparents till the day they passed on. We provided them everything. We went as far as to remodel my grandparent's room so they have a bathroom much closer rather than making them go out to the hallway. My grandfather had cancer and my grandmother just died of old age and with strokes + diabetes. Even in Canada, cancer and taking care of someone old cost a lot of money. It cost so much that I looked at myself when I was 17 and wondered what was I really doing with my life. My grades were terrible, I had no motivation to go to school. Why even bother going to school if it takes years before u can even have a chance to get a decent job... So I quit school, my parents had no idea. They always thought I left to school to study early. I left 6am to work at mcdonalds till 4pm and worked from 5pm to 11pm at another mcdonalds 7 days a week. It wasn't great money but it was better than not getting anything at all. I lived like this for the next 2 years. I would keep enough for myself to eat and the rest I put in the pants of my father, purse of my mother and anywhere around the house. This way they wouldn't know I quit school for them. In an Asian culture, if a parents can't provide for their family, it's very dishonorable in a way. My parents were hard working, they just couldn't do it all. I don't regret at all for what happened cause I know they showed me a side of kindness that barely exist this day and age.

After 2 years, I changed jobs. I was able to find a better job as a security guard but it wasn't enough money. So I took a lot of odd jobs like Hot dog vendor, truck driver, post office package sorter. Eventually things got better and my mom wanted me to go to college rather than just work. She still had no idea about me working 2 years at mcdonalds and never graduated highschool. Considering she told me to and I still check her credit time to time I decided i'll go to school. I decided to go into firefighting cause well they're much more well respected than any other field and there's just something about me that I love to help people. During my first year I did terrible, I skipped highschool after all so things were very hard to pick up and understand. I also started weight training because I noticed how small I really was compare to everyone else who's 6ft + and i'm just a 5'6" skinny Asian boy. I worked hard, I started as a 100lb 5'6 with 30% body fat who threw up on the first time he went on a bicycle test after 10 seconds on it. (no exaggeration, I threw up and went home). Eventually I worked up to be 160lbs and 13% body fat close to the end of my second year. This was the turning point of my life. Just before the exams I went out to study with friends. I studied all day and went out to eat dinner with the same friend after a long hard day of studying. The next morning I woke up and felt terrible, no matter I forced myself out the door and tried to study anyways. After getting to the library I vomited non stop, I spent more time in the bathroom than I did studying. I went home told myself it was probably something I ate that was bad, it'll pass.

After 3 days I was still vomiting, I thought ok something HAS TO BE WRONG. I went to the hospital, I'm still gagging, throwing up, super dehydrated and after a single blood work, they told me to go home it will pass soon. So I went home, called the school next day and said i'll be sick for a few more days I can't take the exam, here's my hospital note. So they took it. After a week I Was still the same, in bed, unable to move. By this time I was 110lbs. I lost 20lbs in the first 3 days and another 30lbs the following week. I got a call from school saying I need to do my exams. I said I couldn't cause my condition was still the same. I was told that if I don't show up and do the exams, I will fail. Thats 8 courses I will fail... so what else could I do, I showed up did 8 exams in 1 day and a few weeks later, I failed all 8 exams. I asked for an appeal but because I showed up to the exam, I couldn't. There was also nothing the hospital found so there wasn't an actual problem I could tell them I had other than i'm vomiting...

That was the lowest point of my life, I felt like everything was against me. I'm not religious but my parents are, if there was any chance of me ever going back, that destroyed it. My gpa dropped so hard I was on probation. I worked hard, I help people, I never do evil and I wondered why am given this. all I wanna do is get through college, become a firefighter and help as many people as I could.

Months passed, I've been in and out of a hospital emergency just trying to figure out what is happening. Most of the time I went in for IV cause of dehydration. My meals consisted of 1-2 frozen apple sauce a day. I lived like this for the next year. I still continued to go to school but it was very hard, I was malnutrition-ed and trying to go to school was pretty hard. I was also still working as a security guard so you can imagine how hard life really was for me. During this year I had endoscopes, colonoscapy, ultrasounds and everything came back negative. I was given one of the BEST doctors in Toronto and that was Dr.Baker of St.Michael's hospital. I was thinking to myself this is great, I have the best doctor there is, there's no way I won't be saved.... Only if the world worked that way huh?... My meeting with him was extreamly disappointing. I showed up extra early, waiting for my appointment. I saw him 30 minutes later than the appointed time, which is ok cause I thought no biggie u know. I sat down, he asked me my story. I got through maybe the first section about how I was studying, ate dinner and he told me "stop, I'm not gona waste anymore of your time. I can't help you, Go home, Goodluck." I was in total shock I said "what do you mean, you can't help me your the best there is, Isn't there anything you can do for me, prescribe for me?" he replied "no there's nothing I can help you with, you're going to have to find a miracle cure". "Miracle cure.... what do you mean?! isn't there anything? marijuana? Acupunture? something totally out of the ordinary? arn't you going to look after me?" And he replied "Yea acupunture pretty miracle, so go try that if you want. No i'm not looking after you cause I can't help you. if you need to see me again call me for an appointment, you can go now" These words haunted me for life. to be told that you can't be helped by the best in my city.

At this point I was lost, my parents were lost, What did I turn to? drugs. I took marijuana. Most of you probably think WHY cause your depressed. I would probably YES depression did lead me to that HOWEVER I didn't do it for no reason. My friend's friend uses it for medical purposes, He was born with a GI problem I can't even remember now, basicly he needs it to eat or else he will vomit. So... I tried it, I was able to eat SOME FOODS and I tell you now, for someone who's eaten apple sauce for a year and than being able to eat SOMETHING, your happy. So happy you feel like it's a miracle cure. however my parents would never understand. So I asked my family doctor to give me the "golden ticket" to smoke medically. He was against it, he didn't care if I did it but he wouldn't give it to me cause without dr.baker's approval it's not possible. After a few weeks, the marijuana started to not work very well. I started to feel nauseated eating and after eating. It felt like before all over again.

But a miracle happened, My mother heard about an acupunturist who was a miracle worker, he got a lot of koreans who had troubles walking to walk normally again. So we decided to see him, BOY was this guy ever amazing and I mean REALLY AMAZING. he only charged 20$ for acupunture (THIS IS REAL STUFF, not the #### u guys see in some chiropractor's office for 80$ + tax. THIS IS THE REAL DEAL) and including medication for a week, it's about 40$ total. His knowledge was amazing he asked me if I had history of H-Pylori, asked about blood work, kidneys .etc EVERYTHING. I stuck with him for the next 2 years. He helped me ALOT, I was able to eat decently again, regular meals. Had some of my strength back, and gained weight to 125lbs. This was a real big deal for me, I didn't have many nausea problems anymore but my strength still felt really weak. During this time my father's mother who lives in hong kong had a very bad episode, she fell and broke both sides of her hips. I never seen her before cause I never went back, I wanted to go back. Since I felt I was doing decently well I thought ok i'll go stay with her for a bit.

So I packed my bags, got things ready and was gona stay a month with her and my family. Money wasn't too bad then, we started having food at home, started to live a very middle class/normal life. So I went to hong kong, met my grandmother, my family. Went out to lunch. At this point I never knew this would be a BAD IDEA. The food and the living over in hong kong was terrible, I ended up vomiting again, and I thought oh maybe it's just dirty food it'll pass. 2nd day, I woke up, felt terrible still, I forced myself to still eat around my grandmother cause I didnt' want her to worry about me. I have to show I was STRONG and still fine. by the 3rd day my stomach was so bloated, it was as hard as a mug and as hot as having hot water in it. it was so bloated I actually broke a drawer by moving into it with my stomach cause it was so distended and hard. I Left on the 4th day, I told her I had to go back to my company to work cause they called me back. Told her I love her and I will come back soon!

I couldn't go back, I went to see my acupunturist he was able to get me back to DECENTLY NORMAL. but decently normal is my current state now. Nausea all day long, gets worst when eating. Tender stomach, super low energy, weighted about 120-130lbs. I thought to myself at this point, maybe this is just my life. Maybe I just have to LIVE with it and just be content... So I lived with it, I never tried to persue what was wrong, how to fix it or anything. Until one day, I changed my family doctor. My original family doctor takes 2 months (no exaggeration) to book an appointment. So I changed. This new doctor got to know my story, (much shorter version =P) and decided to take some tests. The tests were just simple blood work test and an H-Pylori breath test. It came back inconclusive, but he gave me the HP pack anyways. I took it and I FELT BETTER!... for the first 2 days... Then after that it all came back again. I thought to myself it might just be h-pylori, so I did some research on that and found all these things to do against it. I tried manuka honey, mastic gum, low acid digstion pills, probiotics. Did it help? I can't really say, cause I still felt from time to time very terrible.

In 2012 I met a doctor, another acupunturist, this man is also very amazing. The story is that he cured a boy who had a super rare disease that turned his leg, BLACK. seriously you can win the lottery before getting this. The doctors (SURPISE!) found out way too late that was really the problem, and said he had to lose his leg. The guy was 20 years old. He was devistaed, then this man came to see him. and told him I can fix you. To him HE WAS THE REAL JESUS. He went to his clinic and the black went all the way down to his toes. but the sad part is he still had to lose his toes. But to not lose your leg is very amazing already. Oh and I want to mention that I didn't KNOW who this was but I found out later, IT WAS A FRIEND OF MINE! and to let u know he's doing AMAZING. Anyways, this story made me want to go see him, so I did. turns out he works inside hospitals as well, although acupunture isn't seen as REAL MEDICAL kinda thing. He was allowed to work and perform inside the hospital. He's also the head for getting Canadian acupuntrist licencse (yes this just came up the pass few months), He's also the head of the committe. So he's a big guy.

Cause of his connections, I wanted him to be my acupunturist, he also has medical backgrounds too. So I went to him the pass year. Nothing really changed, as I thought i'd just have to live with it, but he encouraged me that something will come up, it just takes a long time. Asian medication is to heal the body so the body heals itself. Not like western that dumps a bunch of things in your body to overwrite symptoms when u still have the same problem.

About 2 months ago I was getting ready to go for my annual camping trip with my friends. Everything was ready, this is the one thing I look forward to every year. Unfortunately I couldn't go, Just 3 days before the trip I started to feel really sick. I started having extream nausea and stomach pain at night and during the morning. this happened every night non stop. It was enough for me to finally have suicidal thoughts, I thought... if I killed myself I'd stop living this shitty ass life. In this stupid world, a world that's clearly rejecting me. I've done only good in my life, and I still want to, I have so many dreams, so many things I want to do. I want to see my sister's kids grow older, but I dont' wanna be the uncle that stands on the side cause he couldnt' even lift up his sister's kids when they say "UP!". I was really thinking of killing myself. Then when I calmed down a bit, I thought if my sister's kids didn't have an uncle to even say "up!" to... it would be much worse... if my parents found out that I killed myself, they'd fall into despair... I can't do that... Almost every night, my thoughts were like that.

*For everyone who read up to this I thank you, and I want to say if you had these thoughts too I UNDERSTAND, I really do.*

One night I remembered about h-pylori, how it's more active during the morning and at night! So I went out and bought 2 manuka honey's @ 20+UMF. The first few nights were very hard, but I go through it after. During these 2 weeks my sister was gone on vacation. When she came back she wanted to push for me to try and find the problem. I shouldn't sit down and think this is it anymore. I thought the same, if I'm gona give up I should give up IN STYLE!

Really though I wanted to change careers. if IT IS TRUELY IMPOSSIBLE for me to be cured I will change career paths and do something at home rather than going to work outside. I'm a great cook, I love children, I don't mind being a stay at home dad with a job at home! I thought if nothing else it can still work out.



*THIS IS THE PART OF THE STORY NOW THAT MIGHT HELP SOME PEOPLE!*

So my sister came with me to my family doctor, she's a nurse, she has connections to ask for idea's and help from other surgeons and doctors. She was able to get me medication that SHOULD BE THE BASICS of people who have gastric problems: Losec and domperidom and odansetron. Losec is a PPI, domperiodom if I remember helps your stomach and intestinal tracks MOVE. and odansitron is for kemo patients to prevent nausea. (EXPENSIVE)

My family doctor didn't like the fact that my sister was asking for help from other doctor's. He thinks it DISTRACTS from the real issue. I won't write anything here abuot him but I tihnk you guys get the idea of how he is just by that one line he said. Anyways my sister also asked for a new scope cause I should get a new one after 5 years just to check up and see the changes. He said NO, I don't think he needs one. Eventually he caved and said fine I can get him one. My sister then showed him a paper of a clinic that will accept me in 3 days as long as he gives the OK. He then says NO it's impossible to do that, u have to go to a GI from a hospital to get a test. There's no such thing as a clinic that will take a family doctor's referal like that. AND HERE"S THE FUNNY PART, my sister noticed a clinic NEXT Door that SPECIALIZES in GI problems. My sister mentioned it and said why do they exist, and he goes I can refer him there. and me and my sister was just BAFLED by how stupid it was. He never mentions the clinic, and then he says IT'S possible?! anyways enough of my rant.

*Here's the part you guys are waiting for*

I got the endo and colon scopes, the results came in TODAY. So my scopes came back fine, nothing's was wrong, everything was normal. HOWEVER, I also did a blood work that day. It came back with numbers that were VERY HIGH. The gi that worked on me didn't mention ANYTHING ABOUT THE NUMBERS AT ALL. said she can't think of any way to help me and prescribed me a dietician.

Anyways I got home, and my sister contacted the person who's been giving suggestions. She's a internal medicine doctor from iran (if i'm correct) and specalized in GI. She can't WORK HERE cause they won't accept her, but i'll tell you right now, she's amazing as well.

So she looked through my blood work and found 2 problems already, My ALBUMIN count was high and my iron count was 2.5x the max of normal range.

she's requesting that I do a more extensive blood work test. And some CT scans and Ultrasound.

I'm going to request for them this week and hopefully these results show something.

What I want to say is for now DON"T GIVE Up, I understand states it cost money but people who don't AcTIVELY TRY and push will always end up in a rut. Look at my doctor he didn't help me and tried to hinder me from finding the problem. I mean in canada STUFF IS FREE cause we PAID FOR IT. I think if I want something done that's related to my problem, it should be done. The doctor should be pushing for EVERYTHING and exploring as many possible avenues until you are satisfied with the results.

It shouldn't be WELL YOU KNOW MAYBE U DON'T NEED IT... LETS JUST GIVE YOU SOMETHING tO COVER THE SYMPTOMS. BTW U HAVE TO PAY FOR THE MEDICATION.

PUSH FOR IT. Also if your like me, Gastic problems[ONLY THESE ONES[Nausea, vomiting, tender stomach/intestine], not diganosed with IBS. it might be good to have an extensive blood work. Cause if the REST Of your body is healthy, and I mean HEALTHY not just HEY IT"S WITHIN RANGE OF NORMAL, then you can get healthier to fight.

I will update this soon!


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## piyykcir (Aug 3, 2013)

October 26th 2013

Hey everyone, i'm giving an update to my story.

A short review of what happened. I was diagnosed with Psych problems / dyspepsia / Gastritis / IBS like symptoms 5 years ago. Recently I got tired of fighting against the symptoms and going for what I wanted my life to be like. I decided to change careers to a job at home but the only way i'll do that is if I try to see what the issue is clearly before I do that.

Recently there was high ferritin in my blood, We tested to see if it was hemochromotosis but my transferrin came back normal. My NEW doctor told me that it's directly related to stress levels in my body. New tests [CT scan / Ultra sound / Upper GI series], show that I actually have COARSE mucosal folds in my duodenum bulb. So i'm getting a new scope soon from a general surgeon to see how these folds are, check for ulcers and possibly remove my duodenum bulb.

The funny thing is, checking my records 5 years ago. The same results were shown there as well. But my doctors for some reason IGNORED THEM and than diagnosed me with psych problems.

So far what I learned is that DON"T TRUST YOUR DOCTOR COMPLETELY. People who actively seek their problems will find cures. Get your medical records and double check all the results from tests yourself! We're in the information age! There's actually a study where people were diagnosed improperly and really had coarse mucosal folds in the duodenum and was only noticed when they got a second opinion or even 3rd.


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