Snaklog

Experienced stomach pain in the lower left part of my abdomen on a frequent basis. Was prescribed a low level antibiotic by the specialist at the hospital, to take each day to see if my stomach was experiencing repeated infections. The pain in the stomach seemed to be related to whenever I had a sore throat I was also regularly experiencing bouts of diarrhoea or constipation which made the pain in my stomach even worse.

 

 

The family went down south during the summer and I had a really embarrassing incident I was walking around the centre of Birmingham when I farted and completely sh*t myself. So it was off to Marks to get some clean undies then to find a toilet to get changed in and somewhere to dump the old underpants; no way was I taking them home!!!.

 

We also visited the in-laws and my eldest daughter and I went to see the moving Shrek II which was recently out. Unfortunately I spent most of the time in the toilet with really bad diarrhoea which rather spoilt the film.

 

 

We went to Frankie and Bennies afterwards but it seemed as quick as food went in it had to come out again

 

The dreaded barium enema, having heard horrendous stories about the indignity’s and tribulations of the barium enema it was my turn, following a few days of a low residue diet and having to take the dreaded Picolax again I turned up at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with some trepidation.

 

 

I was taken to a small cubicle where the procedure was explained and I changed into a hospital gown, then after a short delay it was through into the main room where I had to lie down on a tilt-able bed. The barium was introduced and the table was then moved into lots of positions to fully coat the colon with barium at one point the table was tilted to such an extent that I thought I was going to fall off. Xrays were taken and then it was off the table into a side room with a toilet where I spent the next twenty minutes or so trying to get rid of the remnants of the enema, it’s a bit like sh**tting chalk.

 

The results of the enema were all negative apart from one small diverticula that was found. This meant the diagnosis of diverticular disease was incorrect.

 

SnakBlog

the online food diary that’s not designed for people who want to lose weight but for those that want to find out what food allergies or intolerance’s they have or may have.

 

Admission to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary: February 2004

My story starts in February 2004 when I went to see my local GP experiencing a fever, diarrhoea and pain in the lower left port of my abdomen. She called through to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and I travelled straight down there. I was expecting to just see a doctor for a second opinion, but I was admitted straight away and put on a drip, blood was taken and sent for analysis. I was later told I had a high white blood cell count and that with the pain this was consistent with a diagnosis of Diverticulitis. The prescription was bed rest, nil by mouth and antibiotics intravenously.

 

Diverticulitis

Diverticula are little outpouchings of the wall of the colon. Although they can be found in smaller numbers in the stomach or small intestine, “diverticular disease” refers to when they are found in the large bowel (usually sigmoid colon).

 

“Diverticulitis” refers to when there is inflammation of the colon at the site of the diverticula - usually as a result of one of the diverticula becoming blocked.

 

 

I remained for 4 days in hospital during some of the worst winter weather experienced in the North East of Scotland for many years my wife became quite expert at negotiating snow drifts during her daily visits to see me.

 

On the first night I was quite feverish but was also extremely thirsty when the nurse offered me some paracetamol I eagerly accepted hoping to be able to grab a small mouthful of water. I never realised you could take a paracetamol by having it shoved up your anus; so no drink for me.

 

There were a few other guys in my ward all experiencing some sort of stomach problem including one guy who had been there for some time and had to have his colostomy bag changed at frequent intervals. We all shared one toilet and had to do our business into cardboard containers so the nurses could have a look at our bowel habits later, sometimes the toilet wasn’t cleared for a few hours and the smell certainly became quite ripe at times.

 

After a couple of days I was allowed to start eating light meals and drinking more normally and finally allowed to go home on the fourth day with instructions to rest for a few days. I would be sent for later for further tests.