Problem Solved!!

I had some of the worst stomach pain I have ever had in my life yesterday. Let me rephrase, it was THE worst pain I have ever had in my life. I was border-line on my way to the ER. I rode it out and waited for the pain to pass and made an appointment with a DR. this morning.

Before I went to the DR. I googled my key problems "intestines, menstrual". I have had these same problems for the last 2 years and always attributed them to IBS or I found sites to Chron's disease, but today I got a different site that I had never found before. Intestinal Endometriosis. I found this at infertility physician.com

"A woman with intestinal Endometriosis will tell me that she has significant GI symptoms that vary with her menstrual cycle. (Yep, thats me) The symptoms may be present only at the time of the menstrual period or they may be present all month long and worsen at the time of the period. (Yep, thats me) The most common symptoms include loss of appetite, (Yep, thats me) nausea (but vomiting is rare)(Yep, thats me), diarrhea(Yep, thats me), increased gas(Yep, thats me), significant bloating (Yep, thats me), crampy abdominal pain (Yep, thats me), painful bowel movements (Yep, thats me), and sharp stabbing rectal pain(Yep, thats me)."

Having found this site I felt very emotional. I didn't know what it all meant, but I was in tears knowing that this could be the answer and reason for us not being able to have kids and also the reason to this horrible pain I have been experiencing.

I went to the Dr. at the University Clinic, her name is Mary. The nurse that took me to the back room noticed immediately that I was having stomach issues as I was hunched as I walked down the hall, she smiled and said "your having stomach pain aren't you" I couldn't help it, but I replied yes and started to cry. She handed me a tissue as we walked past a box and apologized for starting me off early. I talked to my Dr. for a while and we discussed the possible problems, I mentioned that I had attributed it to IBS and she nodded in agreement confirming my thoughts, but then I also mentioned the Intestinal Endometriosis and that we have been trying to get pregnant for quite a while. She lifted her eyes and nodded again and said that it was easily fixed. She will have to do a few tests to confirm, but asked more questions to try and verify and all were in agreement. She stayed and talked for quite a while with us about the different options we had. Overall the best thing was that she said she could easily fix it. I have to go back in for some tests and get a colonoscopy (yay). She also gave me some interesting information about my anxiety that I didn't really know before. I didn't realize your intestines were so closely tied to your brain, she is having me up my dosage for my anxiety meds and ordered me to gain weight. My BMI was at about 16.3 and she said it should be at least 19. Plus she said being as old as I am I shouldn't still be skinny like I am, I should have put on some womanly fat. She also asked how much school I had left, I replied that I had 3 semesters and she said good, that is enough time that we can get you better and pregnant. I pretty much love her for saying that. Overall I think she felt like my anxiety was a key factor in all of the problems and wanted to get that under control.

I am still in pain today, she didn't really fix that, but wanted to wait until my period was over to further any tests and fix it in the future. Hopefully the future tests will work out well and I can get better!!