[Pun]

So, here I am sitting in the emergency room at the hospital. Been here since 4:30 this morning. I was here from 2:00 AM to around 5:00 AM yesterday as well. The good news is that I'm not here for myself or Jennifer. My brother has been staying with us the last few months, and I'm here with him.

Last summer, my brother began experiencing severe stomach pains and nausea. They ran tons of tests, but couldn't figure out what was wrong. They gave him some prescriptions and sent him home. The last week or so, the symptoms have come back, so much so that he was throwing up blood this morning.

Right now, he is sleeping from the medication they gave him, but I don't know what happens now. The doctor is supposed to be waiting on lab tests to see if they want to admit him. Personally, I'm doing whatever I can to get them to do just that. My fear is that he won't see the GI Specialist he needs to see in order to diagnose the true problem unless he sees one while he is in the hospital. He's just going to rely on medication to treat the symptoms but not the problem.

So here I am.....waiting around in a hospital room going on about 4 hours sleep the last 2 days. Sorry, to vent. I just needed something to do while I'm waiting.

[The Canadian Content]

Holy shit, Pun. That absolutely sucks. I hope everything works out.

[Batman]

Doctors can be the greatest people in the world, or they can be the most gigantic dickheads. It's a crap-shoot. Good luck, man.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Sorry to hear that Pun. I hope everything turns out OK.

[Loki]

Oooh. That sucks, Pun. Let us know what happens.

[Lucky]

Prays are with you, buddy.

[salmonjunkie]

My thoughts are with you man.

[Pun]

Well, just as I suspected, they sent him home with medications and that's it. I really can't blame them, though. He had every test they could think of towards the end of last summer, but nothing could be found. The doctor told us that if they kept putting him in the hospital to run tests, eventually, he would become un-insurable.

The rest of my family and I think it is stress related. There is an aunt on my dad's side of the family that used to have the same problems whenever something stressful happened in her life. When things started with him last summer, he was trying to decide whether to move back to Florida with his girlfriend or stay in North Carolina. (He had been working at a resort here in the NC Mountains in the summer and a restaurant in Florida in the winter. He absolutely hates Florida, though, and likes it in NC.) She basically gave him an ultimatum that it was either her or NC, but not both. He got over that and my wife and have been putting him up since September or so. At Thanksgiving, we went to FL to see my mother. My brother was supposed to go over to his ex's apartment (their old apartment together actually) that week and get his stuff back. He ended up getting sick again and going to a hospital down there. A couple months ago, my dad was going to come see Anna and my brother got sick again. (Backstory - my brother and my dad have not spoken to each other for years, but that's a story for another time.) These latest symptoms started a few days ago after he found an apartment and got approved to move in, but he is stressing about the money it will take and if he will be able to afford it on his own. (He doesn't know anyone up here yet.)

A couple of the medications they gave him are some pretty strong anti-anxiety medicines. Hopefully, he can take those and get back to normal. I'm trying to help him out with a budget to show him he can do it, but he's always been the stubborn one in the family. I've tried pointing out to him that I lived on my own for 4 years before I went back to college. I know what I am talking about. Hell, I even tried giving him $400 last night to help him out, but he wouldn't take it. In fact, I think that may have made things worse, because he also doesn't want to take money from anyone. He said it's bad enough that he is living with me (he thinks that, I don't), but he doesn't want to take my money, too. I tried telling him that our mother helped me out when I was living on my own, but I never paid her back. This would be my way of returning the favor. It did no good, however.

So, I'm back at home now, and my brother is sleeping. Seeing as how he has not slept much the past few days, that's a good sign. If I don't hear him up in the middle of the night throwing up, it will be even better.

Oh, and thanks to everyone for your kind words. Sorry to babble on about things like I did.

[The Canadian Content]

Pun, if you can't babble on your own board, where can you babble?

[Batman]

Besides which, that's what this folder is for. Hope it all works out.

[Courtney]

psychofish said:

Pun, if you can't babble on your own board, where can you babble?

Quoted for truth. Seriously Pun, I hope all's well. Back when I was younger, I would get sick all the time for no apparent reason and it turned out to be stress. So I can tell you that it definitely happens.

[Pun]

Getting sick is one thing. This was SEVERE stomach pains. He was in so much pain yesterday when I took him to the hospital that when the nurse took his blood pressure, she told me it was near stroke range (150's over 80's). He got sick again this morning, but once he took his medication, it seemed to work. Luckily, he has made an appointment with a family practice doctor for Monday. Hopefully, the doctor will be able to talk him into seeing a shrink or a psychologist.

[Pun]

Well, the bad news is that after about a month on medication, my brother went back to the hospital this morning. The good news is that he saw a different doctor than the other times and we think she pinpointed the problem. There is a very rare condition that normally happens in children, but can occur in adults. It is called Abdominal Migraines. Here is a brief description:

ABDOMINAL MIGRAINE

Abdominal migraine is one of the variants of migraine headache. It is also known by other terms including "periodic syndrome." This variant most typically occurs in children. They usually have a family history of migraine and go on to develop typical migraine later in their life.

The attacks are characterized by periodic bouts of moderate to severe midline abdominal pain lasting for 1-72 hours. Along with the abdominal pain they may have other symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, flushing or pallor. Tests fail to reveal a gastro-intestinal cause for the pain. Medications that are useful for treating migraine work to control these attacks in most children including daily preventive medications and anti-nausea medications to take during the attack.

Here is a more in depth description.

Thinking about it, it makes a little more sense now. My mom and I both get migraine headaches. It's just weird that my brother has never had problems until now. The doctor did say stress can bring them on, though.

Thanks to everyone who has been asking about him via IM and PM. Hopefully now that they think they know the problem, they can control it. Before leaving the hospital today (my mom and step-dad were actually in town this weekend, so they took him today) he's setting up some appointments with specialists. Hopefully it will work out.

[Batman]

Oh my god, I have never heard of that. That sounds like the worst thing ever.

My wife had what she thinks was a migraine for the first time the day before yesterday, and when it finally eased off she said that if she was given the choice between getting a million dollars, but she'd feel like that for the rest of her life; or having the pain go away, but she'd die in a week; she'd have taken the second option in a heartbeat.

I'm very thankful that I'm not speaking from experience, but chronic pain has just got to be just about the worst thing ever. Good luck to your brother; here's hoping he gets this under control.

[salmonjunkie]

damn, man. I hope it turns out ok.

In a realted note, my good friend, Rob, just got out of surgery. He's had Crohn's Disease for some time and his meds stopped working, restulting in quite a few flare-ups in the last few months in which he would need to go to the ER for the day. The surgery was to remove a part of his intestine that was the most affected/inflammed or something like that. I'm not completely sure on the details. Anyways, he seems to be doing fine now, but it's been a bit of a scare the last few months since he's been having more hospitalizations.

[Attitude Adjuster]

courtney said:

Back when I was younger, I would get sick all the time for no apparent reason...

Sorry this joke is like a month late, but I have to do it.

Courtney, that's called Morning Sickness, you slut!

[Courtney]

attitudeadjuster said:

courtney said:

Back when I was younger

[/size], I would get sick all the time for no apparent reason...[/quote]

Courtney, that's called Morning Sickness, you slut! [/quote]

Quoted for weirdness.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Younger? She's not even 21 yet, you old bastard. Say hi to Yousef, HerbertAdjuster.

[Evil Scotty]

[Pun]

EXALT! For the perfect use of the "Solly sucks!" smiley.

[Evil Scotty]

Thanks Pun!