My 10 Days of Torture

Last Tuesday night, I went about my evening as usual. My husband and I ordered Subway for dinner, and after settling the kids in for the night, I worked on emails and finished the rest of my sandwich. I went to bed around 3am, knowing I had only a few hours before the alarm.

The next thing I remember is waking in such pain I do not even have words for it. I have had 3 children, several surgeries and live daily with Fibromyalgia, I am no stranger to pain. This pain, however, was another story. My stomach felt as if someone were twisting it from the inside while they poured hot lava directly into my bowels. I managed to get my kids off to school and spent the rest of the day huddled in bed shifting between freezing and vomiting every few minutes. I finally went to the after hours clinic where I received a shot for nausea.

Throughout Thursday and that night I felt no better, so I called my MIL to take me to the ER. I was admitted and tested and told I was dehydrated, given an IV with fluids and medicine for nausea and pain. After several hours, I felt better and was released with the doctors telling me it was food poisoning. I went home following the doctors instructions to stay on ice chips and clear liquids only and to continue with the medication for sickness.

By early Saturday morning, less than 12 hours after leaving the hospital, I was doubled over in pain yet again.  I couldn't even manage to eat a few chips of ice without throwing up and there was simply nothing left inside me to come out. I suffered through that day and the next, keeping down nothing at all, and by Monday evening I was back in the hospital again.

I was still dehydrated, needed several liters of fluids and doses of potassium as well as the medicine for nausea again. I stayed for most of the night and went home again with the same directions as last time. I spent the next 36 hours in a daze of pain and vomiting, barely able to do anything more than hold myself upright. My husband had to take on everything around the house, manage the kids and work full time because I was useless the entire time.

By the time he returned from work Tuesday, almost full week since it all began, I couldn't stand it anymore, I went back to the ER where I was admitted again. I endured several sets of blood work, multiple IVs, more potassium, magnesium and multiple bags of fluids again. I endured a barium test, urine and stool samples and every other thing they could throw at me...and still they couldn't find the cause. I spent hours lying on a pad of ice trying to alleviate some of the pain. My kidneys liver, thyroid, pancreas and more soon came under inspection, were tested and dismissed.

By Friday evening this is what my arms looked like. I had bruises on my upper arms and hips from injections, and bruises on my arms from the IVs. I felt like death. I had been doing this for 10 days and I was just done with it all. I wanted to go home. I told the doctors that pending the results of my Upper GI, I was done. When the test came back inconclusive, I signed myself out and went left.

That was almost two days ago. I managed to hold down a single piece of plain toast Saturday morning, followed by another plain piece that evening. My doctor had suggested trying toast, bread or rice and it seemed to be working. I suffered another bad session on Saturday, but forced myself to eat shortly after and have been fine every since. I have eaten normal meals today and seem to be processing everything as if nothing had ever happened.

I real have no idea what made me sick. I had not had anything out of the ordinary or been anywhere different. I had not eaten anything beyond my Subway melt, Pepsi and Munchos chips in the hours before I got sick. Nobody around me had any sort of sickness or contracted it the entire time I was ill. It was just a mystery attack that left me drained, weakened, tired and 14 pounds lighter, and then went away on its own. I hope it never visits again.