I had made it to college and things were relatively normal aside from my very odd diet. It took a lot of practice to remember which things I could/couldn’t eat, and I would often forget and eat something gluten free but not GERD free or vice versa. 

 

Since I really didn’t want to risk having a 5-month flare in my dorm, I stuck to 10 foods as a kind of “control variable” to test other foods against to get more of a sense of where my boundaries were. Also, since I was in a dorm with no access to a kitchen, I had to take that into consideration with my meals.

 

My ten foods consisted of: 

1.     Gluten free plain microwavable chicken

2.     Gluten free microwavable mac & cheese

3.     Lightly salted lays chips (for some reason I would react with the regular ones)

4.     Marshmallows (which were lifesavers for my GERD)

5.     New York Sharp Cheddar cracker cut cheese

6.     Gluten free crackers

7.     Eggs

8.     Honey Nut Cheerios

9.     Plain microwavable mashed potatoes (or a baked potato)

10.  And for some bizarre reason-pickles (I didn’t seem to react to them which was a huge plus considering it was the only thing on this list that tasted like something)

 

So, following to this helped keep things relatively stable. To obtain these foods however, I had to visit 2 different grocery stores since the GF items were only available at certain places. I had tried eating out and eating at my school but with how many foods I couldn’t eat and had to be careful from, it was too large of a risk (since most places don’t stray from all the GERD triggers) and I had already had some flares from their foods. 

 

I had a virtual visit with my GI specialist from Texas to tell them that I was still having lots of abdominal pain and that the area where my hernia was located was really bothering me. My GI specialist was unsure, told me to get an x-ray done (which made no sense…) and then left my case. 

 

September 19th, 2020, I ate 1 gluten free mini chocolate chip cookie-big mistake. I had the same reaction as when I had eaten chocolate over the summer, ears were hot and muffled, dizzy, blood pressure dropped, pain and nausea. It was odd and lasted in a 3 day “mini” flare. This ‘chocolate’ reaction occurred 3 more times over the semester (even with items just containing cocoa). 

 

October 5th, I was finishing my zoom classes from my desk at 9:50 a.m. when I suddenly became doubled over in pain. I hadn’t eaten anything aside from my 10 safe foods, so I had no idea what the cause was. I had upper left abdominal pain that felt deep behind my rib cage and was exactly like those times in January and April. I had difficulty getting out of my chair and began to get nauseous. 

 

Once again in an Emma fashion (*again NOT recommended*), I took a nausea pill and proceeded to go to my next in person class. I honestly don’t even remember what happened at all in that class. The whole time I was just trying not to vomit or look like I was in pain. I had messaged my primary care doctor and we scheduled an urgent in office visit immediately after my class. We did a full exam and ran blood tests, but we didn’t seem to catch any answers. I was given materials to collect a stool sample to see if that could give us any hints. I was referred to see a new GI specialist in November since my abdominal pain was bothering me.

 

Let me tell you, collecting a stool sample while living in a residence hall- not the most comfortable thing to be doing!

 

The following day I was still nauseous and in pain, but it was manageable and I had dropped off the stool sample at the office. I headed to the pharmacy to try a new medication that my doctor wanted to see if it would help. 

 

It was called Voltaren Gel and it was a type of NSAID cream that was mostly used for those who have arthritis. I was instructed to put it on my abdomen to see if it did anything. I tried it for a couple weeks and had no improvements. 

 

My mini “flare” lasted through October 8th and I was persistently on edge since I was hoping the flare wouldn’t get worse. 

 

October 19th -the previous mini flare luckily was “mini,” and this second mini flare was caused by food. I hadn’t realized that at the grocery store I bought a different shape of pickles-yes, you heard that right, shape. For some completely absurd reason, my body reacted to the ingredients of these pickles that were a different shape from the normal ones I usually bought. Perhaps they added different amounts of the ingredients?

 

Anyways, I was left pressing my left abdomen and my back in (like all those times in the past) and spent a couple days in bed. 

 

October 26th- another random day of a spike in pain unrelated to any food. I had been having off and on mini flares the past 2 weeks (some from food, some not) and it kind of added up to feeling extra crappy this day. I had to turn my desk around in one of my in-person classes and almost vomited right then and there. 

 

During one of my visits with my primary care physician, they performed a Carnett’s test, and I had a positive result. This meant that I also had some sort of nerve/ abdominal wall pain syndrome likely due to an entrapped nerve in my abdomen (which they believed could’ve been caused from being in pain for so long, the nerve never stopped firing). They wanted to wait until I saw the GI specialist to confirm this.

 

I saw my GI specialist in November, and they also found that I had a positive Carnett’s sign. I was diagnosed with Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome (ACNES). I was told to begin taking a small dose Nortitryptiline (an antidepressant used for nerve issues) to help with the nerve pain. I was also told to wean off of my Omeprazole since I had been told by my previous GI specialist to take it “indefinitely”.

 

November 5th, I began having chest pain every time I was exhaling when I breathed. I had called my primary care physician and was diagnosed with pleuritis. It lasted about 2 weeks and I was ready to head home for Thanksgiving/winter break (which they grouped together because of COVID so people weren’t traveling back to campus). 

 

I enjoyed my winter break in Texas, but my family wasn’t used to all of my dietary restrictions because I had really gotten to know them when I was away at college. 

 

On December 3rd, my super sweet brother wanted to cook the family food for breakfast. He had made bacon and eggs for my parents, and I woke up about an hour later. He made me plain scrambled eggs and hours after eating, I had a flare. What had happened was he made my eggs in the same pan he had cooked the bacon in earlier and didn’t realize. I was dry heaving, and in lots of abdominal pain and remained in bed for the next few days. 

 

January 5th, 2021, 3 hours after eating dinner with my family I proceeded to have a large spike in pain and was crying. I had been weaning off of my Omeprazole like my GI specialist had requested and I had lots of stomach acid in my mouth all the time. 

 

Eventually I managed to get off of the Omeprazole and continued within the limbo of the new normal. 

 

March 18th, I had eaten some cheese and crackers after coming back from rehearsal at midnight and ended up having large amounts of abdominal pain causing me to hunch over slightly. This died down after a couple of days. 

 

By May, I had moved off campus into an apartment so I could cook for myself and feel safer with the foods I was eating (since I knew what would be going into them). My mom had come into town, and we made green beans in my air frier using avocado oil. Well for the next four days, I had a mini flare due to the avocado oil and the fact that my stomach had trouble digesting any vegetables with fibrous textures.

 

I scheduled an appointment to see my GI doctor, when I was informed that they left the hospital. I was seen on May 11th by a nurse practitioner who apologized that they couldn’t help with my case. They asked what it was that they could do for me, so I asked to see an allergist to test if I was allergic to chocolate and I asked for a referral to see a dietician so I could expand my at home diet more.

Otherwise, summer had just begun, my apartment allowed me to expand my diet a bit, and I had gotten a job to occupy my time. I was ready to continue my venture into finding out what was wrong with my foot!

 

Read what happens next in the story titled, “Move & You’ll Bruise-The Hotel, Fire, Crutches Story”.