(Posting this for the friends and family who care, and on the off-chance some poor soul searching for the reason they hurt so bad finds this and is perhaps reassured as to what might be going on.)
So I’ve had these intense abdominal pains, lately. I had these a year ago — sent me to the ER, they got so bad. Not appendicitis, fortunately. Or at the very least, it’s a very slow-acting, periodically recurring, non-death-dealing form of appendicitis. This condition or whatever always resolves itself in a relatively non-threatening manner.
If you really must know, the climax of these painful episodes is nothing more than a very long, very extended fart.
After my worthless and very expensive emergency room visit, I sort of decided that it was an MSG intolerance. I’ve been operating on that assumption for a year now, and it’s seemed to work out fairly well. Every time I had some kind of minor abdominal pain I could always link it to eating, say, Doritos or something with bullion in it — both of which are apartments where MSG lives.
This time, however, excruciating pains came along and I knew I hadn’t had any such MSG-bearing food. So, I researched and found such horrors as pancreatitis, colitis, and the like. *fearful*
Let me tell you, 2AM is a very dark hour when you’re lying in bed alone, unable to sleep, and fearful for not knowing the cause of your pain. You do a whole lot of praying and self-searching at times like that. I actually asked God if I could please not die now, thanks.
Happily, things got better.
My friend D had once suggested lactose intolerance. A lot of people are actually intolerant to milk and milk products; in fact, some of my nieces and nephews can’t have any milk products at all. Looking back at the week before, milk seems to be the one big change in my diet of the week before last. It has potential as a reason for the problems.
At the very least, it gives me something to focus on other than appendicitis or pancreatitis.
I’ve given up coffee-mate. It’s got caseins in it, which is milk-derived. It’s fortunate that I have the communications from my siblings about milk-stuff, otherwise I never would have known that a non-dairy creamer actually has a bit of cow-aspect to it. And placebo or real effect, yesterday, the first day drinking coffee without Coffee Mate, was one of the first days I didn’t really get an upset stomach after a couple cups, and I didn’t get that weariness around 10 (though that could be from the sugars in it).
Anyway, that’s the story. Milk = bad. And FYI if you have similar problems: good luck at finding food without milk-derivatives. It’s in just about everything.
