Sudden onset, stomach distress, and inability to eat.

Again, I’m so sorry you have to deal with all that. Reading your story makes me feel grateful that my problems are not worse. I hope and pray that you find some relief somehow, and I salute you for the strength to continue with such difficulties in your life. I thank you for sharing. 💕

Hi,
I don't or choose not to remember what life was like before this insidious disease decided it liked me to much. I tend to live by what I have and don't look at it as if only, because it can't be ever again. This is the new me I acknowledge the limitations and deal with them anyway I can. Yes there are times when I could easily end it all, but that is giving up, something I don't do without a very good reason. I'm able to accomplish tasks I shouldn't be able to do because I see them as needing to be done and I'm the mug that will do them, no matter the consequences. I focus on the end game, what happens to me until then doesn't matter, I bloody minded and very strong willed. It is likely what has kept me alive fighting any which way I can for another productive day ahead. I found work and working hard is my respite from the this disease, pushing through the symptoms forcing them into the background while I'm busy. I find the best way to deal with the pain is to deflect it focusing on the pain I'm intentionally causing focusing my mind on what I'm doing and why. This pain is the result of what I'm doing and it can be stopped at any time I wish, knowing this allows me to thrash the body accepting doing so is going to hurt but I can recover from it. When I stop the regular pain resumes business as usual, but I have had some hours doing what I must in a sort of enjoyable way able to mask the symptoms of my diseases for periods of time each day. I guess years of working this way lets me accept the consequences of what I do without consideration of the protest the body will respond with and it usually does, to let me know I've been foolish yet again!
As with my Grandfather before me, when we get a cold we are dying, when we are seriously injured, we are OK, what is the fuss.
Cheers

Oh my gosh, I’ve been thinking about my mom all day and missing her (she passed in 2011) and now you just reminded me of her. She’d called me and complain about a hangnail for 45 minutes and then when she was diagnosed with colon cancer, she told me that she had been having stomach pain for five years and never told anyone! I couldn’t believe it. Perhaps we’re related. 😁 You sound like you might be British or Australian and my grandfather‘s parents on my maternal side were British. I’m in the US and I feel like I need to apologize for that. I’m not responsible! There are some of us here who are intelligent and not arrogant, believe it or not.
Again, I’m so impressed by your strength, and so sorry that you have to go through all that you’re dealing with. It makes my problems seem puny in comparison. I guess we all have our crosses to bear in different ways, but I can’t imagine being in that much pain every day.
I hope there are some things that you can enjoy and I’m sure you’re an inspiration to those who know you by virtue of the fact that you haven’t given up. Life is difficult enough when you’re healthy!
Onward and upward! Or, perhaps it’s downward - some days I’m not sure. Take care of yourself!

Hi,
I moved from Detroit to NZ many years ago. I'm of Scottish decent which likely explains the stoic attitude. I appear to have taken it to the extreme! My mothers side of the family tree have all been the same, yet my fathers side have all been wimps, as my brother was. Thank the Lord for those genes, 2 out of 5 in the family recieved them and put them to good effect. It is interesting that 2 of the 5 succomed to MS, 1 has Hasimotos, I've got Autonomia and my little sister doesn't want to find out what problems she might have, in some respects I can blame her, ignorance can be bliss.
I don't see the need to apologise over one mans power fettish.
I remember my Grandfather crashed is bicycle and ended up in A&E banged up, everyone fussing over this 70 year old while all he could talk about was his bike, was it ok and had someone collected it for him.
Deflecting pain by causing pain you can control satisfies the need for the moment. I know I can take opioid based painkillers, but I'm keeping them for the day I cannot sustain the pain. I'm usually up at 6 am and feeling my age and everything else with it, 70 ish, but 1 hours later I think I'm 35 again ready and willing to thrash this body to let it know I'm in control, not the Autonomia. Then by mid afternoon I have lost the fight and Autonomia has won, time to relax a little and recover before another burst of action until retiring after mid night for a few hours of restless sleep.
Despite what I deal with I''m ever mindful there are others worse off than me. I'm one of the lucky ones able to suck it up and cope, for the moment.
Cheers

Hello again. I just wanted to tell you that you said something that struck me as very profound. “Deflecting pain by causing pain you can control satisfies the need for the moment.” In your case, you’re doing it on purpose, but in my case, I think I do it subconsciously. I’m finally beginning to realize that I sometimes suffer from illnesses, which, when challenged or no longer serve a purpose, disappear! That’s one of the reasons I don’t like to involve the medical field – they don’t understand things like that. Well, neither do I really. Anyway, without going into detail, I just wanted to tell you that that is a profound statement that can be used in many ways.
So you moved from Detroit to New Zealand! That’s quite an interesting move. I’ve never been to Detroit, but then I’ve never been to New Zealand either. If I had to choose between the two, I suppose I would choose New Zealand. From what I’ve seen in movies and on tv, it looks beautiful. I was watching a show about penguins tonight and I’m pretty sure they showed the coast of New Zealand. It reminded me a bit of home (Oregon). I love the waves crashing onto the rocks. So much more fun than just a flat, sandy beach, in my opinion.
It sounds like your family members have certainly had a lot of challenges. And I have heard that Scottish people are very strong and stoic. I have always wanted to go to Scotland. Maybe someday… But not with this stomach unless it decides to get on board with the program.
I salute you again for your positive attitude and your strength. I get quite discouraged when I can’t eat because I have no energy and I hate that. And pain hurts! You can quote me on that. 😊
Take care of yourself and thank for sharing. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make our problems go away. At least the digestive ones! I can handle the rest. Just barely, ha. 💕

Good morning, you probably need to wait for suggestions on diet and over the counter meds until your gastroenterologist appointment. Just continue to eat bland foods until that time. Please stay away from the yogurt and coconut milk!😊

Hi,
While the photo's and movies show a beautiful country side that is not the reality of it. Like most countries around the world man has managed to foul his enviroment. I considered Oregon with a job offer there but after being spoilt with choices moved here. It was a trade off but not being bombarded with crime every day drew me here. More fool me it has now caught up with the rest of the world. I went back to Texas for a while but NZ drew me back eventually. It was really nice to be in demand around the world back then. I eventually settled down designing and building scientific instruments for the NZ government until venturing out on my own.
I discovered how well induced pain can relieve accidental pain when I had a shattered heel reassembled and screwed together. I would force my nails into the palms of my hands until my next fix of pain killers. Once out of hospital the need for pain relief dissapated and I would concentrate of other things. I had shoulder surgery 2 years ago and although slow to revive from the anaesthetics, as always with me, I got up and drove home without painkillers, refusing to overnight, left the Doctors in dissmay. I feel like pain is my drug of choice, crazy I know but it gets my by. Some question why not take the painkillers, simply, only opioid based are tolerable with me and the only ones that do not destroy more of my already failing kidney function. I have an aversion to becoming addicted so refrain from taking them most of the time. I use around half a dozen per year when I'm unable to over come the severe pain at times, noticably when I'm feeling low and unable to block the pain as usual. I guess survival instinct maybe strong with this one.
Cheers

I should have known that the pictures I have seen of New Zealand were probably the prettiest parts. Yes, humans have messed up the earth something terrible. It makes me feel sick and sad. You would have liked Oregon I think. It’s very pretty and the coastline is gorgeous.
I don’t like to take medication either. I do take a tranquilizer to help me sleep because insomnia runs in my family.
What you said about the pain triggered another aha moment for me. (When you were talking about digging your fingernails into your palm) That’s why people self-mutilate! I admit as a kid I used to do that a little bit. It seemed to help me bear the emotional pain of my screwed up family. It takes your mind off what you can’t control or change.
It sounds like you must have a very creative mind if you were able to invent scientific instruments. If everyone were like me, we’d still be living in trees or caves. I can do word things well, but not invention, unless it’s poetry. Thankfully, we’re all different.
Please invent a way to transplant stomachs! I want a different one. Thanks in advance. 😊

Hi ,
I can go one better, I want a way to transplant my body for a good one!
My father and older brother were abusive and cut from the same cloth. My brother stopped when he found my strength was a lot more than he could muster, slaming his head into a brick wall quieted him down. As for my father that all stopped suddenly when I applied some of his own treatment back. I don't remember the incident but my family vividly recount an incident when I took a carving knife to him, he had my mother suspended by the throat. Ever since I have tried to not be like my father despite the violent nature I inherited when stirred, prefering to walk away.
Just experiencing a flare up this morning. I had veggie soup last evening that my wife made and it is kicking back. Seems like I can cross that off the tolerable list now. Take with caution in future. I'm sure she is not trying to poision me as we cashed in my life insurance!
I'm starting to prove this Autonomia is affecting my blood glucose levels when it is not supposed to be possible! Long thought it had some input but after 6 choky biscuits, see food diet, it tumbled this morning, relative to my norm, go figure.
I'm noticing these key board buttons are jumping around alot this morning so hope I'm making sense, my vision is compromised so everything is blurry for the moment, I hope. Just another challenging day ahead to keep me on my toes.
Cheers

@blessedwildapplegirl and @cheyne like you two, I am averse to prescription medications, much to my doctors’ chagrin. I often worry that my refusal to take prescribed medications (I only do when desperate, and only for as short a period of time as possible) will get me “fired” by my GP and any specialist she sends me to, and in Canada one cannot afford to lose a doctor since there is a much shorter list of available doctors than there are patients on waiting lists for them. 🤷🏼‍♀️ So I essentially pick my battles and choose which hill to die on - while I hold my breath when visiting my doctor or specialist, hoping I will not be prescribed anything! lol.

While I have built up a strong threshold to pain on my health journey, for certain procedures I still actually beg for freezing or anaesthesia! lol. Other than that, the only “bad” medications I take on a regular basis are just once a day medications for GERD (because of hiatal hernia), thyroid, psoriasis and overactive bladder. I have fibromyalgia and severe arthritis among other ailments but refuse prescription painkillers - especially any that have to be taken more than once a day. I just thank God I don’t have diabetes or heart disease because that would mean a much bigger list of medications!