Saturday, May 13, 2017

Bullying and Chronic Illness


bullying and chronic illness  life's a polyp

Living with a chronic illness is an intense stress and burden upon one's self and when it is coupled with resulting medical trauma, it is a recipe for mental health concerns regarding adjustment and coping. When you add a young age and bullying to the mix, it can be disastrous.

I always thought that my morbid death orientation and twisted sense of humor stemmed from the medical trauma I endured as a child. I was partly correct. During my own soul searching, I had an epiphany and realized my obsession with death didn't really exist until I was bullied during my 6th grade year - two years after my first surgery.

I had my first surgery at the end of my 4th grade year. Over the course of a year I would survive 5 surgeries and a near death experience and develop PTSD. Far from the expected two surgeries I was scheduled to have to place a temporary ileostomy and then reverse the ileostomy with a jpouch by the end of the summer break. I was home schooled during my 5th grade year due to my unstable health and frequent hospitalizations. As I prepared for my 6th grade year, I was malnourished and my doctors diagnosed me with relative anorexia. I was placed on a weight gaining diet and began to stabilize physically. As I recall, I was beginning to mentally survive as my PTSD was calming down with the reduction in medical procedures. I was adjusting the best I could to my unexpected ileostomy that was believed to be permanent. However, I was anxious to start back to school, particularly as 6th grade meant middle school - a new level without a transition and I had lost contact with the majority of my grade school friends during my year of absence. I wasn't psychologically ready for this change and I pleaded with my parents for an alternative. My parents opted to transfer me to a different school district that still held 6th grade in the grade school to allow me time to acclimate to returning to public school. In the end, this was a great decision as I would come to enjoy my school district and experience a challenging education with fantastic teachers that would prepare me well for college and a large group of close friends who supported me in my future health issues during my high school years. Unfortunately, this end result would require me to survive a very difficult time first.

My 6th grade year started off well. I was the new kid in school and painfully shy. I had no sense of fashion or style. I wore baggy pants and long, oversized t-shirts frequently to fit my level of comfort with my new body. I was uncomfortable wearing anything that might give away the presence of my ileostomy. I was introduced to a group of girls and was accepted. I managed to make several friends and all was going well.

That is, until winter break ended and I returned to school to find myself shunned by everyone I knew except for two girls - who were not in the circle of girls who orchestrated the shunning. Unfortunately, I didn't have classes with these two girls very often if at all and so I was left to myself the majority of the time. I was bullied relentlessly for the remainder of the school year. The bullying was led by two girls in the previous circle of friends I had enjoyed. I was never given an explanation for why my previous friends had shunned me and told others in our grade to shun me as well. I began to spend my recess in the classroom with my home room teacher as it was lonesome to play by myself outside everyday and one of the girls would often hit me in the head with objects such as hand sized rocks or hard plastic lunch boxes. My days were spent simply trying to survive so that I could return to the safety of my home.

The combination of this bullying with the medical trauma I had experienced within the previous two years was too much for my childhood self. I was no longer able to maintain coping and I became consumed by hate and anger. I was angry at my classmates for bullying me, at my parents for my disease, health, and for giving birth to me, and at my medical providers for my ileostomy and near death experience. I no longer was learning to cope and adjust to a life with an ostomy. My coping mechanisms became an obsession with death - my own death and the death of those I despised. Quite frankly, I became suicidal and homicidal. I prayed for my death and the death of others everyday for hours while fantasizing about our deaths, planning and plotting how I could bring about death. I had opportunities I could have taken to enact my devious plans. And yet, my health saved me and others from myself.

I managed to stay out of trouble during adolescence thanks to my health. My health made me timid in many ways and helped narrow my chances for typical adolescent mischief. I was too often ill or felt inhibited by my health to partake in high risk behaviors or activities. This inhibition coupled with my logical mind kept me from harming myself or others. Not only did I joyfully envision the demise of myself and others - I also envisioned the repercussions of such devious actions. Knowing the likely consequences that would occur if I acted upon my devilish desires kept me from harming anyone.


FAPVoice Bullying
Survey Results
The effects of bullying was far reaching for me that could have resulted in disaster for myself and those around me as well as their loved ones if it wasn't for my own ability to logically think through my thoughts. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for everyone who is bullied. Far too often individuals are completing their suicidal or homicidal desires causing great devastation. In the age of technology, bullying is growing, reaching vast audiences and victims.

FAPVoice launched a survey to determine the prevalence of bullying among their community members. I was heartbroken to read the stories of others' experiences. It's become common to hear about bullying within schools. I didn't expect to hear about bullying within the work place or from medical providers and family though in regards to chronic illness. I was particularly bothered by the story of one individual who felt bullied by her family and medical providers due to her medical decisions.

The sad fact is that we can encounter bullying anywhere and from anyone. But there are things we can do. We can stand up for ourselves and for others. We can reach out, understand, and educate.

Consider joining forces with anti-bullying groups and campaigns, such as No Bullying - a global source for education and support to stop bullying.

Regardless of your age, your place, your role or your avenue. You can make a difference.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Intestinal Blockages

intestinal blockages  life's a polyp

It could have started due to various causes. There are too many variables affecting my daily physical well-being. I can rarely pinpoint one cause for anything. It's most likely a combination of actions or it may just be random luck. It's not always easy to pinpoint the root cause of a flare up or an intestinal blockage.

Due to a combination of iron tablets and regular iron infusions, I'm finding myself with increased energy on the weekends. This was a prime weekend for activity. I had energy for a weekend full of activities. Perhaps I pushed myself too hard two days in a row.

Saturday I wanted to attend a local festival so in preparation for walking and possibly limited restroom access, I took one Lomotil tablet in the morning to slow my Short Bowel Syndrome. Normally, I have about 20 bowel movements a day thanks to my Short Bowel. This can be problematic when faced with physical activity and limited restroom access.

I hate taking any anti-diarrhea medications. The crazy thing is, I used to take the max doses allowed of Lomotil in an effort to slow my bowel for daily functioning. Now, one Lomotil tablet leaves me in pain and disrupts my normal bowel function which has its own negative side effects. However, I am able to participate in activities with less worry about restroom access. The slow down action of Lomotil has become so severe for myself that I can accidentally induce an intestinal blockage simply by taking one Lomotil tablet two days in a row.

Saturday evening started off with my Short Bowel Syndrome emptying itself as much as possible once the Lomotil started to wear off. My bowel was making up for only requiring very few restroom trips during the day. Additionally, the slowed bowel agitated my intestinal ulcers resulting in extreme blood loss for about 6 hours. I felt alright though. I had made it through the life span of the Lomotil and my bowel was returning to its normal routine.

I woke up Sunday fairly normal except my bowel was a bit angry still at me leading me to not feel comfortable leaving the house unless required. Fortunately, I was able to stay home until my bowel calmed down. The morning transitioned into a pretty bowel typical day for me. In the evening, I decided to snack on pickling cucumbers. As I finished my second small cucumber and reached for the third one, I remembered the time I gave myself an intestinal blockage by eating crab salad made with a whole English cucumber. A whole English cucumber is too much for my intestine to handle. Before this occurrence, I never had an intestinal blockage caused by food. Not once. So I rationalized that pickling cucumbers are smaller and I've eaten two in combination with tomatoes, onions, and olive oil without any issue. So one more wouldn't hurt anything.

Monday started with uncomfortable bloating and limited bowel movements (for me...remember I'm used to 20 times a day) but a lot of my mornings start this way and improve as the day goes on. So I ignored it; just another day. I drank some coffee and ate a snack and lunch and my symptoms seemed to start to improve. But then my day drastically changed. Suddenly I found myself having a flare up. I was running to the restroom every 5 minutes - literally - and started having painful abdominal cramping. This went on for hours, I was excited when I was able to wait 20 minutes in between restroom trips. I took the 20 minute interval for granted and it returned to the 5 minute intervals. If I can just sleep, this will clear up by the morning I think to myself as I draw on past flare ups.

I managed to finally sleep for a few hours and I awoke to a severely distended
abdomen and
excruciating cramps. Now my bowel movements had gone from 5 minute intervals to barely any. Somehow, I went from flare symptoms to blockage symptoms over night. I tried drinking hot tea, eating soup, using a heating pad, lying down rather than sitting up. Nothing was making a difference. With hope, I took the max dose of milk of magnesium laxative to help out. Normally, if I take a laxative I have flare symptoms but it does help flush out my intestine and stop the abdominal cramps and bloating. The laxative did nothing this time. I knew I was getting into trouble but I still refused to accept that I was having an intestinal blockage and I refused my parents' suggestions of going to the ER. In desperation, I stopped trying to keep my food and drink down. I allowed myself to vomit until I couldn't vomit anymore. The pain and bloating improved but was still present. My mother convinced me to take a Lortab for the pain so that I could sleep. As the night progressed, the symptoms began to lessen. I started to have more typical for me bowel movements. I clung to the hope that this blockage was finally clearing or I would be forced to visit the hospital the next day.

Fortunately, the combination of vomiting and a Lortab did the trick this time and the blockage progressively cleared itself over the course of the third day. I was lucky this time.

I replayed my actions taken over the weekend. Was this caused by a combination of factors? Did I start into action a blockage when I took the Lomotil and then cemented it into place by eating too many cucumbers? Was I having a flare at all or was it just the early signs of a blockage?

With Short Bowel, there isn't always a definite cause for how my bowel will act on any particular day. But I need to be mindful of the choices I make to help protect my physical well-being. I need to pay heed to my body's triggers. I've learned that I need to be careful about how many Lomotil tablets I take and my body is starting to require more attention to food limits. With chronic illness, we are faced with periods of change requiring us to adapt to yet, another change in our health and how our bodies respond to daily life.