Health update five thousand and seventy four!

N.B - I'm writing this from my phone in bed, despite it being 7am and me being off work I can't sleep, apologies for weird and wonderful typing mistakes.

Throughout my blog there have been a number of reoccurring themes, mainly;

1) infertility sucks
2) not being pregnant sucks
3) watching everyone else get pregnant sucks
4) moaning
5) boo hoo my tummy hurts
6) the incompetence of the National Health Service.

This entry will mostly fall under, and add to, theme 6.

I had 10 days of pain free living and then on Thursday last week it started up again, no reason, I was taking the same drugs, but I couldn't eat again. Thursday to Monday was mostly spent with me sobbing to Martin and asking him to make the pain go away. On Monday evening I was curled up in the bedroom sobbing and uttered the sentence "I don't even want to live anymore" which prompted Martin to call the GP and get the next available appointment. I was pleasantly surprised when it was 9am the following day.

So at 9am yesterday I walked into my GPs office and immediately burst into tears and begged her to do something, I had previously been told there were no more medications I could try so I was prepared to beg. I told her my life wasn't worth living, I couldn't sleep, hasn't eaten a whole meal in 4 months and was putting my IF treatment on hold because of this problem. I had a gastroscopy 10 days ago along with a blood test for a bacteria called h pylori which I had not yet received the results. It's a bacteria that almost everyone has, but in 10-20% of cases it turns bad, taking up home in mucous linings of the body and causing havoc, including ulcers, gastritus, heart burn etc... I was tested for this is 2011 and was told the biopsy was negative, and therefore was not the cause.

I explained the above to my GP, she read through my notes and began to frown "But it says here December 2011 H Pylori Biopsy - Positive", she then turned the screen and let me read. She then picked up the phone to call the lab at the hospital to chase up my results. Low and behold, blood test for h pylori antibody came back positive, a very high positive. It then dawned on the both of us that I had been in almost constant pain since August 2011 due to a bacteria that was present in my digestive tract that wasn't friendly. One of the nasty things it does is block the medication prescribed for stomach conditions from adequately working, rendering them almost useless. My specialist at the previous hospital had never bothered to a) tell me the correct result from the initial biopsy or b) schedule a follow up appointment. The treatment for the bacteria is a 7 day course of double antibiotics and a prescription antacid medication. That's it!!

So this stomach problem could have been solved and cured 18months ago with a simple treatment of antibiotics, but due to the sheer incompetence of the NHS once again, it wasn't.

Now, as the bacteria has gone untreated for so long, the doctors are worried it may have spread into other areas so more radical treatment may be needed. I have also been informed that due to lack of treatment for this bacteria I have a 1-2% lifetime risk of developing gastric cancer, so will need to keep an eye on my health stomach wise.

Another nasty thing h pylori does, as it inhibits ALL mucousy areas of the body, is turn CM particularly bad, stopping sperm from getting where it needs to be, and killing the ones that do. It is also reported to be responsible for early miscarriages in sufferers who have wide spread infections as it can get into the uterus lining - my stomach pain started on 4th August 2011 ( I remember as it was a meal for a friends birthday) and the infection usually starts well before the pain does. We had our miscarriage on 7th September 2011. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Antibiotics started yesterday, I should be forever cured this time next week.