I’ve been in constant pain for three days and nights now. Monday night, I started to feel like I had indigestion. you know the kind that’s way high up in your tummy and you think you need to just burp and get it over with? Yeah. That kind. Anyway, I went to bed, figuring it would cure itself over night. I did not.
Tuesday morning I took some Gas X to no avail. Tuesday evening I drank some baking soda and water, followed by two cans of ginger ale, all in attempts to break up that gas bubble I thought was lodged in my tummy.
The pain has been constant. It’s ranged from aches between my shoulders down to my hips, to sharp pains just below my rib cage when I burp, cough, sneeze, hiccup. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to stand for long periods of time. By the end of the day, it hurts all the way to my back.

When none of my gas remedies worked, Honey suggested that maybe I had a muscle spasm across my torso. I thought it was a valid suggestion so I took a muscle relaxer and went to bed. Felt a little bit better yesterday morning but by the time I left work and headed to my First Aid class, I was just about doubled over in pain.

So, I called in sick to work today so I could see a doctor. It’s not getting any better and I’m starting to get worried. The anxious and irrational part of my brain (which I think I inherited from my mother!) thinks it’s a tumor, or maybe internal bleeding of some kind, or a blocked artery. The rest of my rational mind says, “You don’t have a medical degree so go ask someone who does!”

Mostly I just want it gone so I can get on with my life. I have to go to class this afternoon and then head downtown for Honey’s dad’s retirement party. I cannot afford to just lie down and wait for this to heal itself.

The thing is, I’ve never felt this kind of pain before. It’s not gas and I don’t think it’s IBS-related, and it’s not getting better. That’s starting to worry me.

My appointment is in an hour and a half. I’d better go get ready for it.

**UPDATE**
New doctor was great. He says it’s probably not a muscular or gallbladder problem because of where the pain is prominant. He thinks it may be a bacterial infection in my tummy called H Pylori. Yuck.
Anyway, he took some blood (while I looked the other direction and pretended not to notice) and will have the results early next week. Meantime, it’s “bland foods, clear liquids and quadruple the amount of antacids.” Woopty doo!