The diagnosis is Helicobacter pylori or H.Pylori for short. And it's a stomach bacteria infection that can actually cause a lot more than stomach related problems/pains. After doing my own research with Dr.Google following the two trips to A&E with chest pain, I'd come across it before and I wondered if it could be that as I'd read that it can cause anxiety as one of it's symptoms. I'd seen an out of hours Doctor just before we went to Disneyland who'd also suggested it, which is why I was tested for it when I came back. The treatment I was given for it was 7 days of triple medication, which I've just a couple of days ago completed.
I spent last week mostly in bed suffering from high anxiety, heartburn, chest pain, indigestion, a feeling of a heavy head (which is REALLY strange!!), feeling tired to the bone, having weird waves of something come over me when I was laying down, having lumps (possibly gas bubbles?) come up in my stomach and also insomnia. I've changed my diet to cut out caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, spicy food and I've even gone back to eating more dairy (in case the soya milk had had some sort of effect on me).
So far I'm not sure if the medication worked. I've come off of everything now except the anti-anxiety medication which I'm going to stay on until this totally passes. I still feel like I've got as much gas I had and I'm still feeling tired like you do when you're not well. I'm also still having the strange sensation in my head towards the back, it doesn't hurt, it's just a bit weird. And some burning in my chest too. But I'm no longer bed-ridden which feels amazing! I'm getting control of my anxiety and I'm booked in to speak to a CBT therapist next week, so I'm hoping that it will get me through this slightly rough patch because I'd be lying if I said I hadn't felt frightened by and anxious about all the pains in my chest despite having a probable cause.
It's been a tough month and a half both emotionally and physically. The H.Pylori messes with my hormones as the gut and the brain are closely linked. Some days I'm dealing with crazy emotions and others I'm struggling with the physical symptoms. But I'm hopeful that it will go even if it hasn't yet gone with the first round of antibiotics that I've had. And I'm thankful (SO thankful) that nothing worse has been found and that hopefully this will clear up and then I can work on the anxiety side of things too with the help of CBT. I'm thankful also to my amazing Husband who's been my absolute rock lately. I wrote about him on my Instagram page the other day so I won't gush too much here, but I'm seriously one lucky lady - I love him to bits and owe him a lot. My family, both my Husband's side and my own have been incredble too. And the boys have been little angels (mostly, haha) considering that we had to cancel a lot of Easter holidays plans.
Sometimes life throws us a curveball doesn't it? - It can't all go to plan. But there's something good in every situation I think and I think this siutaiton will ultimately make me a bit stronger and also more grateful for how good life is on a general basis and how lucky I am to generally have good health and amazing supportive people around me.
Thank you for reading. Alex xo
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