How gallbladder surgery ruined my health - part 2

After that horrible low blood sugar crash. I stopped my Atkins diet and decided to go back to a diet I knew worked for me. No red meat, no chicken, no dairy, lots of canned tuna in water, complex carbs at every meal, high protein, low raw foods, root vegetables only (potatoes, yams, etc...), a multi-vitamin, walking (on my gazelle this time), and counting calories.

I had started in late october 2003, and by may 2004 I had lost 60lbs! My morning nausea and constant gagging was gone, and I was now light enough to go for walks concrete sidewalks outside without getting painful heel spurs or shin splints. It was at this point that my weight loss efforts were challenged. During a routine afternoon powerwalk around my apartment building complex. I tripped and rolled my left ankle on a deep sidewalk crack. I thought I had just rolled it, but my visit to the clinic the next day proved otherwise. It was broken! So 10hrs later, I walked out in crutches with a cast. This was the 2nd time I had broken my left ankle, way to go! So for 6 weeks I couldn't put pressure on it. Then for another 8 weeks I had to walk with an air cast. No longer able to workout, I stopped losing weight. I didn't gain anymore either which was good.

During this time, my now wife, moved in with me and I became a vegetarian again. Unfortunately, my nausea and gagging was slowly coming back along with intense chest/upper back pains. It was becoming so painful and so frequent that I became a regular at the local emergency room. It wouldn't matter what I ate, everything was hurting me while going down. I became so weak and so scared. Every hospital visit was the same: "We did blood work and stomach x-rays, everything looks good, must be anxiety or something you ate. We'll give you something for the pain and for your stomach and you'll be good to go OK?" All they would give me is 50mg Demerol and 40mg Pantaloc (antiacid). Would it make me feel better? sure, but it made me feel weaker too.

This charade of weekly ER visits went on for close to a year. I sometimes would have to leave work the pain was so bad (the whole time praying that I don't die). One "attack" was so intense I vomited steady for 2 hrs and had a 105F fever. I was kept overnight and given over 600mg of Advil, 40mg of Pantaloc (stomach antacid), and 100mg of hydrocortisone to make it through. I was released the next morning because after doing blood cultures, blood work and x-rays, they found nothing wrong with me...again! Blamed it on the take out I had eaten earlier and let me go.

I wanted answers so bad that I started exploring the world of alternative medicine. the first thing I tried was Reiki, I had four treatments in total. They worked wonders on my phobias and anxiety attacks. After my first treatment, I felt like the whole world could blow up and wasn't afraid. My anxiety and phobias vanished just like that! Even my fear of flying was gone and was able to experience flying in to meet my future in-laws! I was less angry, less controlling, and less fearful of change. I knew something (outside myself) had happened to me during that Reiki treatment. So I decided to learn Reiki for myself and began doing daily treatments hoping it would also "cure" the cause of my digestive pain.

Can you believe my health continued deteriorating for another 9 months after this incident and the daily Reiki treatments? It reached a point where I could no longer work. The pressure/pain in my upper back/chest area became constant. I had stopped eating all forms of meat except tuna in water. I had also stopped eating any kind of raw fruits and veggies. Only juices, soda crackers, canned tuna, and fat free chips didn't "hurt" me.

Until one day, on October 3rd 2005, after having salmon and rice for lunch, another BIG attack hit me. I tried taking my (then) usual cocktail of 4 Gas-X tablets, 40mg Pariet (insanely high dose I know!), 50mg Gravol, 400mg Advil, and waiting 1 hr to see if it went away. Meanwhile, I'd be feeling very faint and shaking.

This time, it didn't work, I had to go to the ER. They didn't have enough beds, so I had to wait in a wheelchair in the lobby. Two hours later, I asked to just go home. Once home, the pain for worse and I could no longer walk. So an ambulance was called in. I returned to the ER in ambulance, again, no beds, I had to wait. Finally, after being put on an IV and having a series of blood work done. They found my liver enzymes over 400% higher than normal. I was passing stones and one got stuck! Emergency gallbladder removal was scheduled...Happy Thanksgiving to me!