A year of pain, dysfunction, and limited healthcare options in Canada

It has been 4 months since my last health update (1 year since symptoms began). I just went through an ordeal that has put me back at square 1! But first, a brief background...

Summary borrows from my previous post on this issue:

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I've been dealing with abdominal pain for just over 1 year. It was intermittent and mild at first, but it gradually became worse. Then in January, it got quite bad, and became mixed with a few other symptoms in the same region. Some of those symptoms were worrisome, so I made an appointment to see a doctor. (I don't actually have a family doctor "GP"... I have to see the specialist I was connected to when I had my heart surgery last year.)

He assessed a few things, then sent me for an ultrasound. It took weeks to get a follow-up appointment with him, but he finally informed me it doesn't appear to be a hernia, and referred me to a local abdominal surgeon.

When the surgeon finally saw me, he asked a few questions and looked me over, then said there could be a breakdown in the lining of my intestines, causing normally-beneficial gut bacteria to enter the abdominal cavity, where it causes infection and pain. My beloved grandmother suffered from that (aka "diverticulitis") in her later years. He booked me for a scope, which should be able to diagnose that, along with other issues like polyps, colitis, certain cancers, etc.

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That was 4 months ago. Since then, I've had no contact with the medical system, and just just been waiting for a phone call. In the meantime, under the assumption I have diverticulitis, I have completely stopped using Tylenol (aka acetaminophen, paracetamol), and any other type of painkiller (not easy when you have chronic nerve and joint pain). Studies show these medications accelerate diverticulitis, especially at higher doses and over long timeframes.

I have also been fasting intermittently. I don't eat after dinner, basically. Sometimes I also skip breakfast. This means I'm not eating for 12 (or even 18) hours every day. No midnight snacking! Not even fruit or treats in the evening. Just water. When done regularly this schedule of eating leads to fat loss and many other health benefits. Longer fasts have been shown to have special healing powers and can even extend your life. Worth checking out if you haven't.

I also take large doses of magnesium at night, which helps heal and regulate the guts (along with many other functions). And I've added turmeric (curcumin) supplements to reduce inflammation in my intestines. It also has a mild pain-relieving effect, helping make up for no longer having access to Tylenol etc.

Lastly, I have tried relaxation, stress reduction, cannabinoids, high fibre, low fibre, and other strategies to promote healing and normal function.

These measures have added up to bring some relief over the past few months. The wait for the procedure was easier when I got the problem into partial remission with nothing but diet and lifestyle changes.

A couple weeks ago, the phone rang. I was instructed to buy a "bowel prep" solution from a local pharmacy, and given the date of my procedure. I bought the solution ($43!) which came with some instructions. A few days ago, I had to stop eating entirely, and I spent the whole day drinking the solution, which tasted like ultra-salty metallic pineapple juice, except not sweet. It also makes you really nauseous. You have to drink a glass of it every 15 minutes for 2 hours (8 glasses). I just about puked many times but kept it down. Then the trips to the bathroom begin, and I'll just leave it at that.

Later, you feel like you've been pumped full of concentrated seawater and had it blasted through your system faster than anything has gone before, because that's basically what just happened. I was weak, my nerves were going haywire from all the electrolytes, and still nauseous from drinking all that nasty stuff. But also hungry, having not eaten since the evening before, but could only have water. I went to bed early but only slept for short spells, knowing the alarm was set for 445am...

Because by 5am I had to be drinking ANOTHER round of the solution! This time was a little less nauseating for some reason, which I was thankful for. But still lots of trips to the bathroom, even though by now there was no food in me. Yeeeeesh. This can't be good for you...

By 9am I was in a taxi to the hospital, early for my appointment by 20 minutes. They brought me right in, got me naked, put put a blanket over me, and stuck an IV in my arm. Then I was told to wait for 3 hours because "there are others ahead of you". Why did they tell me to arrive to early, then? I could have used a few more hours of sleep! Anyway, finally I was wheeled into an operating bay, and met an anesthetist who explained the drugs he was about to inject into me. My surgeon arrived (our second time meeting), and I was turned onto my left side. The drugs went in.

First injection, I just got relaxed. The next one switched off my awareness and senses, which is sort of like falling asleep, but you're actually not asleep. You breathe on your own (no intubation or anything like that). But you don't know what's happening, can't hear anything, can't see anything, can't feel anything, and aren't really aware of the passage of time. Major sections of your brain are just... off. And the doctor does his thing. You have no awareness, so you form no memories. That's why later, you feel like you bad been asleep or unconscious. I believe it's called twilight anesthesia.

Anyhow, I started becoming aware of myself again a bit later on. A nurse told me "nothing was found, in fact you're in perfect health, isn't that great news?"

Yeah, it's not that kind of cancer, and apparently it's not even diverticulitis. That's good, but there's definitely something seriously wrong in my abdomen, so I won't really rest easy until I've got a definite diagnosis. "Yay, you don't have Ebola!" is always a nice thing to hear, but it doesn't get you much closer to an actual diagnosis, let alone relief of your problems, know what I mean?

In summary, I've been in pain (and having for more than a year, I have modified my diet and lifestyle and have been doing my very best to pursue every avenue to find out what's wrong, but I still don't know. It has cost me some money, some privacy, some sleep, some dignity, and quite a bit of stress. I've had things stuck in me, I've been cut, I've been poked, I've had several serious drugs, and I've been run through scanning machines. They still have no idea what it is. I haven't got any leads on where to go next. Back to the specialist who sent me to the surgeon? I haven't got a lot of options. (After 3 years in this town, I'm still on a waiting list for a family doctor.)

So this health issue, which began essentially when my atrial fibrillation and heart failure were put into remission with ablation surgery last August, is still ongoing. As is my nerve problem which began in 2016 (pain, unwanted movements, inappropriate sensations, fatigue, insomnia, and more pain). There has been no explanation offered for ANY of that at any point, except occasionally "maybe you inherited it". I have little access to care, and there's never any diagnosis or treatment. I've had to learn to live with my health problems the best I can, and that's the best that I can do for now.

Anyhow, the good news is I made it through that ordeal, and I'm still alive to continue trying to find out what's wrong. If I can do that, I can potentially treat and even cure it. There's reason to hope even if it seems pointless.

Also, I'm getting things sorted out so that I can take my almost-6-year-old son to the ocean, sometime in the next few weeks (while the weather here stays reasonably nice). I started on this mission late last year when I recovered from the ablation surgery. It sped up in January when I sold a lot of BTC to pay off a $100k debt, and in the months since then I have been dealing with red tape and nonsense to get back my ability to own and operate motor vehicles in this country, as well as documents allowing me to travel internationally. I have also obtained such documents for my wife and our 2 young children. (I wish humans didn't need paperwork to move around on this planet, but currency we do, so it has been procured.) I plan to rent a vehicle, and take my family to the Pacific coastline (about an hour due West) sometime around the end of this month.

Sometimes I imagine what I'd be able to accomplish if I wasn't beset by all these random health problems that come out of the blue, have no apparent cause, and for which I was not particularly at risk. Or if there was a break between them, instead of them being perfectly lined up back to back so I never get time to recover and stabilize?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my luck changing for the last 40% of this calendar year. I said that 2025 was going to be my year. It's not over! It could still be.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who has encouraged me in various ways. Your support is valuable and appreciated.

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