An explanation??

I think I know what the heck is going on... 

I've been incredibly sleepy these days and having a hard time getting my energy back. Not that uncommon in a Sjogren's patient.

However, those incredibly painful episodes of heart burn have reared their ugly head again, too. Hmm. I would wake up at night with pain below my ribs that radiated into my chest and shoulders. I felt hot and sweaty, nauseated, and dizzy.

The first time I felt like this, I was 20 weeks pregnant and thought I was having a heart attack. We called an ambulance and I was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night. They quickly discovered that my heart was fine, baby was fine. They gave me a numbing medication to swallow and everything felt so much better.  This happened a few more times while I was pregnant and I controlled it by eating a super bland diet.  How fun.

Well, those episodes are coming back...with a vengeance!!  Instead of lasting for an hour or less, they are lasting for a whole day! Now, when I breathe in, I feel a sharp pain in my right side under my rib.

Are you with me? Do you know where I'm going with this?

Checked in with my doctor who is sending me for an MRI tomorrow morning to check my...wait for it...gallbladder. Sigh.

While she's at it, she's running a test for celiac disease just to rule it out.

I have known for a while that I have a gallstone. I have resisted surgery because there is no good reason to just rip out random organs that aren't causing any problems. Well, well, well. There is certainly a problem now. I am ready to go. I am ready to have this thing removed. Bring it on.

A friend of mine who recently had her gallbladder out told me that she didn't even use pain meds when recovering from the surgery. She was so relieved to have all that persistent pain gone, she was able to handle the recovery pain.

I look forward to full nights of sleep again. I look forward to not writhing with low level, irritating discomfort all day. I hope the MRI reveals this simple fix and everything gets back to getting better.