Sometime in January or February I was sitting down eating and all of a sudden I had a hard time swallowing and didn’t finish eating that night. Since then I’ve had trouble swallowing; some days being worse and some days being better.
Sometime last week (either Nov 25th or 26th) my swallowing got worse and at times I had a hard time swallowing my saliva. I went to the walk in clinic at the hospital that I always go to on Dec 2nd. After being in the waiting room for over two hours I was finally called in. My blood pressure and temperature was good. The resident who saw me asked me how my swallowing was. I explained the same as I always do which is that its difficult to swallow so I try to eat very slow and small bites and sometimes it’s hard to swallow at all. And at times my mouth gets tired of all the chewing to make sure its small enough to swallow. He asked me if I have lost any weight (I’m guessing because of me not being able to eat normally). I said not really it’s been on and off. He asked me if I am trying to lose weight and I responded that I am and a friend of mine suggested me getting my thyroid checked out.
THEN he asked me if I there’s a chance that my trouble swallowing can be psychological since I am trying to lose weight. I said no that it cannot be psychological. He went on to say that I shouldn’t get an endoscopy done if it’s psychological because there’s risk involved; I read about them ahead of time because I had an appointment to get one done a few months ago but didn’t because I had no one to help me after.
ANWAYS, He went to speak to the attending doctor. Came back 20 minutes later and mentioned that my record shows that I had depression and anxiety. I told him noo that I never had depression only social anxiety and this was many years ago around 2003 or so. He responded saying it says both depression and anxiety in 2004 and 2005. Which I didn’t think about it until after but I was pregnant Sept/Oct 2004 and had my baby May 2005, went to my 6 week check-up after giving birth and I NEVER went to the hospital or any clinic for myself until Feb 2008 when I started having swallowing problems so I have no clue what he was talking about. Someone I spoke with back in 2002/2003 (and only for 2 or 3 months) said she thought I had social anxiety but was not sure.. she gave me a prescription to some pills and I never took them and never went back because I thought it was a waste of time. I was 14 at the time. After that I started working at the mall and was good. Someone with social anxiety cannot work at the mall especially not around Christmas time.. OK.
Anyways, so because of this it seems pretty weird that my record would say that seeing that I did not speak to anyone for long and it definitely was NOT in 2004 or 2005. It was probably a few months after I turned 14. I am four months away from turning 21. This was over 6 years ago and they think its effecting me now?
He asked me if I wanted to speak to someone and I said NO that I’m all good that social anxiety was a long time ago and I have NEVER had depression.
SO.. he said I cannot get an appointment to see a GI doctor until February and then THEY will decide what to do and if I should get an endoscopy or not.
He asked if I was getting heartburn and I responded yes more than usual and told him I am taking tums. OK.
He gave me a paper for blood work and added the thyroid blood work form too. That’s it. He did not look in my mouth at all to check out my throat or anything. Just talk.
He said to give it a week and if it gets worse to come back and the attending will see what she can do. He said if I go to the Emergency room they can either admit me to the hospital to keep an eye on me or send me to the walk in clinic. I went to the emergency room a few months ago in a different hospital because of my swallowing problem and I couldn’t breathe good but since my tonsils looked good they didn’t do anything and just sent me home and told me to go to walk in.
One doctor who saw me a few months ago said it cannot be cancer because I am too young. Now someone else is thinking it can be psychological. It makes me wonder… are these doctors really trying to help or just hurry up the line?
Don’t get me wrong; the resident that saw me was super nice. He made sure to tell me that he believed me but that he just wanted to be sure its not psychological so we wont have to do an endoscopy if not needed.. but still. If I tell him I was never depressed he acts as if it’s not true.
I was speaking to a man while I was in line to register to the walk in clinic. He was in a wheel chair. I heard him speak to another lady in the waiting room later on. He had a leg amputated not long ago, lives alone, has some kidney problems and only God knows what else. He fell in his apartment a few days ago and was in a lot of pain, he couldn’t close one of his hands normally and something that was swollen on his stomach area was even more swollen.. He has fallen many times before since he does not have any help and at times the doctors have believed that he really is not in pain and just wants pain medication..
Yes, there are people who go to hospitals just for pain medication. I know people like that. BUT this man got his leg amputated and has real health issues. I know he’s in pain. There’s other people who complain of a simple back pain or anything else and get pills quick but people like him who are in need of them have a hard time. *SMH* pray for him please. I will do the same.
So yeah.. back to my swallowing. On Sunday (Nov 30) I was in church and had trouble swallowing my saliva at times. For a while I was praying to God to heal whatever it is that is causing me to have swallowing problems. That Sunday I also prayed about it for a little and when I was at the alter my swallowing (of my saliva) was normal. Thank God! I went home and still had trouble swallowing food though but at least I didn’t have to keep worrying about how I was going to swallow my saliva!
My appointment to see a GI doctor is two months away.. I will continue to pray to God to do the miracle and help me with my swallowing problem. For Him to heal whatever is causing me to not swallow normally and have a hard time breathing sometimes.
God is good. I know He is going to help me out.
I didn’t want to go to a doctor at all. I was just going to leave it in Gods hands but since my swallowing is getting worse my mom suggested me getting it checked out. I was also a bit scared that I would choke when alone at home so I went. All they did was blood work. The rest is in Gods hands. I went to the hospital now whatever happens let it be what God wants it to be.
I will be healed and it will be for Gods Glory.
