After a couple of weeks investigation and a scary weekend ending up in being rushed into hospital twice by ambulance we now know where all the pain in the kidneys came from and why my stomach became so swollen it resembles a hot air balloon. Starting with the slight chest infection that developed into Pneumonia and caused me really bad pains in the back and the lungs also causing me to find it very difficult to breath. Then developing into sharp pains in the kidney and constipation like never seen before. Being put on 3 lots of antibiotics and different pain killers all contributed to my condition and slowly made me worst and worst as each day passed. The mixture of infection plus pain killers and antibiotics ended up in me developing constipation and being blocked up so badly that i thought my stomach and sides were ripping apart. This in turn was causing pressure in the colon and with a slightly swollen kidney as it was having to work vary hard due to the amount of tablets i was taking. I ended up having to be rushed into hospital and given an enema in order to shift the blocked and release the pressure in order to ease the pain. Not happy with having it done once and being so embarrassed i could just die i ended up having to be rushed back into hospital the next day and have another procedure. This has now left me very sore in the sides where my muscles have been put through the mincer with me trying to push and pass what i can only describe as a bowling ball through a whole the size of a 5 pence piece.
They did x-rays and scans to ensure there was nothing else going on and also checked the kidney for anything unusual such as kidney stoners and/or infection but thankfully all the sign's were clear. I am so happy it wasn’t something serious as i just had visions of my holiday being cancelled if i didn't get what ever it was causing me a problem sorted. It now explains all the strange things that were happening and why a tablet such as Verapamil, which shouldn't cause any side effects, was having such and influence on my stomach and causing me to be worst than i was. There was nothing in the side effects of the medication and no one had heard of such a thing but it clearly made my condition worst when it shouldn’t really have had any effect. It was down to the fact i was already constipated and starting to have problems as far back as three weeks ago. At least i now know as soon as the constipation is cleared i will be able to start to take the verapamil again and this will bring me even more relief when it comes to the head attacks i have been getting lately. The pain i am getting in the kidney area is in fact my muscles and not the kidney itself playing up so there is nothing to be worried about as this will ease as i slowly start to heal now that my bowls are moving again. I still have to take a laxative and make sure i keep drinking plenty of fluids as it will still be another week before my bowls will be back to normal.
The weather looks like it is finally starting to improve and the start of Spring is finally here, all be it a little late! The change in weather has seen a huge improvement on the attacks i have been getting and i am now down to 2 to 8 attacks a week instead of daily. This with the new medication about to be re-started again should see my attacks become a thing of the past until the bad weather returns next winter. I am just hoping that my condition will go into remission by then and i won’t have to go through all the pain as i normally do when the cold weather returns. At the moment i am just thankful to start feeling better and can’t wait to put this nightmare behind me and concentrate on something other than my health all the time. It’s bad enough having to live with a condition such as CH with out making it worst with other things such as bad constipation. It’s time for me to start concentrating on my fishing and get back into something i enjoy so much. Only 2 weeks to go now and we are off on holiday down in Cornwall and i just can’t wait. There are a couple of things i now have to chase up now that i am better in order to make sure we have everything ready for the fishing holiday and make sure we have all the gear we need. Just can’t wait!
