Originally Posted by capt_noonie (Post 4600569)

It's great to be back. I missed everyone and checking in daily and posting. Finally bf left the iPad with me once I was strong enough to hold it up. They are not that light when you are weak! The doctor is still saying a few more days till he knows when I can get out. :thumbdown my levels are all back to normal except lipase I think and it's not even that high. I wanna go home!

Originally Posted by capt_noonie (Post 4600519)

Thanks nancy. Yeah the whole ordeal was very scary and touch and go for a while.

I also went back and read the whole thread. Thanks to everyone and your prayers and thoughts. I missed a lot of posts!

Now that I am better I guess I should explain in more detail what led up to the hospitalization. The night of sept 28 I woke in the night to a tummy ache. I thought it was indigestion so I took some Pepto, which usually helps. It didn't. I tried to sleep it off and tried to poop in the morning thinking I just needed to go, but I could not and my stomach hurt a lot just trying to go. Then my legs and arms started to tingle with pins and needles. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't and was sweating bullets. My leg strength was waning and I could only move My legs with the use of my arms. Soon after I had a violent vomiting episode and knew something was seriously wrong.

I complained to bf and asked him to massage my legs and arms bc the pins and needles were getting really irritating and painful. My stomach was really hurting at this point and I thought I had appendicitis and would need surgery. After a few hours I begged bf to take me to the hospital. At this point my hands were locked up claw like and I could to move them at all. Once we were at the ER I couldn't really move at all. My face was even getting paralyzed.

They checked me in really quickly and gave me a MRI and ct scan. They told me the locking up was likely an electrolyte imbalance. My legs and arms were all super tense. They said thankfully it wasnt a stroke bc it was both sides of my body and not just one side. Now I wonder if I would have rather had the stroke! I think it was at this point they told me the pancreatitis was triggered by alcohol.

I also had a fever at this point and I remember them giving me Motrin to sweat it out and that was horrible. After this first day I don't remember much. The pics I saw that bf took of me during the "lost days" are very scary and disturbing so I won't post them here.

The doctors did not tell me everything wrong with me at my sister's request. She didn't want it to scare me. It wasn't until after I started getting better I found out that not only did I have the severe pancreatitis, I also had respiratory failure and liver failure. Thankfully my kidneys were not affected. After I got the breathing tube out, so many nurses commented that I looked so much better. I did not recognize a single one of them!

Originally Posted by Nancy1999 (Post 4600530)

Oh wow, if it hits a "healthy" person that hard, I wonder what it would do to the rest of us! I didn't know drinking could cause it, did they mention gallbladder stones? Does this mean you'll never be able to drink again? I guess it's good you can't remember parts of it, I'm sure you were in a lot of pain. Hope you never experience that again!

Originally Posted by capt_noonie (Post 4600557)

One of my doctors said that in his whole career he never saw anyone w a case as bad as mine and survived. I dont know if drinking was the trigger for the others but it was for me. Yes i can never have alcohol again. It can trigger my pancreattitis again and next time i wont be so lucky. I guess its easier to not eat or drink something bc you cant rather than just "i shouldnt". Like someone with a deadly food allergy, that is how i must look at alcohol from now on.

The doctors did not mention gall bladder at all. The kidney doctor keeps coming in and telling me my kidneys are fine though. I dont know what thats about. Where is my regular doctor?!

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 4600627)

WOW, this had to be just SO scary! It scared me just reading it! To have all those physical things converge on you at once, yikes.

I'm so grateful you're okay.

On the alcohol trigger issue - can it just be a small amount of alcohol that triggers an episode in a 'vulnerable' person, or is it usually triggered by more of an "indulgent" evening of imbibing (lol)...?

No more drinkies for you, young lady! But hey, there's always good drugs :D!!! KIDDING. Well, sort of. No, I AM. Kinda. :p

Originally Posted by ladyjane (Post 4600705)

Addiction to anything is not a weakness or moral issue. It is an illness and needs treatment just as diabetes, cancer or any other illness does.

We all get so hung up on being perfect people. Those of us who are in my age bracket grew up watching stupid perfect families on tv. ... the perfect families that don't actually exist. Ozzy and Harriet and the like....

And, yes, alcohol is a sneaky thing ... it is legal, therefore it is ok, right? Yeah, sure for some, but not good for all. The numbers of people it kills either directly or indirectly is crazy. It does not make things better...it compounds and makes them worse, whether they are physical or mental.

Originally Posted by capt_noonie (Post 4600754)

I totally agree with you about the alcohol being legal people think it's ok. It's really not. It is a drug, actually a poison. But I am done with it. It's not worth the risk for me for even one drop.

Originally Posted by capt_noonie (Post 4600753)

Thanks for the tip Carla. I usually don't take NyQuil so I think I'd be ok. But if I do, I'll be sure to get DayQuil instead.

Originally Posted by ladyjane (Post 4600757)

No, it really is not. If you can do that on your own, terrific Priscilla...but if not, I highly suggest AA. Heck, I suggest the 12 step programs for lots of different reasons...I have often wondered if the world's problems would be solved if everyone worked a program.
It's a refreshing way of dealing with life and its bs.

Originally Posted by capt_noonie (Post 4600760)

It is something that I am seriously considering doing, w the bf. we should do it together. We would have to!

Originally Posted by capt_noonie (Post 4600760)

It is something that I am seriously considering doing, w the bf. we should do it together. We would have to!