Health Ramblings

I am so glad I am starting to feel better! God, that stomach crap was really rough! My dad is sick now with the same stomach thing. My mom has some sinus thing goin' on. We canceled my Aunt's b'day dinner tonight. She really didn't need to come and spend time with the "Sickleys".

You know what sucks? I'll tell ya what sucks - always being know as the sick one. Hearing things like, "You're always sick.", "You're sick again?", "Tiffany, you know the girl with all the stomach problems.", "Weren't you sick last week, month, year, whatever?" and "It's all in her head, she's really not sick." YEAH - because I like being sick, feeling like shit, getting behind at work, being contagious, etc.... Being sick is freakin' GREAT!

I'm really not that "sickley". When I was in elementary and middle school it was always the yearly strep infection and seasonal "swimmer's" ear infections. I don't consider that major. In late middle school early high school I started having stomach issues. Yes, some of this is partly due to me being the "Nervous Nelly" type and from my dad fucking with my family. But I got help in that area and I am able to control my stomach to the best of my ability.

Then during my last year in high school and into my first two years of college, I would get terrible heartburn. The kind that would last for weeks at a time. The pain would go straight to my back. I still went to school and work but I was in constant pain. I had lots of tests done. Always with the same result: lots of acid in my stomach = new heartburn/acid reducer prescriptions.

I was sick of being sick so while I was on winter break I was looking at the Mayo Health Clinic website trying to find out what the hell was wrong with my stomach. I found my answer. At first, my doctor refused to do the simple blood test to see if I had H. Plyori (spelling???) bacteria. My test was positive. I had to go on 3 months of heavy drug treatment. A year later I had to do the treatment again. Sometimes it can take up to 3 treatments. Anyways, I have been clean of that bacteria for a while and it's great!

Now that I have been teaching I usually get the stomach thing once or twice a year and strep once a year. Now I realize this might be more than the average person but I don't think that I am getting sick too much. Considering I work in a low-income elementary school where germs run wild!

And yes, I did teach for 2 days while having an appendicitis. I went straight from the school nurse's office to the ER. I just didn't want to admit that I was sick!

I have allergies too but who doesn't if you live in Atlanta.

I have a sensitive stomach. One day wheat stuff bothers me and sends me running to the bathroom and other days I could eat a loaf of whole wheat bread and be fine. I just have to watch what I eat. If it makes me sick I don't eat it for a while. No big deal.

Okay - to summarize (if anyone is still reading) my current yearly illnesses:
* 1-2 stomach bugs
* 1 strep infection
* 1-2 "colds"
* fall/spring allergies
* sensitive stomach

I don't think that my health looks to bad. I have all my cholesterol, sugars, etc, tests done every year. Those always come back great. My blood pressure if great. The only thing my doctors tell me is to lose weight and floss more.

I guess maybe if you are around me a lot it may seem like I am sick with something all the time. But if you ask me, "Hey you sound like you are getting a cold or you look like you don't feel well" and I reply with "Yeah, just my allergies (or stomach) acting up." Don't be like, "God, your sick all the time!" I think I will start lying to people if they ask how I am feeling.

Basically all I wanted to say in this post is that I am tired of hearing people make comments about me being sick all the time.