Lately I could not do much work for any of the projects I manage (TVPMagazine or Videoneat) and lots of problems accumulated and developed in a very short period of time. Here’s what happened in order:

 

1. Some 2-3 weeks ago I had a very bad indigestion and pressure in the right part of my upper abdomen.
2. After a few days I had flu like symptoms and some other pains throught my abdomen, some in my arms and legs, some in my chest, but mostly that awful right side upper abdominal pain that was almost constant 24h a day.
3. A mole (red one) appeared from nothing on my right knee and was growing quite fast.
4. I went to the hospital for the indigestion and abdominal pain, but the doctor said it can be a viral infection and said it will go away in 2-3 days, then programmed me to a specialist for the mole and said it does not look like a dangerous one.
5. I had my mole removed in a few days time and they said it does not look like a dangerous one, but to check back in 1-2 weeks with my personal doctor.
6. In the meantime my health situation did not improve and I lost 4kg in 1 week.
7. I became very weak physically and while in a supermarket ‘hunting’ for food, something I always dislike, a sharp pain in the back right side of my chest. It was accompanied by heart palpitations and a feeling of weakness, almost passing out. It lasted for 20-40 seconds but it was very scary.
8. I went home and later on and decided to go to the emergency room to make sure I have no big health problems. I waited 2 hours in the waiting room. They did some basic tests on me (heart rate, oxygen levels, etc.) and said it was nothing severe, but they don’t know what it was.
9. Until this point I also had some sharp pains in different parts of my body (not like the big pain in my back), still indigestion, feeling weak, could not eat much, etc..
10. Next day I was at home alone and a sharp pain, same kind, this time right upper front chest with the right arm, plus palpitations and I was to the point of passing out. I managed to send a message to my sister and she and my parents came to my place with the car and drove me to the emergency room again. This time I went straight to the doctor to consult me. They did and EKG to check my heart, and other physical tests for half an hour or more. They didn’t find anything abnormal and said they don’t know what could have happened.
11. Next day same kind of pain in the lower right side. Lasted less, but still palpitations, still a sudden feeling of weakness and feeling like passing out. This time I didn’t go to the ER.
12. After 2 days I went back to my personal doctor to try and figure out what is going on. I had fewer issues with the indigestion by that time, but started to have more flu-like symptoms and headaches for 2 days. I also have a rash on my face that appeared a year ago and tried a few lotions but didn’t help much, and under all of this stress with the other health issues, it started to become more uncomfortable. I asked my doctor about my mole and they had no results still, then talked for half an hour about all of my issues and he said it is very likely to be a virus infection. I relaxed a bit because I managed to ask the doctor several questions that I really wanted to ask like if it is an issue with my gallbladder, pancreas or liver, and so on, and he said he does not see them as the cause. The viral infection is the cause in his view. But he still scheduled me to a full blood and urine tests, though in a month time…. He also gave me a new lotion to try for my face, for the rash.
13. Now I was better, no more indigestion yet still some pains in the right upper side of my abdomen from time to time. I was happy about the new lotion for my face (new treatment!, yeah!), used it for the first time and boom: huge rash on my face and very itchy and a burning sensation. The doctor said this can be normal, and I accepted it, but it was a new and very uncomfortable pain I had to deal with on top fo what I endured so far.
14. I woke up a day after using that lotion with very bad rash on my face, itchy and burning, and I realized I have no electricity in the apartment. I talked to the landlord (because I pay rent, is not my apartment) and she started to say all kinds of BS that made no sense about why I had no electricity , like “sometimes the electricity company turns off the power for some apartments because they think no one lives there”… She said the power should get back next day. I always paid my rent and bills the exact same day she sent me the bills. At this point I had no electricity, a very uncomfortable rash on my face, my body was hurting from the virus, but I said tomorrow will be ok.
15. Not at all, this time the landlord was like “oh, they found an electricity bill that was not paid from 2014, etc….and cut off the power supply but it should get back in 24h”. BS again because I had no electricity for 3 days while having those health issues. I could not cook any food, nor buy food because the fridge was not working of course. I also lost some of the food from the fridge because it got spoiled. Luckily my parents live in the same city and I spent most of the time there.
16. Today (at the time of writing this article) the electricity is on again, my rash on the face is still bad (looks and feels like 70% of my face was severely burned) but hopefully will improve. I started to have again some symptoms of indigestion though, and I still have some flu-like symptoms (from cold hands, sweating sometimes, to some abdominal and chest pains and a runny nose). It is nothing severe at this point (except my face rash that is very uncomfortable), just mild symptoms, but still uncomfortable overall.

 

One thing I hate so much from the daily life of a human is buying food and eating. I always hated that because is super difficult to manage this on a daily basis. I have no money to eat out so I need to buy the food, cook it, deal with the dishes and other such small things that over time become stressful. Also, I find all food the same, same taste, same shit. So I have no clue what to eat. If there was a pill that I can take and never eat again I will.

Right now I can only ‘hope’ for my situation to get better until I will have my blood and urine tests done next month (lots of time until then). Will try to eat boiled stuff (from animals to vegetables and many fruits) and try here and there to do some work for TVPM. Speaking of that, TVPM is another concern that I have (even before all of this – and some of the stress with the magazine made things much worse) because I manage everything for that project, except proofreading, and we are so low on the financial support that I can only keep on continuing 2 more months or so – plus some other stuff that I and TVP either fail to communicate or one of the sides is weirdly off the bit in regards to TVPM (will make more posts about this in the future). But what I care is to be healthy ;), the rest can be solved later on. If I won’t be able to pay my rent then I’ll move to another place and will do whatever I can for TVPM with whatever support I get, or if I and TVP fail to communicate then I will still make such projects (because I mainly make them alone anyway). Lots of exciting stuff to write about – can’t wait for the book on Language to be released ;). But right now I am focusing on my health.

 

UPDATE (02 July): I am feeling much better, though I still have some abdominal pains from time to time, on both the right and left side of my upper abdomen. Less or no indigestion issues or other kinds of issues for the past 2-3 weeks. I am taking some pills that another doctor recommended, even if they do not know what caused (and maybe is still causing) my problems. I had several tests to confirm that there is no virus or bacteria and an abdominal ultrasound that only found some polyps on my gallbladder. My GP and the specialist said they don’t look like anything dangerous but my GP said I should do another ultrasound (a more detailed one) to see what it is. In the meantime the rash on my face almost disappeared (not sure why) but the doctor said I have “Seborrheic Dermatitis” and these flare-ups on my face can come and go just like that….. I also moved with my parents for now because I wasn’t able to manage my life financially. This allowed me to buy a drone and a good camera and microphone and work on a new video series based on TVPMagazine or TROM-like subjects. We recorded the first video and we want to make 2-3 more before we release them. Hopefully I will get more financial support and get back to my ‘normal’ life 🙂

I also had a discussion with Roxanne and another TVP ‘activist’ about TVPM and TVP and why TVPM is not endorsed by TVP on the main website and other issues, and I am more confused than before. The only thing I can say is that Roxanne really wants the magazine to be more promoted by TVP and she thinks this project is very important. So I will talk more to her than to anyone else around TVP to see what we can do about it.

All in all things are much better now, but I am still waiting for the next ultrasound and I want to do more investigations about what caused my issues. I will post more updates here.

 

UPDATE (14 July): I went again to the hospital and said: “Look, you said in 2-3 weeks you are going to call me for the detailed ultrasound, now is 4 weeks…” and through a miracle they were able to schedule me the next day… So how come I had to wait for so long to schedule me (they said they can’t schedule me in less than 2-3 weeks) and then when I insisted they could do that next day!? Honestly, the healthcare system is messed up.

So, I had the other more detailed ultrasound done and they confirmed that I have polyps on my gallbladder, but they said they are less than 4mm and that means non-cancerous, which is amazingly great because I feared that. Just to understand why I feared that a lot, gallbladder cancer (cancerous polyps) is one of the most deadliest cancers out there. Did you know that? I didn’t up until having these digestive issues. The doctor said it is not an emergency but that I will have to remove my gallbladder in 1-2 years or more. I think that’s the case because these polyps can become cancerous. He also said my abdominal pains in the right side might be due to these polyps.

My next appointment now is with my GP, in 6 days, because although everything is great so far (nothing serious in regards to my health) I still have some abdominal pains all over my abdomen: more so in my left side now. So I need to insist to have my stomach and colon checked to make sure there is no bigger issue. I still experience some indigestion, and overall if I eat fatty foods, or cooked in oil, or dark chocolate, or drink milk or even coca-cola, I immediately experience issues (pain and indigestion) – so I also need to check if I have any intolerances to certain foods/ingredients. Thus, my journey in regards to my health issues may go on for many months or years. Not bothered  by that thought right now, the only main thing I want is to make sure we exclude severe illnesses from the list. So far several are excluded 🙂 which is great!

 

UPDATE (31 July): I managed to opt in for a private health insurance here in Spain for 50 Euros a month to have access to much cheaper and faster services (10 Euros for an MRI or such a test is better than 300-400 Euros). I should be able to get to see a specialist much faster now. “My GP”, although a nice human being, is so slow in sending me to tests and specialists and it takes way too long to take any advantage of the state healthcare system here in Spain, that I need to give that up. I am still waiting for a phone call from him to see if the specialist from the last ultrasound where we managed to define the ‘polyps’ on my gallbladder, recommends that I need a surgery to remove my gallbladder or not. In any case I will ask for a second opinion through my private insurance and from another specialist.

I feel better for now, no more big issues (pains or indigestion – yet still experience both from time to time) but I will still want to investigate further becasue for sure I have many food intolerances. It costs a lot to do that test, 250 Euros, but I may do it in a way or another. Will see. When you don’t have money you need to manage your health in this pragmatic manner so you don’t spend much from what you already don’t have.

When it comes to your health do whatever you can to investigate and solve your issues as not many will help you. So you have to insist!

 

UPDATE (17 October): A lot of time has gone by since my last update but here’s another one – I don’t need gallbladder surgery yet, so I will only need to do an ultrasound from time to time to keep an eye on those polyps, and only if they are growing I will have to remove the gallbladder. I managed to see a specialist for the rash on my face and she recommended some lotions that so far are working, but I have to use them on a daily basis. The treatment my GP recommended was not good she said and I should never use it. I managed to make some other appointments to doctors through my private insurance but for more detailed tests I have to wait 3 more months so that I can make them at lower costs (that’s how the insurance works – wait 6 months from the moment you make the insurance to have access to all services). Right now my health is alright, no major problems, but also no diagnosis. Doctors told me it can be the stress that caused those issuesadn considering the stress I’ve been through for those months then it is plausible. However I will still investigate these issues once my insurance allows me to access all of their services.

I still get some pains in my right upper abdomen like I did before, and it is likely to be triggered by the foods I eat, so it could be the gallbladder. But what changed for me the most for the past months wast the stress level that diminished considerably. So, it seems that a combination of diet and stress can trigger or diminish such health issues.

 

UPDATE (02 May – 2017): Almost a year later. Managed to do some proper medical exams through my private health insurance – upper endoscopy with tissue sample, a more detailed blood test, and lactose intolarance test. Also talked to a specialist who recommended these tests and even performed the upper endoscopy. Been taking some medicine he recommended, and in general everything is fine. Apparently, I do have some ‘bad reactions’ to certain foods that I’ll have to avoid, but the rest is all good. He recommended to take some medicine for 3 more months then I’ll see him again and unless I feel very sick (which I am not at all) then all is fine. Basically all is good, I am feeling good, the tests were negative. Happy life so far :).