Part II of last week's story in which our sufferer receives a strange diagnosis and provided with relief if not a cure. At least she's eating more than rice and bananas again.
Yikes! A friend of mine was finally diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, (or I should say finally diagnosed herself and had it confirmed by a medical professional after over a decade of other doctors shrugging at her debilitating symptoms or telling her it was all in her head) which is a disease of the connective tissues of the body that not only makes you scary flexible, but also often wreaks total havoc with the digestive system. I had no idea "functional dyspepsia" was a thing, but certainly dyspepsia was a huge thing in the 19th century, but for other reasons. Another friend recently developed Crohn's disease, but they think his gut flora might have been wiped out by antibiotics. We understand so little about our gut biomes. I hope yours is on the mend!
Oh lordy! Thanks for writing this. My heart (stomach) goes out to both your friends. The thing that always gets me is the number of doctors that don't listen carefully and shrug off these symptoms. We end up like your friend to figure it ourselves for years. Particularly for women. Seems like it's always put as something that's in our heads rather than our guts. I'm taking this new diagnosis with a grain of salt.
Sheesh is right! But here's a suggestion from one reader that might help: "Regarding the high cost of FDGard, the one thing to help you so far, depending on the type of health insurance you have, you might be able qualify for a benefit that's known as an OTC Card (over the counter card), which is like a debit card that allows you to spend a set amount per month on personal care items, such as nutritional supplements, bath salts, dental products, and non-prescription medicines. If you had an OTC card, it could help pay for it monthly. Also, some pharma companies have programs, at least for prescription drugs, where they try to help people with credits toward purchase of their meds, if they're not covered. Maybe the maker of FDGard has something similar."
Yikes! A friend of mine was finally diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, (or I should say finally diagnosed herself and had it confirmed by a medical professional after over a decade of other doctors shrugging at her debilitating symptoms or telling her it was all in her head) which is a disease of the connective tissues of the body that not only makes you scary flexible, but also often wreaks total havoc with the digestive system. I had no idea "functional dyspepsia" was a thing, but certainly dyspepsia was a huge thing in the 19th century, but for other reasons. Another friend recently developed Crohn's disease, but they think his gut flora might have been wiped out by antibiotics. We understand so little about our gut biomes. I hope yours is on the mend!
Oh Pat, I am so sorry to hear about this, and why the remedy needed is so pricey...sheesh!
Oh lordy! Thanks for writing this. My heart (stomach) goes out to both your friends. The thing that always gets me is the number of doctors that don't listen carefully and shrug off these symptoms. We end up like your friend to figure it ourselves for years. Particularly for women. Seems like it's always put as something that's in our heads rather than our guts. I'm taking this new diagnosis with a grain of salt.
Sheesh is right! But here's a suggestion from one reader that might help: "Regarding the high cost of FDGard, the one thing to help you so far, depending on the type of health insurance you have, you might be able qualify for a benefit that's known as an OTC Card (over the counter card), which is like a debit card that allows you to spend a set amount per month on personal care items, such as nutritional supplements, bath salts, dental products, and non-prescription medicines. If you had an OTC card, it could help pay for it monthly. Also, some pharma companies have programs, at least for prescription drugs, where they try to help people with credits toward purchase of their meds, if they're not covered. Maybe the maker of FDGard has something similar."