Abdominal pains, gynae problems and orthodontics

I spent a week alone in June when the rest of my family went to Glastonbury Festival. Unfortunately over that weekend they were away I had horrendous abdominal pains that were constant and agonising. I didn't seek medical advice about them as I didn't want to be admitted to a new hospital (Hosp A, where I'd never stayed overnight before) while my parents were away. The pain went away completely after a couple of days and didn't return. I don't know if that was related to any of my medical problems or just one of those things. My consultant thought it was probably gastro related.

I can't remember exactly what was happening when I last posted, but my consultant at Hosp A had prescribed me two medications to try taking for my abdominal pains. Spasmonal was an anti-spasmodic that I had to take before every meal. That didn't help the pains at all. Amitriptyline makes the nerves less sensitive to pain and I had to take it every evening. That seemed to work well for a couple of weeks but then the effect wore off. When I told my consultant about the results of trialling those medications he was fine that I'd stopped taking Spasmonal and suggested I increased the dose of my Amitriptyline from 10mg daily to 20mg daily in the hope that that would help. He said he'd even be happy for me to take up to 50mg if I needed to. I've also started taking a fibre supplement most days (it's supposed to be everyday, but I don't remember everyday). Either one or both of those seem to have done the trick and my abdominal pains are now much more manageable. I usually just get tummy ache now rather than a pain, although I do still get bad days and can't work out why.

It was hoped that the Amitriptyline would help my sleep and nocturnalism too but it hasn't. I made a big effort in Aug to normalise my sleep pattern and kept it up for over a month, but it was such a struggle fighting my body. I'd hoped that if I went to bed earlier and got up earlier then my productive period which used to come from about 11pm and last to the early hours of the morn would come earlier, but it didn't, I just lost it completely. Then my sleep pattern started to slip a bit and I can't motivate myself to correct it again. I did have to temporarily though (although that was actually more a case of me going to bed late and being awoken early) as our next door neighbours had builders making a din every day from 8am til 5pm for over 3 weeks! My sleep pattern isn't as bad as it used to be, but it's not the same as 'normal' people.

I really can't remember how much about this particular health problem I've mentioned before, so sorry if I'm repeating myself. Before my transplant my periods stopped because I was so ill. Just after they returned when I was recovering after my transplant (so summer 2007), I was admitted to hospital on a few occasions suffering with intense abdominal pain. I was given IV Morphine for the pain each time. Lots of explanations were suggested from pancreatitis (which I'd had immediately post transplant), to adhesions (as a result of all my operations). In Dec 2007 I had an ultrasound scan which showed that I had an ovarian cyst. It was suggested that taking the pill would stop the monthly pain but because of my past liver problems my consultant wasn't happy for me to have a pill containing oestrogen, so I was started on a progesterone only pill instead. That kept the pain away. Unfortunately that pill caused my periods to become very heavy and irregular.

The gynaecologist who originally diagnosed me and started me on the pill hadn't offered me any follow up so I was referred to see a gynaecologist at Hosp A. On 31st Aug I saw her for the second time and together we came up with a plan of action. I was supposed to see her about 12 weeks before that but because my older brother, Chris, let me down with a lift very last minute, I had to cancel that appt and reschedule another one, but the waiting list was 12 weeks. The plan we came up with was that I'd have an ultrasound scan to see how the cyst was doing. If it had shrunk or disappeared then I'd come off the pill and see if my periods settled down on my own. I didn't want to just stop the pill without having a scan because I was scared of the pain returning. I also had some bloods taken to check my hormone levels. I had a pelvic ultrasound on 27th Sept and managed to confuse all the doctors because they couldn't work out what was what in my anatomy :P Unfortunately though that scan showed that I had cysts. My gynaecologist has requested a second scan on 5th Nov and another blood test which I think I'll be having next week. Then she'll arrange me an appt to discuss the results of the tests with her. I'm confident that she'll be able to come up with a good plan of action because she really seems to know her stuff.

I had my braces tightened at an orthodontist appt on 4th June and then again on 16th July. My braces are supposed to be tightened every 6 to 8 weeks but when I tried to make my next appt I was told that I wouldn't be able to be seen for another 10 weeks and then later I received a letter cancelling that appt and rescheduling it for 3 weeks later, meaning a 13 week gap between appts. I wasn't very happy with that because the less frequent the tightenings, the longer I'll have to have the braces for. However on 18th July my braces broke so I returned to the orthodontist on 22nd July for an emergency appt to get them repaired. I then had a good spell with them until they broke again on 21st Sept, so I had another emergency appt on 23rd Sept to have them fixed. I've got a proper appt coming up on 14th Oct to have them tightened. I'm going to ask my orthodontist again about when I'll be able to have them off because it clearly won't be Oct like he said last time I saw him. I suspect it'll be a while off yet because my gaps still haven't fully closed. I find my braces so frustrating though, as well as all the emergency appts to get them fixed when they break (it's a 60 mile round trip to the hospital), they also cut the inside of my mouth a lot which can be very painful.

I was seeing a hygienist at Hosp A but she didn't work the same days as my orthodontist so we'd have to make another 60 mile round trip there each time to see her. My mum told my orthodontist how she wasn't happy to do that, so he said I could find a more local hygienist, but he did want me to continue to see one while I had my braces. When I had a dental check-up locally this summer (which went fine) we enquired about seeing the hygienist there but she's private and charges £42 for half an hour! I wasn't happy to pay that as the one I was seeing at Hosp A was an NHS one, so we need to see if we can find an NHS one closer to home.