Starting To Get Answers

Hi Everyone! So as I said in my last post, my mum took me to A&E and this was the first time I felt I was being listened to and taken seriously.

The doctor did all the normal checks first, heart rate and blood pressure etc and tried to look at my ulcers and swollen throat but I couldn’t open my mouth wide enough from the pain. He then put me on a paracetamol drip and oh my god did it work! I remember saying to my mum I wanted to take it home with me 😂 He put me on a drip because it was so hard for me to swallow tablets.

I instantly knew this doctor was going to be helpful, just from the way he was listening to me and my frustrations. This was also when the first mention of coeliac disease came. I definitely was a bit shocked because I didn’t know a lot about it and it just never came into my mind at all but the thought of having some sort of reason as to why I’ve been so ill was actually exciting as weird as it sounds.

He was also very shocked that my GP had never mentioned it before or referred me to get tested for it as I was showing a lot of common symptoms. He also couldn’t believe that I had never been referred to the Ear Nose and Throat clinic (ENT) considering how often I had ear and throat infections. I had mixed feelings about this; firstly it added to my frustration about my GP not listening to me or taking me seriously but secondly I was so happy to have a health professional finally agree with me that I wasn’t being listened to properly and that I was right about my own health. I think that’s important to remember. You know your own body better than anyone else, so if you feel something’s not right then do everything you can to make your doctor listen.

Even though I still felt poorly, I left the hospital a couple of hours later feeling a bit more positive. He referred me to a gastroenterologist, which is a doctor that specialises in grastrointestinal (stomach and intestines) and hepatological (liver, gallbladder, biliary tree and pancreas) diseases. To test for coeliac disease. He also referred me to the E.N.T clinic to see if I needed to get my tonsils out, however he explained to me that if I do have coeliac disease then that wouldn’t necessarily be needed. I don’t know the scientific way to explain this but in basic terms when you have coeliac disease but are consuming gluten, your digestive system is reacting badly to it and the gluten is actually damaging it which in turn causes a lot of problems down the line. One of those problems includes traveling up and affecting your mouth and throat, causing mouth sores and throat infections.

I think I’m going to use my next post to explain the symptoms more of coeliac disease as I did a lot of research after leaving A&E. I think it would have been helpful to me if I’d have known all the signs and symptoms for coeliac disease as I could have asked my doctor to refer me a lot sooner so hopefully this helps you.

Thank you for reading, wishing you all positive vibes x