This section was created to explain the difficulties I've had to deal with, and the treatments that worked for me.
Mental Diagnosis
General anxiety disorder or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by excessive and uncontrollable worry about everyday things. The frequency, intensity, and duration of the worry are disproportionate to the actual source of worry, and such worry often interferes with daily functioning. GAD sufferers often worry excessively over things such as their job, their finances, or the health of themselves and their family. However, GAD sufferers can also worry over more minor matters such as deadlines for appointments, keeping the house clean, and whether or not their workspace is properly organized. For a diagnosis of GAD to be made, worry about a number of events or activities must be present more days than not for at least six months. In addition, three or more of the following six physical/somatic symptoms must be present: restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge, being easily fatigued, difficulty concentrating or mind going blank, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance. The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms must cause clinically significant interference and/or distress, and must not be better accounted for by another disorder. Information from Wikipedia
I was diagnosed with GAD around the age of twelve. While I have been on many medications, the best treatment for this has been therapy and learning to cope with the disorder.
Bipolar II Disorder, also known as a "manic-depressive illness" or "manic depression", is a complex mood disorder characterized by dramatic mood swings - from hypomania and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of normal mood in between. Severe changes in energy and behavior go along with these changes in mood. Bipolar Disorder typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood. However, some people have their first symptoms during childhood. Information from RemedyFind
I was diagnosed as Bipolar right after having my daughter. I have been on several treatments, including lithium, anti-seizure medications (which has little to do with Bipolar but has been found to be effective for it) and coupled with therapy and psychoanalysis.
Physical Diagnosis
Wilms’ tumor is a disease in which cancer (malignant) cells are found in certain parts of the kidney. The kidneys are a “matched” pair of organs found on either side of the backbone. The kidneys are shaped like a kidney bean. Inside each kidney are tiny tubes that filter and clean the blood, taking out unneeded products, and making urine. The urine made by the kidneys passes through a tube called a ureter into the bladder where it is held until it is passed from the body. Wilms’ tumor is curable in the majority of affected children. Information from WebMD
I was diagnosed with Wilms tumors in both kidneys at the age of three. With chemotherapy (chemotherapy refers to the use of drugs to kill or slow the growth of rapidly multiplying cells) treatment, radiation treatment, and the removal of my left kidney, the tumors were destroyed and removed. However, these treatments left my immune system slightly weakened, and it never fully recovered.
Gallstones are pieces of solid material that form in the gall bladder. These stones develop because cholesterol and pigments in bile sometimes form hard particles.
When I was diagnosed with gallstones, they did a ultrasound of my gallbladder. It was completely full of stones, so they decided the best method would be to remove it completely. Since it was causing me great pain and inability to keep anything down, I was happy to have the surgery. However, I developed Postcholecystectomy syndrome, which sometimes occurs when abdominal symptoms develop after surgery to remove the gallbladder (cholecystectomy). It causes several gastrointestinal issues, most of which can be held in check by taking cholestyramine, (Colestid is what I take) an hour before you plan on eating anything with any sort of cholesterol in it. However, this causes issues if you, like me, are unsure of when you will be eating.
Soft Palate Injury In the early summer of 2002, when my daughter was barely three months old, she and I were in a car with a friend driving to her brother's wedding, with her would-be sister-in-law. Tracy was going over the speed limit (70 in a 60) and when the man in front of her signaled a right hand turn she tried to go around him. He made a left instead, causing both cars to fly over the ditch into the field nearby. Tracy's car was smashed up in the front, and my seatbelt malfunctioned. I was in the middle of the backseat, between my daughter's carseat, and Tracy's friend's daughter's carseat, and I only had a lapbelt. Had my lapbelt NOT malfunctioned, I might have sustained internal injuries as well. As it were, I flew forward into the bench seat and severely bent the cartlidge in my nose. I also sustained whiplash and was very disoriented. I was treated and kept overnight at Wesley, and sent home.
Later I realized that my bent septum was causing breathing difficulty, because it was so curved to the left that it was blocking my nostril almost completely. I had two rhinoplasty surgeries to fix this, and while it is not as straight as it once was, it is hard to see, and I can breathe normally. However, I noticed two things later on that I never related to that accident. First was that I started having trouble eating dry, flakey foods (breads like cornbread and muffins, and things with skins like beans were particularly bad) because if I were to laugh or cough while swallowing it would go up into my sinuses, which should not happen that often. Second, I started having more and more trouble waking up in the middle of the night for no reason.
I later found out both of these problems are attributed to the fact that my soft palate was slightly damaged in the car accident. When I swallow if my throat is dry instead of blocking off my sinus passages my soft palate gets stuck, and food can sneak up into my sinus cavities. Also, when the room I'm sleeping in is very dry, and my throat gets dry as I'm sleeping, my soft palate sticks again, making me have issues breathing correctly, causing me to wake up.
I have somewhat fixed this by keeping well hydrated and trying to keep my sleeping area not so dry. I could go through surgery, but that is a major surgery for something that is really an annoyance.
Kidney Stones Because of my previous tendency to let myself get really dehydrated, I got a rather large kidney stone in my one kidney. I've given birth, I remember chemotherapy sickness, and the horrible pain of gallbladder removal and the surgeries on my nose... NOTHING to kidney stones. I now have to be careful as to what I eat and make sure I stay super hydrated.