Blah blah blah

My body  is letting me down. I am grateful that I do not have a terminal disease and that the doctor today did not send me home 'cos of that, saying he would have to go back to the drawing board (metaphorically, he never actually used those words) but I do realise that there appears to be nothing that can be done to improve my stomach.
I went on Resolor, which involved getting permission from the Medicine Controls Council here in South Africa, but it didn't work. I still have a bloated stomach. I have tried everything. Not eating foods high in fodmaps and that doesn't work. I have been on endless amounts of antibiotics and that doesn't work. Today he prescribed spasmo-canulase which doesn't even need a prescription. Quite a change from the resolor and rifaximin which also isn't registered in SA but can be obtained at a pharmacy in Bryanston.
Meanwhile my stomach is mostly bloated like a balloon - like the rifaximin at first, resolor had some improvement as it stopped the bloating immediately below the boobs but that didn't last. And I have flatulence and burp and have this burning feeling in my upper chest which the GI-doc today said is regurgitation.... and ...
But it doesn't stop there. Saw The Lymph Lady today and my arm is a f.. disaster/. Up by half a cm or 1cm in all of the six places she mentions.And I didn't even realise it and we don't know why.
Did consider the meds - Resolor - but it doesn't seem to have that effect although going to google it further.
Am in despair. I don't want lymphedema. I don't want to wear a sleeve. I need to get my stomach sorted. Urgent.

PS. I don't have to wear a sleeve yet. Am seeing The Lymph Lady again next week.

Tested positive for Sibo

When I went for the two tests today, I decided to do the lactulose one first, ie, the one that tests for small intestine bacterial overgrowth.
Usually, it seems, they do the lactose intolerance one first but, as I know I have a pure lactose intolerance and throw up if I drink milk but can eat it in changed forms eg cheese and yoghurt, I decided to avoid coming back another day for the other test, to do it first. (Was told a positive result for one test meant you had to the other test on a different day.)
Of course I didn't have Sibo, or what I now know is small intestine bacterial overgrowth. That means you get thin, well at least lose weight consistently without trying, because your food is not absorbed and hell no, that is not me.
My base measure was 7. I was told their wasn't a normal but if I tested positive, it would rise to three times my fasting level. Essentially the test consists of fasting, then you blow into a tube which gives a measurement (reading on the internet it seems to be a hydrogen level) and then you drive lactulose - whatever that is - and then you blow every 15 minutes and write down the measurement.
At first I went down to 5. Then up to 9 and then later, sky high, eventually to 29.
The doctor didn't bother to complete the two hour test. I tested positive. And my stomach was cramping and I had severe, severe diarrhea and later, I even left work early as the diarrhea was too severe. And I don't want to take immodium but will later - it now almost 7pm - if it doesn't improve.
I was also rather intrigued and horrified by what the doctor prescribed but I see now from the Internet it is what is needed  - it is Rifaximin - but for some reason it is not registered in South Africa, so the medical aid does not recognise it and you cannot claim for it, and although you must have a script for it as it is schedule 4, it can only be obtained from this compounding agency in Bryanston. So I went there - wasn't as far as it seemed - and got it.
Think the first two didn't work cos of my radical diarrhea but have just taken the next two and hopefully am ok now.
I think I am in a state of shock.
All I can do now is pray that the weeklong course of meds takes it away.
I am terrified. I do not want a major disease.
I want to take a week's leave. But wonder if I can, what with work being so precarious - new boss and all - and having been away for six weeks. But I do have leave owing and I do need a break. Lol. To digest it all, even if my body is not digesting very well.