Part one
My name is Suzanne and I've had ME for 16yrs....I guess it all started going down hill when I was 5. Not to sound like the beginning of a Woody Allen movie, I truly believe that's when the proverbial shit hit the fan.
I was kindergarten age when I began having kidney pain. This ended up to be a urinary tract infection, supposedly from spending too much time with Mr. Bubbles! With a pat on the head, a lollipop and some antibiotics, I was sent on my way....down the tubes.
From then on, about every year or two, I was back at the doctors complaining of kidney pain only to be sent home with antibiotics again and again. In between these bouts I had the normal run of the mill illnesses, sometimes needing antibiotics, sometimes not.
My entire year of 6th grade I was tutored at home, having to spend my days mostly in bed, in dire pain. This time with the help of a wonderful Homeopath, I was given teas to drink, foods to stay away from, medicines to boost my immune system and shots, given directly into my kidneys twice daily. For months, these shots were gently (or as gently as possible) administered by my mother, while I laid upon our blanketed chest freezer like a makeshift exam table.
Back to school and on into adulthood, like clockwork, every other year I would have these bouts of kidney pain, that mainstream medicine would continue to treat like an infection. Later on I discovered that my urine tests showed no sign of infection, ultrasounds were clear, but that bloodwork showed a slight elevated cell count. "Must be an infection. Take these pills and see me in a month," only to show back up again a year later, doubled up with the same symptoms.
It was at one such visit, while begin poked and prodded, experiencing excruciatingly sharp pains, that one annoyed doctor asked, "Why are you crying?"
This was my first dose of "It's all in your head".
From then on I forced myself to pull up my big girl panties and suck it up!
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