TweetI want to apologize to everyone for my extended absence from the forum. I have been battling a sickness with an amazing negative feedback loop. Three weeks ago, I came down with something that caused my throat to become raw. Whatever it was, my body beat it quickly, but that is not where it stopped...

The raw throat caused me to have a dry cough. The dry cough caused my body to create excessive mucus to try and heal it. Due to me always having bad sinuses, (as long as I can remember, my nasal sinus cavities have always been mostly closed off - I never really think about it since it has always been that way. For those of you who know the Rug Rats cartoon, think Chucky...) the excessive mucus caused a lot of post nasal drip. Post nasal drip irritates the throat, which caused it to not heal, which meant I kept the dry cough, which meant they body increased the mucus creation, which increased the post nasal drip, which....you get the idea. All they while I was getting very little sleep - no more than 2 to 3 hours a night of bad sleep.

I went to the doctor and she gave me Flonase and cough syrup with codeine. The problem with codeine is that it metabolizes to morphine in the body and I do not respond much to morphine (two kidney stones have proven morphine is not an effective pain killer for me). It was still a strong cough syrup, so I took it anyway. This has started to clear up my sinus issue and my throat was healing nicely when I started getting very bad acid reflux. I spoke to the doctor about my throat not healing and still getting no sleep and she asked me if I had XYZ symptoms - which were exactly what I was experiencing. She said acid reflux is common with a lot of post nasal drip, but she did not want to prescribe something about it until I needed it, which I can respect. I took my first pill for acid reflux two days ago.

One of the potential side effects of the acid reflux pill is diarrhea. Due to the way my luck has been going, I got this as well. I purposefully do not read the potential side effects until after something bad happens, to ensure I do not mentally create them. Sigh... Two days of liquid poop and a VERY sore ass and it finally stopped. It did say it would be short term, until the body adjusts to the drug and they were right. But since everyone has had diarrhea before, we all know 2 days does not FEEL short term.

Reading on the IBS forums for relief had me buying Desitin. Yes, diaper rash cream is apparently the best stuff you can get for a raw ass from diarrhea. I figured I would pass that bit of knowledge on so anyone who needs it will not stay in pain, but instead grab it immediately. I just started using it today, not sure how quickly it will work. Its smell does remind me of babies and diapers though.

I think I am now in a state where I can get sleep and return to my normal self, someone who posts way too much and spends too much time on the forums and surfing the web. I am thankful for modern medicine - such a thing would have probably killed me a few hundred years ago.

Again, I am sorry for not posting something sooner. I do hope the saying "that which does not kill you only makes you stronger" is true...for if it is, I am going to be giving Phil Heath a run for his money this year!!! OK, maybe not, but one can dream.

Tweetwelcome back