4 year update!

Wow, so I completely forgot that I used to write in this blog about my health issues!
I found this by accident today, and to my surprise saw that I had TONS comments and filtered Facebook messages from readers who found my blog about gallbladder problems and sphincter of oddi and had questions.
I wanted to write this blog post today to provide a 4 year update!!

I am 10000000000% better now.
What happened?

Well, as you saw from my posts below, I went through months and months of random bouts of GI pain after my gallbladder was removed. I had test after test after test with no answer and was eventually prescribed a low dose or Nortryptiline to treat sphincter of oddi dysfunction. And it did help me for almost a year! I'm grateful for that. It brought a lot of normalcy back to my life.

One thing that I neglected to ever write about was the fact that I had also been suffering from chronic pain in my feet ever since I was in my early 20s. I could write a book about my feet issues over the years. Over a course of 9 years, I saw 2 different podiatrists and 2 neurologists and was eventually diagnosed with tarsal tunnel syndrome via a nerve conduction study. In early 2014, I decided I wanted to have surgery to correct the tarsal tunnel syndrome in both of my feet. My podiatrist (Dr. Scott Smith in Monterey, CA) was very reluctant to do the surgery because I did not fit the profile of a typical tarsal tunnel patient - I was a skinny, healthy, under-30 (at the time) woman. He sent me to see ONE more neurologist for a final opinion. This third neurologist conducted yet ANOTHER nerve conduction study in both of my feet. This guy's opinion was that I actually didn't have tarsal tunnel at all - it was chronic bilateral peripheral polyneuropathy. In simple terms, the nerves in both of my feet were showing signs of decreased functionality and damage. That's not tarsal tunnel at ALL, and could actually be much worse depending on what could be causing it. Dr. Smith wanted my results to be reviewed by yet a FOURTH neurologist. I met Dr. Laura Banks in Monterey and she agreed with the diagnosis of neuropathy - and NOT tarsal tunnel.
One just doesn't "get" neuropathy - something has to be causing it. There are a lot of really bad things that can cause it (like lupus or another auto-immune disease). What Dr. Banks decided to do was to send me out to get a crap-ton of blood work done to test for all of the most common things that cause it.
All of the really awful things that cause neuropathy came back negative - and the only thing that popped up in my blood work as abnormal were my Vitamin B12 levels.
I was B12 deficient! B12 deficiency is one of the most common things that can result in neuropathy. B12 is crucial for a healthy nervous system. Seriously?? 9 years of agony all because of a vitamin deficiency???
I have been taking a Centrum multivitamin daily for years - which has B12 in it - but Dr. Banks said that for some reason, some people just require more than the average person. And that's not a bad thing! She told me to take a 5000 macrogram B12 supplement with my vitamin for 3 months, and she was confident I would see a difference. I started crying in her office from happiness and relief (I am such a drama queen). I did not need surgery and I am FOREVER grateful for Dr. Smith's cautious approach to my situation!!!

After ~3-4 months of B12 supplements, I did notice a giant difference in my feet. But to my surprise, I ALSO NOTICED THAT MY STOMACH PAIN WAS GONE.
Yes - B12 supplements for 4 months CURED all of my GI pains.
At a follow up appointment with Dr. Banks, I told her about this and she said she felt it was very likely that I have been chronically B12 deficient for a really really long time, and it could have had a huge impact on the healing of the nerves around the area that was operated on during my gallbladder surgery. She encouraged me to stop taking the Nortryptiline and see how I felt - so I did and the pain still hasn't come back - it is 2017!

I would encourage anyone reading this to get your B12 levels checked. I would also encourage you to add a B12 supplement to your diet. Just give it a shot for 3 months and see how your chronic pain feels. It changed my life.