My Old Nemesis Is Back...

Ulcers. Boo. I dealt with them 8 years ago as a senior in high school. It wasn't fun. It happened smack in the middle of the school year and sidelined me for a good 2 months. I had a bleed-out, was in the ICU for a few days, had fun things done like an endoscopy and getting my stomach pumped. Yea. The consensus was that I had a major allergic reaction to Advil, so since then, I haven't had any Ibuprofen, NSAIDS or Advil. Not wanting to experience any of that again, I've been uber careful about the meds I take and try to be good about the foods I eat too; no more drinking glass after glass of grapefruit juice or pizza with red sauce. I'm not a smoker and only have a margarita once in a great while, so its not like those vices are the culprits. And I've done well since then. Sometimes when I feel upset, or under a lot of pressure, I'll feel a twinge of the old soreness, but nothing a few Tums couldn't help. But, about a week and a half ago for no apparent reason, the old symptoms were back. It was what I have always been dreading might happen - a repeat performance. Heartburn, tightness, just a constant uncomfortableness that wasn't going away. So today I went to the doctor. I figured I gave it a chance to subside, it hadn't, and I didn't want to fool around with it. So after 3 vials of blood drawn, being poked and prodded, here I am, just waitin' to know what they've found. They did give me an Rx for Prilosec, which helps block the production of excess acid in your stomach. Hopefully that does the trick and lets my stomach heal. If not, its off to the specialist for me, and I would be willing to bet that there would be another scope (ugh). So I'm praying that this all blows over. I think the hardest thing for me right now is wanting to know exactly why this was triggered again - I mean, I've steered clear of what was the "known" cause, so what in the world could it be? Is it chronic and something I'll have to be careful of forever? I know that stress can be a contributor too, but that one is tricky. I typically don't go around and think man, I feel stressed today, or I'm so stressed out right now. If someone were to ask me if I feel stressed out, I would probably answer no. Am I busy? Definitely. Is there enough time in the day to get everything done? No. But that's just life, and I don't really see it changing much, so you just have to get in and do it, otherwise it won't get done. Maybe that's not the right attitude to have and by having it make things harder on myself than I need to. Asking for help is not a bad thing and I need to remember that. Because even if I think I'm OK, obviously my body is telling me differently, and its time to reassess some things. I dunno. Guess just wait to see what the doc says and take it from there.