Fiber is My Friend

. . . Or so the doctor says.

The blood work came back fine, the ultrasounds all looked good. So I’ve been given instructions to use a fiber supplement, drink lots of water and give him an update on Monday.

You’d think that news would be a relief, but it’s not, because I’m not convinced that a lack of fiber is my problem. I feel like a science experiment again, but this time instead of being an infertility lab rat, I’m just an ordinary lab rat.

My complaint when I went to the doctor’s appointment on Monday was not about a lack of bowel movements. My body had been behaving just fine in that respect. The problem was that a week before the appointment, I noticed a tender spot on my abdomen, about an inch to the right of my belly button. Over the course of a few days, it moved a little to the right and down about three inches.

It’s not abdominal “pain,” per se. I think of “pain” as a feeling that is there whether or not you are doing anything to the area at the time, i.e. menstrual aches and pains you can get even while laying in bed and not moving. This is more like a minor- to medium-pain bruise on your arm. You walk down the street, your arm doesn’t hurt. You poke on the specific area of the bruise, it hurts. You poke an inch or two away from the bruise, no pain. Same thing with my abdomen, except there is no visible bruise.

Then nausea set in on Sunday, which was exactly a week after the pain began and the day before the doctor’s appointment. By Monday, I was having embarrassingly loud bowel sounds. But I’m not having cramps, gas pains or bloating. Since I’ve been feeling sick to my stomach, I haven’t been eating much. When little goes in, little comes out. That makes sense to me. But I’m not so sure that means I need more fiber.

The embarrasingly loud sounds have continued. And I’ve started to have tender spots elsewhere too – on my ribs, on the right side of my bottom, on the sides of my legs. It’s not that I go looking for places of pain on my body – I discovered the left side of the rib pain when I bent over to pick something up and it hurt. The leg pain appeared when I leaned against the plastic frame of a chair in my boss’ office.

On top of all of that, it seems that cycle day 1 may be here again. I figured the light spotting I had yesterday was from the wand date the day before that, but now I’ve got aches, cramps and heavier bleeding. Today is cycle day 17.

This is just not typical for my body. But I’ve decided to give the obsessing a rest, and just do the water and fiber routine until Monday. Who knows, maybe I’ll be surprised and all the rest of this will go away. Maybe fiber is the cure for rib pain...

Thank you again for all of your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement!