Digestive Health Testimonies

I find it easy to connect with people who might be dealing with the same thing if you heard a little about their symptoms and how they deal with it every day.

I interviewed three people who are living with different digestive problems. I wanted to cover that not every condition is the same, that it could happen to anyone and that sometimes surgery is needed.

William McCarthy

Has: Acid Reflux

Describe your condition.

McCarthy: ‘It’s weird because growing up I use to eat anything spicy. Coming from Texas, my dad and I would eat mostly spicy things.

Now growing up, I’ve learned now I can’t eat as much spicy food. I get really, really bad heart burn to the point where the acid comes up to my throat or esophagus and it starts to swell up. That’s where I take medicine prescribed by the doctor.

I can have spicy food, but not a lot of it.’

What are your syndromes?

McCarthy: ‘My throat closes up and it goes on for five to 10 minutes; unless I take a Tums after the first start up. I should be fine for 30 minutes, than it starts back up again. It really helps if I drink a lot of water.’

Samantha Kocan

Has: Celica disease

Diagnosed: Summer 2016

What are your syndromes?

Kocan: ‘It just a lot of stomach issues and abdominal pain when you eat something with gluten in it.

It part of the reason why I got tested just because it got so bad. I was always tired. I never felt like doing anything and my eyes would always be irritated and I would get rashes sometimes.’

What treatments are you getting?

Kocan: ‘They typically will put you on medicine to start off with and it’s kind of lifestyle changes. They have to monitor you, so I’ve pretty much have to change everything. I’ve change everything that I eat. It’s hard when other people can eat things and you can’t eat stuff that you use to.’

Aaron Taylor

Surgery: Gallbladder removal

What was like before the surgery?

 Taylor: ‘I was the most miserable I’ve ever been in my life.

One and half years ago, I was really sick all the time. I had Sulfur Burps and I was throwing up all the time. I couldn’t keep food down and I had no appetite. I lose about 30 pounds over two months. Sometimes I couldn’t get out of bed because I was so miserable. I decided that I’m fed up with this; I’ve go see the doctor and see what it is.

I just come back from Vietnam a few months earlier and I thought I caught some bug that went dominate and just come back up. They run all these test on me and finally they said to talk to a specialist. I went a surgeon here in town and he says from looking at things it was an issue with my Gallbladder.’

What is like after the surgery?

Taylor: ‘I’m not 100 percent sure my Gallbladder was the issue, but when they took it out I was fine. Some people say there are different symptoms; there are some foods that affect them after the fact. They prepared me for that. You may find certain foods that don’t act well with you.

They told me the hour after you eat doesn’t belong to you anymore and try to be somewhere near a bathroom depending on what you eat. It might go right through you.

I occasionally run into the wrong thing. I don’t partially go out of my way to search for certain foods and I can’t even tell you what foods that have certain effects on me cause I don’t keep that much track of it. It’s not a nuisance and I’m not worried about it.’