After my official diagnosis, my main focus was finding myself a doctor nearby that has some knowledge of my condition. Unfortunately I found this to be a somewhat difficult task. I began at my local medical centre, where some doctors who didn’t just think I was making this all up knew my symptoms as something called “Abdominal Migraine”, However similar, this is a completely different condition to what I was actually diagnosed with. My search for a regular and knowledgable GP felt endless. I started to feel alienated with my illness.
Learning what my Condition was called did eventually help me locate a few fantastic online support groups, who honestly have been able to teach me more about what was actually going on with my body during an attack than any medical professional I was able to speak with. It was here where I also found that most of us struggled getting a diagnosis, most of us struggle finding a doctor, and most of us struggle every day just trying to do ordinary tasks. I knew then that regardless of the distance between each person, we were not alone with this.
Months went by and I slowly began to learn what could trigger an attack, and also to listen to my body to try to gauge what my day was going to be like. I learned that My menstrual period is a huge trigger, also if I get a sinus infection like a cold. These were my main triggers, but some days I could be sick for no apparent reason at all. These were the days where I would cry out of frustration, thinking I was finally starting to understand my condition, only for it to surprise me and prove me wrong once more.
I was already taking small steps I have learned from fellow CVS warriors (that’s what we call ourselves) to try to better my health and lessen the severity of my symptoms, However I knew I needed to again take things further into my own hands and do some of my own research. Maybe then I could have a better understanding of what my body was up against. I knew there was no cure, but there had to be something. The never-ending learning process began, what exactly is Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome?
A Chronic Mind; 