I Survived the Hydrogen Breathing Test!

Well.  That’s over.

I did it.  I’m still recovering and settling in but it was OK.

I did the test with one other gal who was pretty pleasant.  Another person was supposed to do it too but she showed up too late and they rescheduled her.  I don’t even think she was ten minutes late.  Phew.  Glad I got there early and stuff.

Anyway, first we had to drink this cup of water that had this weird sugary powdery not so yucky but not so good stuff in it.  Then we had to blow into this bag/balloon thingie and this tube and apparently it was measuring things and stuff from my breath.  CRAZY.  From what I read, it was measuring the amount of hydrogen I was producing just from my breath and that’s supposed to tell them if I have any small intestine bacterial overgrowth because I guess some of the bacteria can produce hydrogen.

WEIRD HUH?

Anyway, so I hadn’t eaten since 8:30pm the night before and was really dragging and doing things like almost punching Corey in the eye while saying goodbye to him this morning while he was still waking up in bed. Then I was draggy and words weren’t registering when I got there when others talked to me.  Then I was achy and creaky and all I wanted was water. I kept trying to reach for my invisible water bottle. So used to always having some water. And my body was so confused because it was out of routine and I hadn’t taken any meds yet and then it had to drink this weird stuff.

So then my belly reacted and everyone was like “UH OH” but I think it was just like–“What the heck is this crapola and where’s the real stuff”? because then it seemed to calm down.  Then every 20 minutes this nice lady would come in and have us breathe into the bag and tube and around and around we went. One time I lost track of my concentration and was worn out from doing this breathing stuff and first sucked in and then had no air left to go out but she said it was still readable so OK.

I tell ya though, drinking water and eating afterwards was GLORIOUS!  I’m so blessed to be able to drink and eat when I’m allowed to and have enough money to do so.  I know some people have to go days without drinking or eating and never know when they’ll be able to do so again so I was trying not to get too whiny about it, BUT IT WAS STILL HARD.  I’ll admit it.

MY BODY WAS OUT OF ROUTINE.

So I have been spending the rest of the day trying to get myself back.  I’m pretty wiped and yet I’m so glad that my body is strong enough to be able to handle such a strange experience to go through that is completely out of my comfort zone.  I know there is a reason I haven’t taken the test until now.  I would’ve been much more of a mess before if I had done it in the past.

Monday I see my doctor and hopefully I’ll find out the results.  FINALLY.  Been thinking about taking this dang test or something like it for years.  I didn’t know what I’d be in for but was told and cautioned by my Gastroenterologist at the time to be cautious and to wait if we were to do it at all because it may take a really big toll on my body.

Well it hasn’t been awful.  It’s just been uncomfortable and thankfully I didn’t have anything else planned that I HAD to do so I was able to REST MORE today and into the evening.

So that’s that.

Another test I can check off my list.  Oh the strange things I do to find out what’s going on in my body…

GOOD TIMES!