I've had this strange health issue since I started school as a child and remember it starting at least when I was in first grade, maybe earlier but
don't remember b/c of being so young, etc. It seemed to happen about 5-8 times a year. What happens is that I usually wake (always right around 2
am) up and feel a little odd in my lower gut, like intestines, and I don't know if it is just gas or what it is at that time. Over a few mins it
gradually builds and the cramps start to happen more frequently and more intense until it is extremely bad and I know I'm having one of these
"attacks" again.
So I end up in the bathroom and I usually experience 20-30 mins of extreme cramps and pain, I sweat profusely and am extremely hot but my skin is cold
and clammy. I often get light headed, dry mouth, sometimes colors look odd, like coming down from a psychedelic trip and I feel extremely confined by
any clothing, like extremely confined for some reason. I have the opposite of constipation in these cases after the 20-30 mins (sorry....) and the
pain continues for usually another 20-30 mins, so about 60-80 mins from the time I awake with slight pains - and the pain is basically gone at this
point. It takes about 8-12 hours before I stop feeling totally horrible (I usually sleep), like I have the flu.
I go back to bed and usually in 10-20 mins I usually have the same pains, and end up back in the bathroom for 10-15 mins. This cycle continues 3-4
times after the first time in the bathroom. After I go back to bed the last time I feel extremely drained (energy wise) and overall feel completely
horrible like I have the flu. I sometimes feel nauseated at this time but rarely ever vomit. On occasion I do vomit while in the bathroom but I
think it is because the pain is so intense, on top of feeling sick all over.
So the odd thing is that this happened from 1-12 grade, then when I left for college and about 4 years after, I never had this issue once. When I
moved back to the home area after about 10 years I started getting this problem again and on occasion it happened during the day, always mid morning
around 10. I'd say 95%+ of the time this has happened around 2am, the rest in the morning.
When it started happening when I moved back to my home town, I thought that I was being poisoned or something, b/c I couldn't understand how I didn't
have this once in the last 10 years. My diet had been much worse when I left for college, odd eating times, bad food, drinking, etc. In grade
schools I had a set schedule, ate well, with family at a standard time (maybe 7-7:30 or so) and a normal sleep schedule. In college and after, I had
totally erratic sleep and eating schedules.
When I experienced food poisoning a number of times after going to college, I found that the experience was very similar to these episodes that happen
at night. I did get food poisoning a number of times in the 10 years I didn't have the late night gut pains, so I did experience similar issues, but
they didn't happen as the other episodes had happened.
I know that all the times I've had these issues at night, the other people I ate dinner with didn't experience the same thing, no one I've eaten with
has had the same issues. I thought for a time there was a chance that I might have been poisoned, not like food poisoning, but real chemical type.
I've talked to many doctors and even had numerous tests (colonoscopy and such) from the time I was young but they never showed anything. I have been
told that I have gall stones and it has been suggested that I have my gall bladder removed, but I am hesitant to go down that path. The odd thing is
that I've been told that these attacks can happen to people who have had their gall bladder removed in a small portion of people who have that done.
My pain that is associated from the gall bladder is totally different and is at the base of the sternum where there is intense pain/cramping - which
makes me sweat and get hot the same as when I have the gut issues at night.
I've spent hundreds of hours between going to doctors and researching online what this might be, let alone the hours spent in agony. I've never found
a link between what I eat and the late night pain, as it varied with every meal and none that seemed to trigger this.
What seems the oddest is the time that this happens, always around 2am and I'm usually up until about 3:30-4. I even had this once while on vacation
in Europe as a child but attributed it to a heavy meal (lots of rich cheese) but no one else of the 12 suffered from this. I'm wondering if there is
any environmental issue which could cause this or if there may be some external substance which might cause this (chemical acting as a poison??) - or
a medical condition. It's horrible to have to search in forums for others who have had similar or may know, when the doctors don't.
edit on 7 9 2018 by DigginFoTroof because: (no reason given)