One of my stomach aches

Actually it should be called a torso ache, because the pain is up high in my chest and sides.

I get these about 3 times a year, and everytime I just want to go to sleep to get away from the pain. But I can't, because it hurts so much.

Let's see, they started about 14-15 years ago in Japan. I'd wake up in the middle of the night with it, and had no idea what was going on. I thought it was the food I was eating; I cut out alcohol, caffeine, dairy, nothing worked. It happened at least once a month, if not more. I convinced myself it was psychosomatic, that if I willed it not to hurt, it wouldn't. But, it still did. Hurt I mean. and a lot. Finally went to a doctor (going to the doctor in Japan is a whole new experience, but I'll write about that another time), and he said it was an ulcer.

I went home for a visit, no, the doctors here tell me, it's not an ulcer, it's just too much stomach acid. Charming. So I go on Zantac and Pepcid and all those other supposedly effective antacid. They don't work.

I keep getting these stomach aches that wake me up and make me walk bent over. No one can tell me what's going on. I think it's stress, but my family doctor poo-pooed that idea. I actually switched doctors after that.

It keeps happening, but not as often Finally, I took a Vicoden for it. I had the Vicoden from slamming my head on a cutting board one Thanksgiving (tell you later). It worked. It worked well. I thought " great, problem solved."

Except that I took my last half of one yesterday. I had the beginnings of one of the stomach aches lurking around all day. I thought it was just something I ate, but realized it wasn't going away. I took the pill at around 4:30, and felt much better. All excited about my trip with Tornwordo to Vegas today.

At 1am I woke up. Full on, full fledged, no holds barred, stomach ache. I curl up. I stretch out. I try visualizing a sunset (sometimes that works for me). I take a couple rolaid soft chews. I take some Zantac that's in my drawer and past it's expiration date. I drink some water. I try to go back to sleep. I worry about my trip. I don't want this to be going on when I'm supposed to have fun.

So I've been tossing and turning since then. Finally said "forget it" to myself about sleep, and here I am. Now, if I wasn't hunched over in pain, I might be able to talk about the need for it. Pain, I mean. How it tells us what is going on within these beautiful machines called our bodies. How it symbolizes emotional or mental pain. How the pain makes one appreciate those times without it.

However, I can't write about those things, because all I can think about it making it go away.

Please send happy tummy thoughts my way.

Thank you.