Gastro-Adventure

Aside from being a know-it-all and stubborn, it is said that the most common disease among journalist is gastritis, thanks to long and random working hours, irregular meal time and questionable nutrients contained in the food often bought on the streets.

A couple of months after I took up the job as journalist in 2000, I already had the taste of gastritis, with nausea, flatulence and occasional vomiting. But with antacid and trying to eat regularly, as well as staying away from stress, the problem disappeared. It occasionally reappeared from time to time, but mostly manageable.

About six or seven months ago, however, gastritis suddenly returned with new symptom: irregular heartbeat. Worried that something was wrong with my heart, I checked into a doctor who said I got gastritis.

"Your gastric acid is pushed upward and disturb the rhythm of your heart. The heart itself is OK. You're paranoid, aren't you?" she said, smiling. The smile faded as I told her that my eldest sister died because of heart problem, despite an inborn one. She suggested me to take EKG test, and thankfully the result was normal and she gave me, once again, antacid.

I was fine for a month until I did low-carb Southbeach diet, which turned out to affect my sensitive digestive system. At the end of the first phase of the diet scheme, I ate some spicy food and bam! did I not just get gastritis, but also paratyphoid fever.

Ever since then, even when the fever had gone, my stomach kept giving me a problem. It was the start of the medical whirlwind that was exhausting and causing holes in my pocket.

Given the countless experience (mine and other people) how shitty the health care service in the country is, I went to this international-standard clinic, whose GP gave me another type of antacid and asthma medicine. I have asthma since I was a kid and I didn’t know why the gastritis was suddenly accompanied by asthma.

I was fine for a while, but the too familiar symptoms returned, complete with a bit of asthma. I went to this more sophisticated international clinic famous among expatriates, hoping to get better service and treatment. I did, the GP was very attentive and thorough. He concluded that I was suffering from Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), hence the extra breathing problem. The exact cause is unknown, could be physiological (whatever that means), age (ouch), or weight gain (double ouch). He added that was also a wound on my larynx, which caused by the acid reflux.

His explanation scared me a bit. An image of corroded underwater metal pipe popped up in my mind, and that would probably happened to my esophagus if this Gerd continued. I took his advice to stay away from spicy and sour food, as well as coffee and chocolate. Seeing my paratyphoid history, he asked me to do a stool test, but the result turned out to be fine. The doctor said that if the problem still existed, I had to see a gastroenterologist.

A month went by and yes, the bloody Gerd came back again. I looked up on the Internet and asked my friends about good specialist, and I picked this professor with a good reputation on healing digestive problems.

Turned out this elderly professor was feudal and made me anxious. He repeatedly corrected my grammar and asked me to sit up straight (hey, am I in the classroom?) and snapped at me.

"Let me tell you something. Gastric problems range from the lightest to the most dangerous one. And yours, is the former," he said with a condescending smirk, which made me questioned myself and wondered if I was actually hypochondriac.

"You're short of breath? Try holding it, now. Come on, I'll count to 10. See? You survived," he said. He then went on to teach me some tiptoe movements that he said could ease my stomach problem.

"So, there's no big problem. Although, if it continues, it can damage your esophagus," he said (Gee, thanks, doc!). "Here's some medicines. Go ahead, eat everything, no prohibition. Come back next week if you want," he said.

The statement "eat anything" lulled me, and guess what, the bloody gastritic/gerd was back in no time. The nausea or flatulence I can take, but the repeated short of breath worried me and I'm sure it was not an unreasonable fear.

I didn't want to go back to Dr. Jekyll so another survey brought me to another gastroenterologist. Nice that he is, he's the type who examines you real quick due to the long line of awaiting patients and stuffs you with a bunch of medication (five different types in my case that cost nearly Rp 1 million). He said it was necessary, and I was exhausted from the seemingly endless ride so I obeyed him. I took the medicine for 20 days, and then the doctor asked to wait for a few days before he would decide whether to give me another medicine or not.

At that time I was tired, worried about my liver condition because of drugs consumption, and not too mention broke. Hubby's office paid for the medical expenses, but there was a limit to doctor's fee, and since specialists are expensive, so it quite burned my pocket.

A friend suggested acupuncture, and desperate that I was, I did. The acupuncturist is also a GP so that made me quite content. The diagnosis is the same, Gerd/dyspepsia, and he, aside from sticking needles through my body, also said I should drink a mixture of water and apple vinegar during meal -- not before or after. Apple vinegar, he said, would restore the acid needed but missing in my stomach due to the acid reflux. He also asked me to do diet. Fine.

It felt that the acupuncture helps, but the apple vinegar caused heat in my stomach after a few weeks and caused my poop hard. Last week, I suddenly got the not so old familiar symptoms -- flatulence, asthma, heartburn -- and felt shaky. I ended up at a hospital ER. But I remember that hospital had a renowned gastroenterologist so I made an appointment with him.

He did a USG and Gastroscopy as I've had this condition on and off for a few months now. Both examinations showed that I have blister in my stomach. I'm still waiting for the results of my test lab at the moment, finger crossed, before going to the doctor again. I still do the acupuncture, although the acupuncturist/GP seemed upset that I went to hospital and got some medicine. He said he just did not agree with the way 'Western medication' handled my situation, saying it could conflict with his method. Oh, just get along, will you?

I know situation my partly my fault as I can be self destructive when it comes to losing weight. Now, I gained weight as my metabolism is ruined and I don't have enough energy to work out (nearly passed out in yoga class a few months back). I just wish this roller coaster ends, happily of course, and I don't have to take a medication again. Wish me luck!

P.S. I'm thinking of forming a band called Gastrobabe. Choice of drug? Antacid.

Posted by hera at 3:25 PM | Permalinks | Comments

World Peace Part II

Published in Jakarta Globe, 12 Oct. 2009



Three years ago, Nadine Chandrawinata, Miss Indonesia 2006, became a joke when she said "Indonesia is a beautiful city" in an interview at the Miss Universe pageant.

It was a good laugh, especially for regular people like myself who find it satisfying when beautiful people reveal their "dumb blonde" side and to prove that life can, after all, be fair.

But some people were seriously upset with Nadine, accusing her of blowing an opportunity to promote Indonesian tourism and tarnishing the image of the country.

Nadine's predecessor turned House of Representatives legislator, Angelina Sondakh, also an avid campaigner of the "Beauty-Brain-Behavior" criteria, was among the critics, saying Nadine should have been better prepared.

I didn't really pay attention to Miss Indonesia competitions afterward. But last weekend, through the magic of Twitter, I was exposed to the furor against this year's beauty pageant contestants.

A local celebrity said he felt like throwing up after listening to the fake, superficial answers from the contestants. Another tweep commented how beauty queen criteria should be prioritized in the sequence of Brain-Behavior-Beauty to avoid embarrassing statements.

And then all hell broke loose when Acehnese Qory Sandioriva was crowned and said it was worth it to not wear the jilbab like other contestants from Aceh, the north Sumatran province that abides by Islamic Sharia law.

I have always been indifferent to beauty pageants. I'm not a fan, but am not against them either. The criticism of the contestants is baffling for me. People seem to forget that it is a beauty pageant, after all. It's good if the contestants are smart, but if they give less than intelligent answers, let them be. It's not the science Olympics.

What is it with the attempt to intellectualize beauty pageants? To break the stereotype that beautiful people are not necessarily dumb? I think people know that already. Or for the contestants to be able to promote their countries' tourism if they make it to the international competition? Venezuelans have been crowned as Miss Universe several of time, but are tourists from all over the world flocking to Venezuela? I don't think so.

Would a country's image be tarnished by what beauty queens do? Looking back, Pamela Bordes, a Miss Universe contestant from India, turned out to be a call girl. Did it make anyone think less of India? Did it stop the country from becoming one of the global economic powerhouses? No.

Or perhaps because beauty pageants objectify women? I think feminism is about choice. There is a place for everyone, or every women in this case. If some women want to be models, beauty queens or Playboy bunnies (go Marge Simpson!), or have any other profession or take part in any activities that emphasize physical appearance,