#cholecystectomy

The majority of "diet apps" I have tried ask me for my weight and weight loss goals, when I need to track my diet for complex medical reasons.

The majority of books in the dietary health section focus on weight loss. There are maybe a couple books out of 100 focused on my condition(s).

Even some of the informational materials and the products that do cater to my condition(s) emphasize weight loss over health needs.

When I ask for dietary accommodations, people ask invasive questions as to why I need it to suss out if I really need it or if I'm just "on a diet."

Even in medicine, weight gain or loss is emphasized over actual nutrition. If you're not at risk of heart disease or "obesity," it's like they do not care.

I could barely eat anything when I was hospitalized because the hospital menu did not account for my specific dietary needs. A damn hospital.

I've been offered the most non-nutritious diet plans and given little to no guidance on my condition(s) by actual doctors who study my condition(s).

So, tell me why there are thousands of diet plans for weight loss but few resources for people like me who end up sicker with vitamin deficiencies.

Tell me why I have to join groups specific to people with my condition(s) just to figure out how to thrive because no one helps us but our own people.

Diet culture is ableist, and diet culture disables people. Diet culture should be about helping people like me thrive, but it's doing the opposite.

Trust your body. Your pain, sickness, and fatigue is real, even if your signs and symptoms don’t match up to the norm. 

I went into the ER this past November 27th because I had excruciating pain in my abdomen and radiating into my back. I couldn’t focus on anything but my pain, and no medications or at-home treatments helped.

I had cholecystitis. It’s inflammation of the gallbladder (the organ that stores bile and releases it into your intestines) caused by a gallstone blocking the duct that leads into the intestine. My gallbladder was twice its normal size. (And I had surgery later that night to have it removed.)

The pain in both my chest and back, as well as my other main symptoms (nausea and vomiting) are super duper common. However, another symptom that a lot of people have is pain in the upper right of their chest as well as tenderness to the touch. 

Because I’m autistic - because my brain is wired differently and receives pain signals and interprets them differently - I never had that symptom and that might have sped up my initial diagnosis; both in the ER and in previous “gallbladder attack” episodes I had (which I thought was just bloating/gas pains). 

Found out the gallbladder removal is called a cholecystectomy.

I’m so fucking sore. I didn’t think I’d be hurting this much. Also the gas releasing through my shoulder is really painful. Though I am still able to walk around so I’m thankful for that.