Disclaimer: I thought I hadn't posted for a week or so and I felt guilty, so I was determined to post something anything today. But according to Wix (which probably knows what days it is better than I do), I posted just a few days ago. But I'm logged in and everything, so let's go ahead.
The emperor in I, Claudius is, well, the descriptions are pretty unflattering. Physically. Author Robert Graves paints him as basically a nice guy who ends up ruling the Roman Empire by default after various descendants of the Julian, etc line die, often helped along to godhood by other descendants in a hurry to move up the royal ladder. (His reign falls between Caligula and Nero when everyone is pretty inbred weird and corrupt.) He stammers and has the full gamut of nervous tics. His family assume he's mentally deficient, so no one bothers to bump him off. And he's flatulent. He has a lot of gastric issues. A lot of issues.
It's been a long time since I read I, Claudius and the sequel Claudius the God (college? grad school maybe?). One of those random bits which has stuck with me through the years is the royal physician, who really dislikes him and cannot believe this gassy little oik is in charge, tells him to never hold in his farts. Just let 'er rip. As often and as loud as necessary.
The point of all of this -- beyond the historical fiction of the overlooked emperor -- is that I finally went to the gastroenterologist. I saw the office nurse practitioner, but that's cool because she listened and asked pertinent questions and and seemed sympathetic and was very helpful. She prescribed, among other things, the Prilosec generic to kind of help evacuate any gas blobs hovering around in there. I started it Thursday morning and in the first 48 hours I definitely saw an increase in, um, evacuations.
Just like Claudius, emperor of Rome and living god. And a whoopie cushion.
p.s. I assume the gas blobs are dispersing as my fartiness is gradually subsiding. I still think stress is the overall cause of my GI attacks, but I'm all for a treatment which removes the ammo for the attacks, as it were. So fingers crossed this keeps working, and that this is how the drug is supposed to work.
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