Today: No guts, no glory… and a skunk alert.
Oh, hey. If you don’t want to read about body parts, skip to the end for a photo of one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in ages. Also, it should probably go without saying, but this is the internet, so… I am not a medical professional. I do other things professionally, that’s how I bring home the imitation bacon bits. I am happy to share my personal experience, but highly recommend you seek out a medical professional to help guide your own body experiments.
I had my last doctor’s appointment for a while yesterday. Hopefully. After months of food logs, blood tests, challenge diets, laying on my bathroom floor at 2 in the morning, I’ve got some semblance of a plan. And I am very happy about that. I’ve spent over a decade stressing about stomach aches and um, like, intestine things. And really, I’d grown sick of being sick. When I finally found a new PCP, RD and GI (that sounds like a rap crew) earlier this year, I finally felt like I was heading in the right direction. While chronic issues don’t just go away, I am looking forward to feeling better, taking better care of myself, and spending millions of dollars in the supplement aisle continuing to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
I’ve been following various diet plans recently to help support or challenge the results of my food allergy panel. While I had very few reactions to lactose, fructans or polyols during the “challenge” phase, I wanted to straight up expire while testing gluten (see above: laying on my bathroom floor). During the challenge/testing phase, I ate multiple servings of whole wheat (bread, pasta, crackers) over the course of two days. When we reviewed my food logs yesterday, I was like… dude, why is gluten suddenly an issue? I’ve practically survived on pasta. And my RD’s was all, I’m a lady, not a dude. And also, damage done to one’s digestive track over the years can result in difficulty processing certain foods. We talked about things like leaky gut syndrome (nearly fainted) or intestinal permeability, vitamin deficiencies, and other things that you probably don’t want to read about over your lunch break.
Going forward the plan is to focus on restoring my digestive track to its former glory. I’m going to walk around singing Heal the colon. Make it a better place. For you and for me and for everyone who puts up with my crankiness. And then I am going to:
- Follow my PCP’s recommendations for bringing my vitamin levels up to “normal.” This includes taking a once-weekly high dose of D3, as well as my usual daily multivitamin plus iron.
- Bi-weekly B12 injections for 3 months, followed by 6 months of monthly injections
- Take a daily dose of L glutamin powder to help boost the regrowth of intestinal cells (enteroctyes) and provide immune support
- Take a high potency probiotic (30-50 billion cells per day… doesn’t that sound very sci-fi?) for one month, followed by a maintenance dose (15-30 billion cells) in later months
- Consume 52-65 grams of protein per day
- Avoid
fungluten for 2+ months
By the time my next colonoscopy rolls around, it will look all sparkly and new in there. Or whatever. Want to talk about something rather than my insides? How about what was happening inside a nearby stairwell today?
Sometimes life really stinks (because your body sprayed chemicals in the stairwell, maybe), but then someone comes along and opens the door. And they let you out. And you start to feel better.
Also On Tap for Today:
- Scheming for Nick’s upcoming birthday 🙂
- Brilliant: kitchen sponge ice packs
- Looking forward to the Lose It! Hometown Wellness Showdown
What would you do if you were trapped in a stairwell with a skunk? Besides print a sign and tape it to the door, obviously.
Comments (7)
Heather
September 13, 2012 at 8:34 pm
My friend Kirian is going through a similar phase of restoring herself back to normal. I’m referring her to your post so you ladies can share/discuss/question/commiserate/etc
Elizabeth
September 13, 2012 at 8:35 pm
You know what they say about misery… we love commiserating. 😉 Thanks, love!
Christine
September 14, 2012 at 10:41 am
I have to laugh a bit (er, a lot!) at the Skunk sign… correct me if I’m wrong, but that looks like Northeastern University, aka my alma matter!! I would have absolutely cracked up if I saw that sign on a building while I was in school. They say laughter is the best medicine, right? Although your plan sounds pretty solid 🙂
Today: Running… into old friends. « On Tap for Today
September 15, 2012 at 9:55 pm
[…] made a concerted effort to take “wellness walks” (that’s how I saw the trapped skunk, obvi) and balance work and life a bit better. I am sure I can be doing even more, and this […]
Becki @Fight4Wellness
September 21, 2012 at 2:32 pm
I also laughed a lot at the sign, poor skunk! Glad you have a plan for getting things back on track, I can’t imagine what it was like to figure out what was giving you problems. I hope you feel better very soon!
Today: Blog Tour – My Writing Process | On Tap for Today
June 24, 2014 at 7:54 pm
[…] and funny um… okay) has happened and I think it warrants documenting (like the time there was a skunk trapped in a stairwell near my office, and someone took the time to print up a sign, but didn’t bother to call animal control). […]
Summer Bucket List
June 24, 2014 at 7:55 pm
[…] only ever successfully tracked my food intake for more than a day, like, once. It was back in my food allergy/elimination diet/what is wrong with my stomach days, and honestly… it was not fun. At the same time, it helped me see the choices I was making […]