Tummy Troubles

"I am so rumbly in my tumbly."  -Pooh

But in my case it wasn't due to hunger.  Yes, my stomach bug got worse.  Yes, I almost ended up in the hospital due to dehydration.  I've had a CT scan which came back fine and a stool sample done.  Still waiting on the results of the latter.  It seems I can only eat chicken soup, eggs and fruit or I start to feel sick again.  At least I managed to stay home.  I got my appetite back today again.  I ate a real dinner instead of soup.  It remains to be seen if it messed me up again.  I do need to make more soup since it is very healing for the guts.  I'm now seriously considering doing GAPS since I'm barely eating anything anyway.  It would hardly be a stretch for me to do intro GAPS for a week and build back up to full WAPs.

My being sick got me reading about gut health.  In my travels, I ran across this series of articles on GERD and gut health which is very very interesting and explains why I'm starting to have so much trouble with my guts of late.  I have now been on Celebrex for two years straight which is the longest I've ever been on it continuously and I've been taking hydrocortisone since the spring.  Both of which damage the lining of the stomach. Gee I wonder why I'm having so much trouble!?!  So without further ado I give you:

What Everybody Ought to Know About Heartburn and GERD
The Hidden Causes of Heartburn and GERD
More Evidence That Bacterial Overgrowth is Responsible for GERD
How Your Antacid Drug is Making You Sick (part A)
How Your Antacid Drug is Making You Sick (part B)
Get Rid of Heartburn in Three Simple Steps

While some of these articles don't apply to me since I was only on proton pump inhibitors for a very short time, the rest of the information rings true.  Some things I can vouch for:

• drinking water makes me worse (dilutes what little stomach acid I have)
• drinking lemon water or kombucha makes me feel better or at least doesn't make things worse
• eating yogurt makes me feel better
• drinking raw milk makes me feel better
• lying on my stomach will often bring stomach acid up (it forces the valve to open due to pressure and bloating)
• going almost grain free has helped
• going almost sugar free has helped
• drinking peppermint tea helps
• drinking/eating ginger helps

Now I'm wondering if I can go without my pain meds for an extended period of time so I can get my guts working properly again.  That would be wonderful!!  I love food and would really like to be able to eat again.

Long Time No See

Or long time no post in my case.  I've been riding the relapse rollercoaster and am presently getting over a stomach bug that laid me up for two days.  I'm still a bit off but I've got my appetite back even though I'm still very limited with what I can eat.

I've been busy watching TV and movies.  Nikita is my current TV obsession.  Not sure why exactly that show appeals to me so much.  The characters are mean and manipulative but the acting is pretty good and the plots don't always turn out the way you expect which I love.  Highly entertaining.  

My other TV viewing includes, Revenge (another bunch of mean characters: this time mean rich people instead of mean assassins), Warehouse 13 (fun SF), Eureka (more fun SF), Fringe (modern day X-Files), Suburgatory (quirky comedy), Spongebob (yes I like Spongebob) and Shaun the Sheep (UK claymation with no words!! and very funny and hubs likes it too).  Once in a while I also watch the UK version of Being Human (it can be a bit gruesome so this isn't everyday fare).  Also I started Vampire Diaries but got bored of it.  I might go back when I run out of more interesting things to watch.

I've been pretty lucky with movies lately.  I enjoyed Limitless which is an SF piece.  Hubs read the book but the movie sounds better (more upbeat).  I finally watched The Truth About Cats and Dogs.  While I've finally decided that Uma Thurman's acting is spotty at best (loved her in Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction but she was terrible in this movie and The Producers), I liked the other lead woman in this and the lead guy is so easy on the eye.  It is a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac with the genders reversed.  The Producers (the newer version) was fun to watch.  Bed & Breakfast was an okay romance.  The predictable plot dragged this movie down.  A better romance was Morning Glory which I enjoyed.  Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton were great as cranky news co-anchors.

With help from the hubs (yes, I've been a bit brain foggy these last few weeks) I finally got a book loaded onto the iTouch.  I'm now listening to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  It is wonderful!!  It is a story told through letters written just after the war in England.  I love the way it is read by multiple actors as well.  It helps me keep the letters straight.  I highly recommend the book and audiobook and I've only listen to about an hour or so of it.

Zinc

There is this neat stuff that I heard about from another blogger, Cheeseslave.  It is called Zinc Tally.  It is a simple test for zinc.  Now I've been taking a heavy dose of zinc since the spring and was getting curious how my levels were so that I could either quit taking it or maintain my dose.  I happened to notice a bottle of the Zinc Tally on my chiropractor's desk.  I asked him if I could get tested.  You take a few ounces and swish it around in your mouth for ten seconds if it tastes like nothing you are short in zinc.  If it tastes terrible then you are fine.  Somewhere in between and you are deficient but not horribly low.  Guess what?  To my surprise I was deficient.  Yup.  No taste at all.  How weird is that?  I've been on this stuff for over six months now.  Of course, it is one of those supplements that I've not been good about taking thinking I had too much in my system.  So now I need to get a better zinc supplement.  I've been taking 20mg of monomethionine (heck I have no clue what it is and I took geochem).   I need to check with my doc and find out what I should be taking cuz this stuff isn't cutting the mustard.

http://www.metagenics.com/pics/products/main/zinc-tally.png

BTW, you can get Zinc Tally from iherb.com.

Trust & Betrayal Part 2

A New Plan

I need a new plan.  I am now in my third spectacular crash within the last six weeks.  As soon as I start feeling better I start cooking, house cleaning and driving.  And the inevitable happens.  Why do I do this to myself?  I guess I want to feel normal.  I want to act normal.  I want to have a clean kitchen to work in.  I want good real food to eat.  I want to make yogurt and bread from scratch.  I want to drive myself to appointments.  I want to be able to walk into the docs office under my own steam.

I spent last week driving myself around town.  I went to the shrink, the chiropractor and the masseuse. I cooked yummy real food dinners and made myself omelets and sauteed kale for breakfast everyday.  I picked my kid up from the bus stop.  What was my downfall?  I did the dishes.  I was sick of the kitchen being a mess.  On Friday I showered, dressed, made breakfast, went to a massage, did the dishes and picked up the kid.  Wow!!  I haven't done all that in one day in a dogs age.  I got back from the bus stop and collapsed on the couch.  I'm still there three days later.  I've been using the walker to get around the house when I can even manage to get up.  Why oh why??  I know better.

So I need a new plan.  Instead of being driven by instinct, which apparently is out to get me, I need to come up with something more structured so I don't end up permanently stuck in bed.  I also think I have to go over this game plan with hubby so that he understands what is going on and doesn't expect me to exceed my limits.  Like someone said it is like having a car that only get $5 of gas per week.  Once the gas is gone that's it for the week.  I have to plan my trips better.

So.
Hum.
Now what?

I think forced resting is going to have to be part of this.  What I did back in September worked well: do something then lie down for at least 20 minutes.  So, shower: lie down.  Cook: lie down.  Dress: lie down.  Drive: lie down.  Etc.  No cheating.  I might have to set a timer to limit my internet activities when I first get up in the morning.  It is like a drug.  I have this urge to go online first thing. It often compresses my schedule when I have to go to an appointment and the rest periods are the first to go.  I need to not do this.  Facebook will still be there in the evening when I can take my time going through things.

And back to the no sugars, no grains, no cheating part of the diet.  Back to at least a Paleo diet plan.  I think I'm going to have to enlist my doctor or my nutritionist for help to incorporate all of the vegetables for Dr. Wahls diet.  I need to be able to eat cruciferous vegetables without the heartburn or Prilosec.

The Plan:
Forced rest periods
Day off between appointments/trips
Make doc/nutritionist apt to take care of stomach probs
Back on Paleo diet with as much veg as I can handle comfortably

Goals:
Being able to cook breakfast and dinner each day
Make juice daily
Being able to make simple items such as yogurt and easy Paleo baked goods (baked goods reduces the urge to cheat on the diet)
9 cups of veg a day: 3 cruciferous, 3 mixed colors, 3 others/fruit
Being able to drive to local appointments
No more major crashes

Diet

This is one of the reasons I decided to change my diet:



Despite the drastic crashes, I am doing better than I have been during this past year.  I'm driving and cooking again.  I'm still not up to the nine cups of fruit and vegetables that Dr. Wahls recommends but I'm getting there.  My biggest problem has been gastric acid.  The cruciferous vegetables produce stomach acid.  The week I managed to eat tons of vegetables with spinach, kale, broccoli, cabbage, or brussel sprouts at most meals I thought my stomach was going to sear a hole right through my chest.  I've backed off the amounts but have added kelp and digestive enzymes to my supplements and am going to add sulfur as well.  Here is my current average day:

breakfast: sauteed greens (kale, chard or spinach) with 1 or 2 pastured eggs either poached or as a cheese omelet with sage
snack: yogurt and Paleo bread (a bread made with almond flour and flax meal)
dinner: pastured meat, 2 veg and sometimes a starch such as potato or rice
late meal: fruit, cheese and nuts
drinks: raw milk, kombucha (fermented tea), fresh carrot juice with a beet added in, filtered water, black tea with raw milk no sugar
treat: handful of dark chocolate

Sick Humor

http://www.gocomics.com/broomhilda/2011/12/01/