With regards to my post from yesterday regarding c. diff. First, I want to thank my mom for the eighty or so phone calls and emails she’s sent me regarding the subject since that blog entry went up: thanks for caring, mom. Don’t worry, I’m ok.
Second, I’ve decided to change my diet in the short term to see if I can find a food trigger. Pretty much the only time I’ve felt normal again for a period of time was actually when I was in Cancun in March. For basically a whole week, my stomach problems went away and I felt pretty much 100% for a while.
I spent about 30 minutes today making a mental list of probable causes. Sure, it could be stress, but it’s pretty hard to stress me out so I don’t think it’s that. In terms of diet, what I ate in Cancun was pretty much radically different than what I’d eat at home here. First, I hardly had any coffee and/or cream in Cancun. Not because I didn’t want to, but because it just wasn’t around very often. Second, I ate a lot more fruits and vegetables down in Cancun, something I haven’t had a lot of around the house recently (my nutrition level is basically inversely proportional to how busy I am with work). Third, I drank less soda/pop down in Cancun (but really, not that much — I was drinking rum and diet coke down there mostly, and was sipping on diet coke as well from time to time). What wasn’t available down there though was Splenda (aka sucralose), and I was forced to use real sugar most of the time.
So while I’d normally be tempted to play with a few variables to see what the offender is, for now I’m going to change two items at once, and worry about which one it was later (assuming it helps). I’m going to take a break from all carbonated beverages for a while, and also from Splenda. If that helps, I’ll tweak things a bit to see if I can figure out which one it is, and if it doesn’t, I’ll scratch a few items off the list.
I have IBS and a strong family history of Crohns and Colitis (more people have it than don’t). While I’m lucky that I’m usually symptom free no matter what I eat, I will say that artificial sweeteners of any sort make me feel particularly gnarly. And the more I eat “real food” – regardless of the fat/calories/carbs/whatever, the better I feel.
Hopefully the diet adjustment makes you feel less crappy – pun fully intended! 😉
My mom was good friends with a holistic-type chiropractor from Australia from years back, and he would make a return visit to my hometown every few years. I had a lot of digestive problems as well as back/hip problems that, in hindsight, were obviously related to weight and poor diet.
One time, he had me hop up on the meeting table in my parent’s business and do his thing, which was always spot on, even though it was a mixture of weird taps on the spine, hand hovering, and listening for sounds I was sure weren’t there.
He told me to flat out stop drinking soda and all my problems right themselves. I didn’t actually take that advice until I was about 22 and gave up consuming pop on a regular basis. Haven’t had back problems to speak of since.
Giving up the cream and sugar/sweetener in your coffee would do wonders. If you can’t do black coffee, go for the green tea. Help ease the pain of caffeine withdrawal plus the boost of antioxidants.
Also super easy to make your own cold, green tea. Get the organic leaves, super cold water, put tea bag into water for ten minutes, and then drink. Way good boost when you need some energy plus helps to reduce body fat in unwanted areas, like the belly.
I found my IBS symptoms improved significantly when I cut carbonated drinks out of my diet a couple of years ago – and coffee is a definite no-no. I still indulge on occasion in some carbonated fruit drinks as a treat. Nice and refreshing on a hot, humid summer day.