Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Feeling A LOT Better

After innumerable doctor appointments, I am feeling a lot better.

Heck, I can eat.  That makes a huge difference.

This "sickness" has been the strangest thing.  I felt like my body was not working. I felt like some of the things the doctors were telling me were not true.  And I was doubting my own knowledge of my body.  Really, you know your own body better than anyone else.

Details
I started feeling sick mid-October.  I couldn't eat without having terrible stomach and muscle pain, mainly in my back and shoulder.  I tried to link these things together, but it didn't really make sense. 

It got to the point that I could only eat a few bites of food every couple of hours.

Immediately, I thought to myself.  Don't eat sugar.  I feel like my body doesn't handle sugar well and I had eliminated it for the most part (rarely ate bread or treats), until August and then I just didn't care anymore.  It seemed like my leg injury wouldn't heal no matter what I did. So, I went off the rails--specifically during the last 2 weeks of October.

Besides fatigue and frustration, I dropped weight quickly.  Not good.  Luckily, I was up 5 lbs. from my poor diet.  Currently, I'm down 17 pounds.  I've never been on this side of the weight struggle before, trying to maintain or gain weight. Really frustrating. I'm still in the healthy range, but it's lower than I feel comfortable with.

I was told when I went the ER that I should eat refined foods--white bread/crackers and broth.
Which is totally opposite of what I would consider healthy! But I was able to eat saltines and chicken noodle soup.  And it tasted good, but I wasn't getting much nutrition.

I went to a GI doctor and he recommended I get an endoscopy.  AWESOME! But they couldn't get me in for 3 weeks.  Still not sure if I would be in pain for those 3 weeks, I went home discouraged.
That week, I started feeling like I could eat more.  I started eating a whole can of soup instead of a small mug.

Thanksgiving came and I actually ate turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes. Later, at our second dinner, I had half a piece of pumpkin pie.  I just wanted to try it, to see what would happen.  I felt a little sluggish in the morning, but no major pain or tummy troubles. But, the next day, I was sick again.  From that point, I have had no treats.  And for the last 2 weeks, I have basically been eating protein and veggies.  Right now, I'm trying to stick to the Candida Diet.  And, hopefully I'll have some more information next week after the scope is done.

I wanted to see if I separated my symptoms and treated them separately, would I improve.  I got an abdominal massage one day and it provided a ton of relief.  She said my psoas muscles were crazy tight.  And she thought that could cause my other back pain and maybe even stomach pain.  So, I have also been doing massage and chiropractic.  And when I got home, I googled tight abdominal muscles and back muscles in conjunction with stomach pain.  What did I find?  Tight abdominal muscles can create symptoms of ulcers or gallbladder pain.

Good News

  • I can eat a decent amount of food and drink water.  It was even hard to drink water, for a while.
  • I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes. It's amazing how good that felt. I have not moved much for a few months.  Trying to rest as much as I could may have backfired.
  • My scope is on Tuesday.  Ulcer or no ulcer? And then it will be done.  And I won't worry about that part anymore.
  • My neighbors and sisters and moms have been awesome!
  • I finally feel like I'm coming back.  And I am excited to do the little things that I haven't been able to do for my family.
Advice
Sometimes listening to your body is hard.  Just try.  Sleep when it asks for sleep.  Fuel yourself with premium foods.  Not junk.  Remember to deep breathe.  Move your body. Take time to reset and reboot. It's okay to ask for help.


What have you been up to?
Are you ready for Christmas? I'm not, but I will be shopping online this week.
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