A Writer's Life Interrupted #crohns #colitis #ibd

<--- Sometimes that's how I feel. Esophageal spams make life a living hell. The drugs you take to stop them turn you into a zombie. Since most of my problems stem from what I put into my mouth, it took me a week to figure out what food was making me sick. Since I'm on the SCD diet, I didn't think anything would upset me, but I was wrong.

*sigh*

Bye-bye almond flour.

Once the flour was gone from my diet, my stomach began to clear and I haven't had a spasm in two days.  After living on Tums, GasX, and Prilosec,  a wonderful friend introduced me to Metagenics, Glutagenics, a powerful gastrointestinal lining support powder you mix with water. Basically, it's licorice root and aloe. Tastes horrible, but calms everything immediately. I could just kiss that woman.

I don't know what I'm going to do to replace the almond flour. Obviously, I'm allergic to it or whatever.  My diet consists of meat, fruits, vegetables and that's it. Oh, yeah, and my homemade yogurt which I've come to love. The one thing I do allow myself is a little cocoa powder mixed with honey that I drizzle over the yogurt on the weekends. It's not bad and calms my cravings for chocolate.

I went to my GP today and my blood pressure was 90 over 60 so we agreed to drop another pill immediately. I told her I was on this diet and she became concerned because I'd lost weight. I explained how the SCD diet works and she nodded, saying it was much like the paleo diet. I agreed, but added it was much more restrictive and I didn't plan on staying on it forever. Just for one year. I try not to think of it that way, I'm more like I have ten months left to go before I can start adding foods to see if they make me sick.

So, the stomach is better, the spasms are better, the intestines are still giving me cramps and diarrhea, but the ulcers have cleared so no blood except from, eh, fissures. I have made an appointment with an M.D., who specializes in treating people not with drugs, but with nature. I'm going to give it a shot and my family has my back. Soon, I hope to no longer be on Humira.

I get that this diet may not work, but I have to try. And, I don't know if the gastritis is caused by Humira or Crohn's disease. This is an answer I must discover on my own and the only way I can do it is by stopping the Humira. I don't plan on doing so until I've consulted with this new physician so at least one M.D. knows what I'm doing. I'll let my gastro doc know too, but truthfully, the last time I talked to him he wasn't much help. Crohn's is a difficult disease to manage and I'm always searching for a better way to health than through pharmaceuticals.  He just doesn't get that. I don't want another drug to make me well, I want a whole new life journey.

(((hugs)))

Louann

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