Saturday, May 5, 2012

Just being honest: I'm a quitter...

So last week I started a 7-day cleanse using Arbonne's 7-day Body Cleanse product.  I've been using some of their other nutritional support products and have been happy with the results.  This time however, I found one product that doesn't seem to agree with me. :(

When I started the cleanse I mixed the product with a quart of water and drank it throughout the day as it directs.  The first day was fine but by the middle of day 2 I started getting some GI distress which lasted until the following night although I didn't even complete the second day's quart.

Then, I spoke with my area manager about it and she said that her experience was that she needed to drink a full glass of water with each glass of cleanse solution and then she didn't have any problems anymore.  That's what I tried starting yesterday.  But, like last weekend, it has had the same effect.

It may be because I, uh, don't really need to be "cleansed."  I had a colonoscopy this year so I was pretty well "cleansed" then.  ;) Having celiac disease, I don't exactly have a problem in this area.  If, however, you have a poor diet and your GI tract is sluggish because of it, this may be helpful in getting things kick started as you begin to change your eating habits.

In all fairness, I have always been somewhat sensitive to these types of things so I am not completely surprised.  The ingredients contain herbals,  like cascara, that are known to cause these types of symptoms in people who are sensitive to them.    I know others who can easily use this type of product without any difficulty.  God bless them...

I am a quitter. I give up. I've had a bellyache for the past 30 years or more. I don't need to purposefully give myself one, even if it is only quarterly.  The remaining nutritional line, including the Protein shakes, Digestive Wellness, Immunity Boost, Fiber Boost, and energy boosting Fizz tabs,  has been excellent, easy to use, tasty and very well tolerated by my irritable old gut.  If you'd like more info on a customized nutritional support program, email me at glutenfree np at yahoo and I will be happy to help!

Now I'm going to go locate my heating pad...

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Gluten, Karma and Full Disclosure...

Not so long ago I was one of those people who became annoyed with food allergies.  I'd think, "good grief, you're overreacting. Get over it. What's wrong with everyone?" I dated someone with a tree nut allergy and I just didn't get it. Peanuts were ok, but walnuts aren't? Huh? And I'm a nurse!

If you think I'm a jerk, you're probably right.  I just didn't understand food allergies.  And there are still a lot of people out there who don't either. Take my dad, for instance. This last year, after being diagnosed with Celiac disease and explaining to my parents why I couldn't eat the turkey that was stuffed with bread, and that I would make the gravy because my dad only knew how to make it with flour and please don't double dip into anything and contaminate it...uuuuuuuhhhhhhh <deep breath>...my dad takes his ladle of gravy and drags it through his pile of stuffing and says "like that?" and puts it back into to ONLY gravy boat. I guess it serves me right.

Karma. I don't believe in it. I believe that we reap what we sow in a biblical sense, not a buddhist one, or whatever religion karma belongs to.  But if there was karma, I guess you could say I am experiencing it.  You would think I'd have been more sensitive to other people since I've suffered with lactose intolerance, allergies to my pets, intolerance to chicken, shrimp, raw anything, and heck, at one point I couldn't even CHEW bread!  But I wasn't.  I was a jerk.  Kinda like Martha Stewart.  But we won't go there....

My food intolerance journey began after my son was born in 1994.  I'd always just had a stomach ache as a kid. Then, after C was born, I started finding myself running to the bathroom every time I ate. I was losing weight and people at school were asking me if I was ok.  I saw my doctor for a sinus infection and told him about it. He said it sounded like lactose intolerance and to stop eating dairy.  So I did. And the symptoms went away. Two years later, by the time I was pregnant with my daughter I could eat dairy again.

By then, however, I also found myself allergic to cats and dust and rabbits.  I thought it explained my chronic sinus infections.  A few years later I started being unable to eat anything without being doubled over in pain. So I would go all day at work eating only a small piece of chocolate and drinking coffee because, somehow, these were the only things I could eat without doubling over!  Then I'd go home, eat dinner, and suffer for hours until I finally could "use" the bathroom.   I gotta say that my boyfriend at the time was saintly about this because let me tell you, that ain't sexy!

I went back to my doctor who had been diagnosing me with "colitis" and GERD, IBS, and even an ulcer.  He immediately sent me to a gastroenterologist who saw me the next day.  A minimal exam later and he said it was IBS,  gave my a prescription for dicyclomine and sent me home with no real guidance on what to do.  Of course the meds didn't work.  Do they work for anyone? Ever?

Eventually I figured out that shrimp, milk, and  raw food were bothering me.  I cut them out and things got better.  Then my jaw tightened up and I couldn't chew.  I was told I had TMJ.  <sigh>  I know there will be someone reading this someday who completely understands how I was feeling right about then.  It gets better.

Forward a couple of years and suddenly I couldn't eat chicken without pain.  Chicken? What is life without hot wings?  How is anyone allergic to chicken?  So I didn't eat any poultry for 2 years.  Then one night I ate some duck and was fine. I did a happy dance and started hesitantly eating poultry again.  Hot wings were once again on the menu!

Things weren't great in the GI arena but they were sort of tolerable for a while. Running to the bathroom midway through a meal was pretty routine for me so I didn't sweat it anymore.  Then I became pregnant with my twins.  Any woman who has been pregnant knows what kind of trouble pregnancy can wreck on your GI system.  Not pretty.  But once the babies came, it took a few months, but things got back to "normal."

Last summer, however, I got a new job.  Sure I was nervous and I always considered myself to have a "nervous stomach" but it was getting ridiculous. I also couldn't understand why even though the babies were now sleeping through the night, I was feeling worse and worse.  Then I stumbled upon a chiropractor who gave me information on an anti-inflammatory diet that talked about wheat and gluten causing  the symptoms I was having.  And my new doc said she would test me for Celiac disease but that I should try an elimination diet first.  So I did. And the test was positive.

So as you can see, I kind of deserved this.  Perhaps God is trying to make me more sympathetic toward others with food allergies?  It is certainly an effective method of convicting you for being a jerk and straightening you out!  Score one (million) for God.  I was wrong.  I apologize.  In fact, I'd like to help.  Just please don't send me down to live with the pygmy's in Borneo. Ok?  Karma. Don't believe in it, but certainly living with it.