Sorry that it's taken me a little while to post another update about the diet. Things have been busy lately but in a very good way.
So as for the diet, I don't feel like a whole lot has changed. I had my follow-up appointment with the naturopathic doctor about a week and a half ago and he said he thought we were "on the right track." I'm supposed to keep doing the supplements and restricted diet for 5 more weeks (ugh) and do bloodwork again in about 4 weeks, so we can check any progress at my next appointment.
Overall, I'd say my stomach is less audibly grumbly but that's about the only thing I've noticed. Actually, that and I sleep through the night now. Thankgoodness. My GI system still seems pretty out of whack most of the time though and I always feel SO tired. I barely have enough energy to stand in the shower, cook dinner or put clothes in the washing machine. I have no clue how I'm supposed to start exercising. BUT... apparently all of this is normal for what he thinks is going on. So I just have to keep hoping that it will improve. I have to say, Dr. Oz did an episode on Leaky Gut Syndrome the other day and it sounded like they were talking about me. And I'm sure the lining in my gut won't be magically repaired in 8 weeks so I guess I have to just be patient.
As for the diet part though, I want to encourage anyone out there that's on the same diet or about to be and is struggling or worried, it's not as bad as you think! The key definitely is being prepared and taking the time to prepare good meals. I'll admit, that has been very hard for me. I've always been a fan of "convenience" foods and not taking any longer than about 10 minutes to make a meal. I don't like standing and cutting or chopping and I certainly don't like preparing a meal for 45 minutes that will take me all of 5 minutes to eat. But, I haven't had a choice lately and it is definitely easier if I plan ahead and follow a recipe.
I'll mention again that I found a website that has been a LIFESAVER for me. It's www.allergyfreemenuplanners.com. She has the best recipes, all geared toward people on restricted diets and they are all simple and fairly quick. She even puts together a shopping list for you each week. Since I really started putting forth the effort of trying more recipes and expanding the list of ingredients I can have, I have made some really yummy things including:
-Carob chip cookies
-Apple cinnamon pancakes
-Tomato free chili
-Grain free spaghetti with tomato free marinara sauce
I've even made bbq sauce, breakfast syrup and "chocolate" from scratch! Sure it helped that I've been unemployed the past month and had a little more time than usual, but even when I start my new job on Monday, I still plan on following my menu plans each week and hopefully doing a lot of prep on the weekends.
So hang in there and please share your experiences if you are on the same diet. Or even if you're not! I'm going to try to keep posting updates as I continue to go along. And hopefully one day soon, I will write the "I can't believe how great I feel" post! :-)
Showing posts with label naturopathic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label naturopathic. Show all posts
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The Repairvite Diet... crazy or miracle?
Well I'm about a week late in posting this since I wanted to start a blog about my restricted diet starting on Day 1. But it's only Day 6 so that's not too bad. ;)
For those of you that don't know, I've been having some strange health issues for the past year, since about Jan/Feb of 2012. I've been to my PCP, a gastroenterologist (actually 2 GI docs and a GI nurse practicitioner) and an endocrinologist. I've been prescribed about ten different medications (not to mention the ones that I didn't even bother filling), none of which did a thing to help me. Which on a side note, can I just mention how disturbing it is how many times you are offered anti-depressants/anti-anxiety medications, etc. as a treatment option for real physical symptoms? It's crazy. Anyway, I now owe the hospital system several hundred dollars for absolutely NOTHING.
It started in January when I started having a dull pain under my last rib on the left side. It was sporatic and not too intense so I didn't pay it much attention at first. In fact, I went on a mission trip in end of Feb/beginning of March and was fine. But by the time I came back from the trip, the pain had gotten more frequent and soon I started having problems with constipation, bloating and a lot of "gurgliness" in my side and stomach. When I went to the GI doctor that had done my colonoscopy in December (which was just a preventative measure at that point... I didn't even have any of my symptoms yet) and told him about the pain in my side, he said he thought I had pulled a muscle and to put ice on it and take Advil. WOW. So eventually in May, I saw a GI nurse practicitioner in the doctor's office where I worked. She did x-rays, had me drink several lovely concoctions, take several medications and even go for a not-so-fun "cleaning out" and literally 15 minutes after I left that procedure, clean as a whistle, I had the pain in my side while standing in line at a grocery store. Hmm... guess that had nothing to do with the pain, huh? The GI doctor that she worked with then prescribed me more medications and did an ultrasound, said he saw nothing and sent me on my merry way. I went to the endocrinologist to see if any of it could be thyroid-related since my symptoms seemed to match up with that and was again told, everything looks normal. At this point, I had pretty much given up although my symptoms hadn't gotten any better, in fact, they actually got worse.
Besides the pain in my side, the constipation, bloating and gurgliness, my anxiety has come back, I feel strangely down/blah most of the time, I have shakiness/tremors, frequent urination, trouble sleeping, can't concentrate or focus like normal and am SO TIRED 24/7, I can hardly do my normal routine much less anything like exercise. I never sleep through the night anymore, I get winded just bending over to pull the laundry out of the washer and when I stand (yes, just stand) for too long... say, like the time it takes me to take a shower, my legs feel so tired you would think I had just run a marathon. I'll wake up in the morning and feel like I haven't slept in days. I don't have an "afternoon crash", I basically have a morning one, an afternoon one and a night one cuz I'm tired ALL day. I can't remember anything anymore without writing it down and just focusing on something is an effort. Not to mention the time I left for work in the morning and couldn't figure out where to turn onto the highway. Yes, the highway I drive every single day... it's like my brain forgot where the entrance ramp was.
At first, I gained like 15lbs out of nowhere too, although I'm not sure if it's all still there (I don't own a working scale) but my stomach/waist is always distended so all of my clothes that just fit me last season don't fit me this year. And the worst part is, you get so sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, that you stop wanting to even do anything. I worry that my friends won't even ask me to do anything anymore because of how many times I've said no or cancelled at the last minute from not feeling good. It sucks because I'm sure to just look at me, I probably look fine (although I can tell the difference when I look at myself in the mirror) but half the time, I just feel BLEH. I think I understand what people with chronic pain must feel like. Not that I at all compare my issues with theirs, but that I can understand what it feels like to not have "visible" symptoms. And then of course, I start to feel bad for feeling bad because I know how much worse it could be and how people with terminal illnesses can only wish to have the "issues" that I do. And so the cycle goes round and round.
So about a month and a half ago, I decided to go to a naturopathic doctor. Pretty much as a last resort. At the first meeting, I had a better feeling than I ever had at one of the "conventional" doctor's offices. He gave me SO much information that most of it went over my head but I felt like he at least had a clue. He sent me for a couple blood tests and I got all of my records from the other docs for my next appt. At that appt, he again gave me more information than my brain could handle, but he said my bloodwork clearly matched up with the symptoms I was complaining of and... surprise! I wasn't crazy. Well hallelujah. He said he could tell off the bat, I have issues with my blood sugar, have an autoimmune disorder (although he couldn't say for sure which one specifically without further testing), have adrenal/thyroid issues (yes, the numbers traditional doctors use when they decide what's "normal" are not always accurate) and he thinks I have what's called "leaky gut syndrome." I didn't quite get all of what that is but something about the membrane that lines my intestinal tract is not intact so things get across it that shouldn't. So basically, bad things can get in and good things can get out. He said my body doesn't break down nutrients properly so I'm barely getting any essential nutrients from my food and on top of that, he thinks I may have some food allergies so my body is most likely wasting a ton of energy attacking itself every time I eat the "wrong" thing. Oh and, my white blood cell count is elevated (which again, all the other doctors missed) which is a sign of a chronic infection. He wasn't sure exactly what it was again without further testing.
HUH. Gee I wonder why I've been feeling like crap lately.
So what's the solution? Well to start with , there are supplements. I'm taking a probiotic, two other oral supplements, a lotion supplement and drinking a lovely concoction called Repairvite that is like caramel-flavored sand that dissolves in hot water. Yum. Then there's the diet. I wasn't the ideal patient since I decided to wait until after Christmas/New Years to start the diet. I figured it would just be too hard with all the parties and food everywhere. So I started on January 1 and this will be my life for the next 2 months:
What I can eat:
-Meat (antibiotic free, hormone free, grass fed beef, chicken, turkey and fish)
-Certain veggies
-Certain fruits
-Coconut
-Fermented foods (pickles, sauerkraut, kombucha tea)
-Yam noodles
-Olive oil
-Spices
And THAT'S IT. So to make that more clear, here's what I can't eat:
-Other vegetables like potatoes, peas, green beans, etc.
-Other fruits like bananas, pineapples, mangoes, etc.
-Any dairy products
-Any grains including oats, quinoa, wheat, etc.
-Any sugars including agave, honey, chocolate, etc.
-Eggs
-Nightshade foods including tomatoes, eggplant, tobasco, peppers, etc.
-Condiments
-Beans
-Nuts
-Soy
-Coffee
-Alcohol
Yea basically, 95% of the grocery store. So for this week, I have mostly been eating berries, turkey sausage, avacados, chicken, spinach, sweet potatoes and broccoli. And I have come to the conclusion that I am just going to eat to sustain my life for the next 2 months, not to enjoy it. ;) And if it works and it actually changes how I feel, IT WILL BE WORTH IT.
I read a bunch of posts about this diet on the internet the other night and I was inspired. Most people that said they had done this diet said it was awesome or "life changing" and all of them said they had the same symptoms as me... GI problems, fatigue, anxiety, depression, brain fog, etc. I found one girl who said she was going to blog about her experience but never posted again after the first day. So that gave me the idea to do this. I love to write and I'm doing the diet, so I may as well share it! I'm not very educated on how to get my blog out there to the people at large though, so I hope maybe it will come up for them in a search like it did for me cuz I'd love to hear from other people that have had similar experiences or are doing the diet too! And I hope to keep up with updates about how it's going for me.
So goodnight for now... wish me luck!
For those of you that don't know, I've been having some strange health issues for the past year, since about Jan/Feb of 2012. I've been to my PCP, a gastroenterologist (actually 2 GI docs and a GI nurse practicitioner) and an endocrinologist. I've been prescribed about ten different medications (not to mention the ones that I didn't even bother filling), none of which did a thing to help me. Which on a side note, can I just mention how disturbing it is how many times you are offered anti-depressants/anti-anxiety medications, etc. as a treatment option for real physical symptoms? It's crazy. Anyway, I now owe the hospital system several hundred dollars for absolutely NOTHING.
It started in January when I started having a dull pain under my last rib on the left side. It was sporatic and not too intense so I didn't pay it much attention at first. In fact, I went on a mission trip in end of Feb/beginning of March and was fine. But by the time I came back from the trip, the pain had gotten more frequent and soon I started having problems with constipation, bloating and a lot of "gurgliness" in my side and stomach. When I went to the GI doctor that had done my colonoscopy in December (which was just a preventative measure at that point... I didn't even have any of my symptoms yet) and told him about the pain in my side, he said he thought I had pulled a muscle and to put ice on it and take Advil. WOW. So eventually in May, I saw a GI nurse practicitioner in the doctor's office where I worked. She did x-rays, had me drink several lovely concoctions, take several medications and even go for a not-so-fun "cleaning out" and literally 15 minutes after I left that procedure, clean as a whistle, I had the pain in my side while standing in line at a grocery store. Hmm... guess that had nothing to do with the pain, huh? The GI doctor that she worked with then prescribed me more medications and did an ultrasound, said he saw nothing and sent me on my merry way. I went to the endocrinologist to see if any of it could be thyroid-related since my symptoms seemed to match up with that and was again told, everything looks normal. At this point, I had pretty much given up although my symptoms hadn't gotten any better, in fact, they actually got worse.
Besides the pain in my side, the constipation, bloating and gurgliness, my anxiety has come back, I feel strangely down/blah most of the time, I have shakiness/tremors, frequent urination, trouble sleeping, can't concentrate or focus like normal and am SO TIRED 24/7, I can hardly do my normal routine much less anything like exercise. I never sleep through the night anymore, I get winded just bending over to pull the laundry out of the washer and when I stand (yes, just stand) for too long... say, like the time it takes me to take a shower, my legs feel so tired you would think I had just run a marathon. I'll wake up in the morning and feel like I haven't slept in days. I don't have an "afternoon crash", I basically have a morning one, an afternoon one and a night one cuz I'm tired ALL day. I can't remember anything anymore without writing it down and just focusing on something is an effort. Not to mention the time I left for work in the morning and couldn't figure out where to turn onto the highway. Yes, the highway I drive every single day... it's like my brain forgot where the entrance ramp was.
At first, I gained like 15lbs out of nowhere too, although I'm not sure if it's all still there (I don't own a working scale) but my stomach/waist is always distended so all of my clothes that just fit me last season don't fit me this year. And the worst part is, you get so sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, that you stop wanting to even do anything. I worry that my friends won't even ask me to do anything anymore because of how many times I've said no or cancelled at the last minute from not feeling good. It sucks because I'm sure to just look at me, I probably look fine (although I can tell the difference when I look at myself in the mirror) but half the time, I just feel BLEH. I think I understand what people with chronic pain must feel like. Not that I at all compare my issues with theirs, but that I can understand what it feels like to not have "visible" symptoms. And then of course, I start to feel bad for feeling bad because I know how much worse it could be and how people with terminal illnesses can only wish to have the "issues" that I do. And so the cycle goes round and round.
So about a month and a half ago, I decided to go to a naturopathic doctor. Pretty much as a last resort. At the first meeting, I had a better feeling than I ever had at one of the "conventional" doctor's offices. He gave me SO much information that most of it went over my head but I felt like he at least had a clue. He sent me for a couple blood tests and I got all of my records from the other docs for my next appt. At that appt, he again gave me more information than my brain could handle, but he said my bloodwork clearly matched up with the symptoms I was complaining of and... surprise! I wasn't crazy. Well hallelujah. He said he could tell off the bat, I have issues with my blood sugar, have an autoimmune disorder (although he couldn't say for sure which one specifically without further testing), have adrenal/thyroid issues (yes, the numbers traditional doctors use when they decide what's "normal" are not always accurate) and he thinks I have what's called "leaky gut syndrome." I didn't quite get all of what that is but something about the membrane that lines my intestinal tract is not intact so things get across it that shouldn't. So basically, bad things can get in and good things can get out. He said my body doesn't break down nutrients properly so I'm barely getting any essential nutrients from my food and on top of that, he thinks I may have some food allergies so my body is most likely wasting a ton of energy attacking itself every time I eat the "wrong" thing. Oh and, my white blood cell count is elevated (which again, all the other doctors missed) which is a sign of a chronic infection. He wasn't sure exactly what it was again without further testing.
HUH. Gee I wonder why I've been feeling like crap lately.
So what's the solution? Well to start with , there are supplements. I'm taking a probiotic, two other oral supplements, a lotion supplement and drinking a lovely concoction called Repairvite that is like caramel-flavored sand that dissolves in hot water. Yum. Then there's the diet. I wasn't the ideal patient since I decided to wait until after Christmas/New Years to start the diet. I figured it would just be too hard with all the parties and food everywhere. So I started on January 1 and this will be my life for the next 2 months:
What I can eat:
-Meat (antibiotic free, hormone free, grass fed beef, chicken, turkey and fish)
-Certain veggies
-Certain fruits
-Coconut
-Fermented foods (pickles, sauerkraut, kombucha tea)
-Yam noodles
-Olive oil
-Spices
And THAT'S IT. So to make that more clear, here's what I can't eat:
-Other vegetables like potatoes, peas, green beans, etc.
-Other fruits like bananas, pineapples, mangoes, etc.
-Any dairy products
-Any grains including oats, quinoa, wheat, etc.
-Any sugars including agave, honey, chocolate, etc.
-Eggs
-Nightshade foods including tomatoes, eggplant, tobasco, peppers, etc.
-Condiments
-Beans
-Nuts
-Soy
-Coffee
-Alcohol
Yea basically, 95% of the grocery store. So for this week, I have mostly been eating berries, turkey sausage, avacados, chicken, spinach, sweet potatoes and broccoli. And I have come to the conclusion that I am just going to eat to sustain my life for the next 2 months, not to enjoy it. ;) And if it works and it actually changes how I feel, IT WILL BE WORTH IT.
I read a bunch of posts about this diet on the internet the other night and I was inspired. Most people that said they had done this diet said it was awesome or "life changing" and all of them said they had the same symptoms as me... GI problems, fatigue, anxiety, depression, brain fog, etc. I found one girl who said she was going to blog about her experience but never posted again after the first day. So that gave me the idea to do this. I love to write and I'm doing the diet, so I may as well share it! I'm not very educated on how to get my blog out there to the people at large though, so I hope maybe it will come up for them in a search like it did for me cuz I'd love to hear from other people that have had similar experiences or are doing the diet too! And I hope to keep up with updates about how it's going for me.
So goodnight for now... wish me luck!
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