Sorry everyone! I know it has been a couple of weeks since I posted. It seems that my digestive issues were not caused by overdosing on gluten after all...(not that I really ate that much)
The Mystery Illness is Back!!!
Some of you may not be familiar with my "mystery illness" that I had for about 4 months in early 2009. The best way to describe it is alternating between a short period of semi-constipation followed by lots of mushy poop that has a really foul smell. There is sometimes cramping but not much. Sorry about the unpleasant description but it's no fun for me either. I hope nobody was eating when they read that. If you were I am sorry.
Ok I am done with the description I promise! This first started on March 17, 2009. I had not eaten anything unusual and I thought it was a one day thing. Well it wasn't. When it first started there was a lot of cramping so it did not take me long to see the doctor about it. My first visit was on March 30. Then on April 1st I was experiencing painful cramps and my doctor sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound. The ultrasound found nothing at all. I ate a lot of rice for a few days and I even see a note about having heartburn 2 days in a row which is really unusual for me. It appears after about a week on the rice I was ok for 2 days and then it came back. I went to see a Gastroenterologist. He ordered a bunch of blood tests and told me I didn't have Celiac disease and I should have a colonoscopy and a small bowel x-ray. I had the colonoscopy on April 22 and it was normal. About a week after the colonoscopy I believe I returned to "normal". On May 6th I had the small bowel x-ray and of course it came back normal. So for a while I thought I was better and then on May 23rd it started to come back and by May 27th it was totally back. I felt I needed to see a different specialist so I made an appointment with a different doctor and saw her on June 23rd. She ordered more blood work and I had to submit stool samples and a 5-HIAA urine test where I collect all of my urine for 24 hours in a huge jug. This urine test was the only test that came back abnormal. My levels were high so I had an Octreotide scan on July 28 to see if I had a carciniod tumor. The scan must have seen something so I had to have a CT scan of my abdomen on August 13 with and without contrast. This scan found a fibroid on my uterus. Now we all know the fibroid on my uterus was not the cause of these symptoms and at that point in time I was no longer having symptoms so I did not pursue it any more. I was never given a diagnosis or any possible explanation of my symptoms. I figured maybe it was just a virus or something and it was gone now so it did not matter anymore.
Well now it is back...and I want it to go away. I still have no idea what this "thing" is. I leave for my cruise in 4 and a half weeks and do not want to be dealing with this. I don't wish to see a doctor at this point since they don't know what it is either and will just order more tests that will show nothing. So for now it will remain a mystery and I will have to tolerate it.
On December 1st my weight was 122.0 which is .6 pounds higher than it was on November 1st but I was dealing with this problem (and prior to the problem starting it was still going down) so I plan on weighing myself again on Tuesday since it is the one year anniversary of that "horrible" weigh in at the doctor's office that got me started on this whole mission.
I will continue to not eat gluten for the rest of December. So far I am not seeing any improvements so there may be no intolerance. That would be great since it is REALLY expensive to buy gluten free foods.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
November 2010...finally caught up! Am I gluten intolerant??
My weight on November 1st was 121.4 pounds. I was down 1.2 more pounds!
This month everything was going well. I had been eating "Chock full of Veggie" Chili over quinoa for lunch most days at work- yummy! I have been exercising most days. I finally read the book Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, MS. I had heard of the book through one of my podcasts (Blog Talk Radio Underground Wellness, available free on iTunes) and knew a little about the book. I knew from the podcast about the book to have my doctor order a blood test the last time I went to see what my levels of Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGB Ab) & Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPO Ab) were. My Thyroglobulin Antibodies tested normal but my Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies tested high. The reference range on the test is less than 35 and mine were 124. This indicated that my hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's disease. Hashimoto's disease is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks and destroys its own thyroid gland. Although the disorder is a common cause of hypothyroidism, most doctors don't bother to test for it since a diagnosis does not change the standard treatment, which is to prescribe thyroid hormone. When I was given my first prescription several years ago I even remember the nurse practitioner telling me it did not matter what the cause was when I asked her since it would not change the treatment. Dr. Kharrazian discusses the link between gluten intolerance and Hashimoto's disease in the book. If you are thinking of reading this book I must warn you that it goes into a lot of technical details about medical stuff that would be better understood if you were a doctor. I think he may have forgotten that people who are not doctors might read his book.
So I do have a reason for getting into all of this detail. I decided that it could be a good idea for me to try to go "gluten free" for a period of time to see if I notice any difference or if it makes me feel more awake to not eat gluten. So I went through the cabinet and pulled out all of the gluten. I decided to eat up all of the gluten and once it is gone I will start my "gluten free trial" and see how it goes. Ever since I have been trying to "dispose" of the gluten products by eating them I have been having "bowel issues" similar to the problem I had in the spring of 2009...so now I wonder if I really am gluten intolerant.
This month everything was going well. I had been eating "Chock full of Veggie" Chili over quinoa for lunch most days at work- yummy! I have been exercising most days. I finally read the book Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, MS. I had heard of the book through one of my podcasts (Blog Talk Radio Underground Wellness, available free on iTunes) and knew a little about the book. I knew from the podcast about the book to have my doctor order a blood test the last time I went to see what my levels of Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGB Ab) & Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPO Ab) were. My Thyroglobulin Antibodies tested normal but my Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies tested high. The reference range on the test is less than 35 and mine were 124. This indicated that my hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's disease. Hashimoto's disease is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks and destroys its own thyroid gland. Although the disorder is a common cause of hypothyroidism, most doctors don't bother to test for it since a diagnosis does not change the standard treatment, which is to prescribe thyroid hormone. When I was given my first prescription several years ago I even remember the nurse practitioner telling me it did not matter what the cause was when I asked her since it would not change the treatment. Dr. Kharrazian discusses the link between gluten intolerance and Hashimoto's disease in the book. If you are thinking of reading this book I must warn you that it goes into a lot of technical details about medical stuff that would be better understood if you were a doctor. I think he may have forgotten that people who are not doctors might read his book.
So I do have a reason for getting into all of this detail. I decided that it could be a good idea for me to try to go "gluten free" for a period of time to see if I notice any difference or if it makes me feel more awake to not eat gluten. So I went through the cabinet and pulled out all of the gluten. I decided to eat up all of the gluten and once it is gone I will start my "gluten free trial" and see how it goes. Ever since I have been trying to "dispose" of the gluten products by eating them I have been having "bowel issues" similar to the problem I had in the spring of 2009...so now I wonder if I really am gluten intolerant.
I took a couple of pictures of me wearing my old pants.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
September & October 2010
My weight on September 1st was 123.2 pounds. I was down another 2 pounds since last month's weigh in. I had a doctor's appointment on September 3rd. The scale at the doctor's office weighed me in at 124 pounds FULLY CLOTHED! This meant that my scale is pretty accurate and I really have lost all of those pounds.
I had to make another trip to the store for some clothes since some of my pants were falling off of me. It was going to be cold soon and I would need to wear full length pants to stay warm but all of the pants I had from last winter were HUGE on me. It was a great day for me since I discovered I wear a size 2! All of my pants from last winter were size 6. My favorite pair of pants was now too big for me. I will miss those pants!
October's weigh in was 122.6 pounds. It was only .6 of a pound but I am not complaining since it was still a loss. I have to be getting close to what I should weigh at this point so I would expect the weight loss to slow down. I do still have a little bit in my upper inner thighs that needs to go though. On October 21st I had another doctor's appointment that I weighed in at 123 pounds fully clothed. That really made me happy.
I don't have a lot of notes for September and October. I continued with my workouts and continued to eat healthy foods. During my October vacation (I did not go away) I stopped out to see my Mom and she fed me some really good food. She called it a "Live Garden Burger". It was REALLY good but did not taste like a burger. It is a bunch of raw ingredients made in a food processor and served on lettuce and did I say it was YUMMY...oh I guess I already did. Well it was really good and someday I hope to make it but I need to get a food processor first.
I promise the next update will be better and it will be the one that catches me up to being current.
I had to make another trip to the store for some clothes since some of my pants were falling off of me. It was going to be cold soon and I would need to wear full length pants to stay warm but all of the pants I had from last winter were HUGE on me. It was a great day for me since I discovered I wear a size 2! All of my pants from last winter were size 6. My favorite pair of pants was now too big for me. I will miss those pants!
October's weigh in was 122.6 pounds. It was only .6 of a pound but I am not complaining since it was still a loss. I have to be getting close to what I should weigh at this point so I would expect the weight loss to slow down. I do still have a little bit in my upper inner thighs that needs to go though. On October 21st I had another doctor's appointment that I weighed in at 123 pounds fully clothed. That really made me happy.
I don't have a lot of notes for September and October. I continued with my workouts and continued to eat healthy foods. During my October vacation (I did not go away) I stopped out to see my Mom and she fed me some really good food. She called it a "Live Garden Burger". It was REALLY good but did not taste like a burger. It is a bunch of raw ingredients made in a food processor and served on lettuce and did I say it was YUMMY...oh I guess I already did. Well it was really good and someday I hope to make it but I need to get a food processor first.
I promise the next update will be better and it will be the one that catches me up to being current.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)