I first became sick in 1994. This was the end of my junior year in high school. I noticed a difference in my health, however it did not get serious until my senior year in high school. I started to see a gastroentrologist, however he improperly diagnosed me with IBS- without doing all of the nessessary tests. He told my parents that I was just a poor nervous little girl scared to go to college. Although I assured him I was excited to go to school and just didn't feel well, he stuck with his diagnosis. I, in turn, stopped seeing him, telling my parents that I would start seeing a new doctor when I got to college. Unbeknowst to me, my doctors at Michigan State had called my doctors at home for their diagnosis. They then were merely treating me for IBS. I continued to get very sick. After every meal, I was having an attack. The doctors at the health center put me on an all liquid diet. By the end of my first semester at school, I was beddridden and could barely walk down the hall.
I had to go home. I was home and pretty much beddridden for a year and a half. We started seeing the partner of the doctor I saw intially. However, he was not very different from his colleague. My mother and I ended up doing most of the research. The doctor told me that he was going to do his last test. They put me under and he stuck a camera down my throat. When I woke up from the anestetics, he was yelling at me. He asked me why I ate when he had told me to fast. I assured him that I did not eat. He assured me that I did, since he had to pump my stomach. When I had finally convinced him, he decided to do a gastric emptying test. Even after I was diagnosed at 12%, he told me that it was not that bad and I shouldn't be that sick. He switched me around on medications, but seemed to rarely answer my questions. One day I went in with a typed page of questions and he finally admitted to me that he didn't know much about my diease. While I was glad that he was finally honest to me, I also realized that his statement meant that he didn't care enough to find anything out.
Since the medications weren't doing much to make me feel better, I realized that I had to research and treat this illness myself. Most of what I have figured out is through trial and error and alternative medicine. I knew several people who had seen an alternative doctore near my home with great results. Since my insurance would cover part, I decided to give it a try. The doctor that I saw specialized in the care of cancer patients and allergies. I was diagnosed wih Candida, an overgrowth of yeast in my blood. He asked me to severly restrict the foods I ate for a period of six months to help combat teh yeast in my system. Although I was very skeptical, I tried it out, thinking that it couldn't hurt.
I kept a food diary for over a year in a blank notebook that I had. I wrote down not only the foods that I ate, but also the symptoms that I felt during the coarse of the day. I have decided to cut a huge amount of food out of my diet PERMANENTLY. However, I feel wonderful and don't take any medication regularly. Right now I don't eat yeast, cane sugar, wheat, glutten, lactose, fresh fruits and vegetables (except berries ad tomatoes), most cooked fruits ad vegetables (exception of apples, pears, berries, carrots, asparagus, tomatoes), caffine, chocolate, seeds, nuts, rye, spelt, corn, and oat flours, honey and grape sweeteners, and dried fruits. I use sweeteners of any sort very rarely. The more fructose, etc., that I eat, the more tired I am. Staying away from sweets is a big part of being healthy for me.
Relapses still happen every once and a while, usually from soemthing I ate, stress, or just from being too busy. They are pretty rare, usually once or twice a year. Relapses to me are when I start feeling nausia more continuously, start loosing my appetite, start feeling more fatigued, and start having morning sickness and attacks. My IBS will also start acting up more. I recognize the symptoms better than I used to. I used to always assume that I was getting the flu or something. Now that I recognize the symptoms better, I can practice preventative medicine better. When I feel a relapse coming on I immediately clean up my diet (if I have been adding in more baked goods or sweet, oily, or fancy foods) and I will go on prilosec or prevacid. Both will make me tired. I hate being on medication. But with thsi diet, I am able to stay off it for most of teh time. When I go back on it, it is never for more than a month and a half. I decide to go off it based on how I have been feeling.
I also stay away from antibiotics, since I believe that they caused my candida and that in turn caused and aggrivates my gastroparesis and IBS. I only take them when absolutely nessessary, and when I do I will take them with nystatin to help combat the yeast. In addition, I also see a chiropractor at least once a month. Again it is something that I have noticed really helps how I feel. If I am having a relapse or am just starting to feel worse, I visit my chiropractor , get an adjustment, and start to feel better. Since all of the organs in your body are connected to your spine, it makes sense to me that it can play a large role in your health. Many doctors and people are resistant to this form of alternative medicine. I was too, but the bottom line is that it makes me feel better and that is all that is important to me. I lead a very active life without being permanently medicated and I feel great! |
