About a month or so into the cleanse I ended up traveling for a week. Traveling and being on such a strict cleanse was not a very good plan, but things were already set so I tried to stick with it as much as I could. Amusingly, the straw that broke the camel's back for me was coffee. Part of the cleanse was getting all stimulants out. I love coffee. I consider Starbucks to be one of my vices.
After another visit with the chiropractor I decided to just go back to doing things on my own. I tried to add in a couple supplements he had suggested, and some I had found doing research. But unfortunately I was still having major ups and downs. For about a month I'd feel great, and then I'd go into a slump and start getting constipated and feeling gross, and I couldn't find anything that would stop that from happening. (As a side note, if you're looking for a natural laxative, Senna tea is the best. I usually mix dried senna, peppermint and ginger and make tea with a little honey. Soothes and gets things moving).
During all this time I had been attending college to get my bachelor's degree. At the end of 2008 I was set to graduate (the cleanse happened in the summer of 2008). Towards the end of the year I was starting to prepare to move out of my parent's house, which meant not being under their insurance anymore. I still really wanted to get the biopsy done, even though I had been GF for a year, I wanted to give a gastroenterologist one more try. I did some research and found an osteopathic gastro doctor. I made and appointment, and he was one of the first doctors to actually be helpful! It was like a breath of fresh air. Now of course the only real management tool he could give me was to not eat gluten, but he did prescribe me a medication for my IBS (which ended up causing problems, but that's for another post). He also was willing to do the biopsy without making me do a gluten challenge. Something that I was not going to do. There was no way I was going to make myself sick again around the end of my last semester, let alone ever.
The day came for the biopsy, fasting was involved of course, but that was fine since I don't normally eat breakfast. A bad habit, I know. I was prepped and given the medications, which worked amazingly fast and amazingly well. Woke up afterwards, recovered, and went home. Of course, I got pictures too, which I posted on my facebook to gross out all my friends :).
When the doctor told me the results, he said that there was still a slight amount of damage, and I had a confirmed diagnosis of Celaic Disease. This may sound odd, but I was so glad he said that! I didn't want to have to deal with doctors not being willing to treat me for Celiacs because I hadn't done the biopsy. Also, I love learning medical stuff about myself, partly because I love science and medicine, and partly because I feel like I'm a medical anomoly and I want to know everything that is wrong with me.
Showing posts with label cleanse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleanse. Show all posts
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Cleanse
Oh the Cleanse. This was the most intense dieting thing I've ever done, and hopefully ever will do. The chiropractor I saw had written this plan himself, and it was intense. The first week was pretty much a fast. I had to drink 2 liters of water a day and 5 protein shakes spread out (about every 3 hours). The protein shakes were meant to make sure I still got vitamins and other essential daily nutrients. The first day or two went alright, my digestive system adjusted to not having solid food in it, and aside from my crap looking like slightly more concentrated protein shakes (and burning like none other) my stomach was quite content to be empty. But there were 2 big hurdles that I ran into the first week. The first one was the worst, I started having heart palpitations. Now this had also happened a year or so before when I had tried birth control pills to control my PMS symptoms, but just because it had happened before didn't mean it didn't freak me out. I called him right away slightly panicky and tried to figure out why I still trusted this guy. He tried to calm me down as best he could, and told me to take large amounts of magnesium. I did heed his advice and the palpitations subsided (I've actually had this problem more recently, and have found daily magnesium supplements to be quite important for me). The second hurdle I encountered during that first week was feeling myself go slightly insane from not having solid food for multiple days. I finally had my mom cook me a sweet potato so I could eat tiny pieces of it and have something solid in my mouth (I do have a slight oral fixation). That was probably the best sweet potato I've ever eaten.
The following weeks of the cleanse consisted of re-introducing foods into my diet; pretty much trying to reset my digestive system. Unfortunately about a month into this cleanse I ended up going to a camp as a counselor and "cheated" the entire time. I was mostly concerned about not eating gluten, than sticking to a cleanse that had gone on too long for my own sanity. I did have a couple more rechecks with him, but once I realized I just couldn't stick with it, and that he was a little bit too alternative for me, I decided to just go it alone once again.
As a side note; cleanses are very tricky things to do. I don't think that a safe cleanse will ever ask you to stop eating for an extended amount of time like that. The most recent cleanse I did was just some herbal pills that I took morning and evening (made me smell like one big herb, that's for sure). There are cleanses out there that tell you to drink only green tea and lemon juice for a certain number of days, or to drink their "tonic" and nothing else for __ days. I had a friend try to lose weight fast by not eating and increasing caffeine, and he ended up in the hospital. Cleanses sound like a good idea, like something we need to do because of the way they are marketed. But honestly, you don't. Your body will take care of things itself. We crap to get rid of toxins, we urinate to get rid of toxins, and when we get sick we're getting rid of toxins and "invaders." Our bodies, as long as they are healthy and fed properly, are more than able to take care of themselves.
The following weeks of the cleanse consisted of re-introducing foods into my diet; pretty much trying to reset my digestive system. Unfortunately about a month into this cleanse I ended up going to a camp as a counselor and "cheated" the entire time. I was mostly concerned about not eating gluten, than sticking to a cleanse that had gone on too long for my own sanity. I did have a couple more rechecks with him, but once I realized I just couldn't stick with it, and that he was a little bit too alternative for me, I decided to just go it alone once again.
As a side note; cleanses are very tricky things to do. I don't think that a safe cleanse will ever ask you to stop eating for an extended amount of time like that. The most recent cleanse I did was just some herbal pills that I took morning and evening (made me smell like one big herb, that's for sure). There are cleanses out there that tell you to drink only green tea and lemon juice for a certain number of days, or to drink their "tonic" and nothing else for __ days. I had a friend try to lose weight fast by not eating and increasing caffeine, and he ended up in the hospital. Cleanses sound like a good idea, like something we need to do because of the way they are marketed. But honestly, you don't. Your body will take care of things itself. We crap to get rid of toxins, we urinate to get rid of toxins, and when we get sick we're getting rid of toxins and "invaders." Our bodies, as long as they are healthy and fed properly, are more than able to take care of themselves.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The crazy Chiropractor
A few months after GI doc #1 I was still having quite a few problems. After talking with my Celiac friend I decided to go see her doctor, who was actually a chiropractor that did muscle testing.
As a side note, muscle testing is probably one of the weirdest things I've done so far. The patient lays down on a table and holds one arm vertical. The practitioner then holds a vial of whatever substance they are testing (gluten, corn, vegetables, etc.) over the patient's body and the pulls the patient's arm down. The patient is supposed to resist the pulling, and based on how well they resist the practitioner can tell what foods are bad for them and which ones they can tolerate. Also, the patient is not consciously aware of what is in the vial until afterward, which is key to the testing. I told you, it's weird. I've never had so many vials involved in my health care until I started looking more into alternative medicine.
I went for my initial appointment and after the muscle testing was told that I am intolerant to gluten, corn, dairy, and MSG. He also told me that MSG is found in everyday foods like broccoli. The weirdest part about the testing was that when he held the "bad" things over me, I couldn't resist his pushing on my arm, even if he tried twice. After the muscle testing he then put me on a very intense full body cleanse.
If you aren't familiar with cleanses, their purpose is to rid the body of toxins that build up in the body through environmental exposure. You can be exposed either by inhaling, ingesting, or absorbing these toxins through the skin. Now our bodies are designed to be able to filter out these toxins all the time, and they shouldn't build up. Of course build ups do still happen occasionally, like with heavy metal toxicity; but these types of things aren't common unless you are exposed to extremely high amounts (such as eating fish every day, or having high levels in your home). Although I do occasionally do cleanses, I'm not convinced of their necessity or validity.
Next time: The cleanse
As a side note, muscle testing is probably one of the weirdest things I've done so far. The patient lays down on a table and holds one arm vertical. The practitioner then holds a vial of whatever substance they are testing (gluten, corn, vegetables, etc.) over the patient's body and the pulls the patient's arm down. The patient is supposed to resist the pulling, and based on how well they resist the practitioner can tell what foods are bad for them and which ones they can tolerate. Also, the patient is not consciously aware of what is in the vial until afterward, which is key to the testing. I told you, it's weird. I've never had so many vials involved in my health care until I started looking more into alternative medicine.
I went for my initial appointment and after the muscle testing was told that I am intolerant to gluten, corn, dairy, and MSG. He also told me that MSG is found in everyday foods like broccoli. The weirdest part about the testing was that when he held the "bad" things over me, I couldn't resist his pushing on my arm, even if he tried twice. After the muscle testing he then put me on a very intense full body cleanse.
If you aren't familiar with cleanses, their purpose is to rid the body of toxins that build up in the body through environmental exposure. You can be exposed either by inhaling, ingesting, or absorbing these toxins through the skin. Now our bodies are designed to be able to filter out these toxins all the time, and they shouldn't build up. Of course build ups do still happen occasionally, like with heavy metal toxicity; but these types of things aren't common unless you are exposed to extremely high amounts (such as eating fish every day, or having high levels in your home). Although I do occasionally do cleanses, I'm not convinced of their necessity or validity.
Next time: The cleanse
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