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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

My Stomach Hurts

I wish I could say that "my stomach hurts" refers to sharing hours of laughter with friends, but unfortunately it doesn't.  My stomach hurts every time I eat.  It's a mystery and I'm determined to get to the bottom of it.  I've had numerous doctor's visits to try to figure out the mystery.  Even to the point of having a colonoscopy a few years back (sorry if that's too much information shared).  A bill of clean health was given; although, I was labeled with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).  Basically this means, "We have no idea what is wrong with you and your crazy ideas of stomach pain so we will label you with IBS." 

Once I was labeled with IBS I began, for a short while, being very diligent as to what I was eating.  Apparently there are certain foods vs. other foods that can cause a "flare up" or a gut wrenching ache for hours.  So, here I go (again) where I am going to try to figure out what is making me feel the way I do. 

My first step is an elimination diet.  This means that for a period of time I will eliminate certain food or food types from my daily diet.  The second portion of this process is journaling everything I eat, time of day I eat, how much I eat, how I feel before and after I eat (emotionally and physically)....

The second step is to actually stick with it so I can (hopefully) figure out what makes me feel awful. 

The hardest part about all of this is I LOVE FOOD.  All kinds of food.  I also love cooking and baking.  This is going to be challenging, but I'm hoping I will get the stomach aches figured out. 

So, here I go...the next 30 days...no dairy.  (Big sigh...I love cheese.)

2 comments:

Robin said...

Did you discuss Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance with your doc?

Rachel F. said...

hang in there. I have another friend who did this and can now have a little dairy.