Jennifer's Recovery Log

[Jennifer]

On a side note, you said you cannot tolerate OJ?? What brand do you buy?

I stopped drinking it because I thought it was giving me diarrhea. Come to find out, it was the GL hydrolysate causing it.

I was getting the Whole Foods brand of unpasteurized fresh pressed OJ. A while back, someone at Peatarian was talking to EliminateTheJuice (?) about it and mentioned to him that it was the ripest orange juice he had come across. Have you tried it?

I'm sorry about all your digestive issues - especially after all you've been through!! But I do understand - even taking 1 1/2 to 2 grains of Cynoplus hasn't solved my digestive woes and I've learned to manage them as best I can. I can eat some starch, so long as I make sure it "clears" out - so basically, if I choose to eat some delicious bread, I take cascara and sometimes AC and make sure it clears out. My lack of appendix has made the whole thing much better, but the antibiotics made me feel great and then the bacteria sets in again. Anyhow, I mention the OJ because Kasra sent me an article today about how drinking OJ was shown to stop endotoxemia:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2844681/
OJ usually makes me have to poo. As does yoga. Are you able to do any yoga? Even stretching? I find it usually helps my stomach feel better, but then I think we have different sorts of digestive issues. Mine is all in the lower GI, but I don't get sharp pain as you do - although I did when I got food poisoning last year. It was horrible. I couldn't eat an egg that was even close to being soft or hard boiled or it would cause the food poisoning symptoms (which was similar to my appendicitis). Have you tried the kefir and potato starch with honey? It really works and I don't think you'd have a reaction to the dairy, especially if you use good honey. But see how your stool tests come back and keep us posted!!

Thanks, Lindsay. I'm sorry any of us are having to suffer with this.

And thanks for the article. Looks like I'll be stopping in at Whole Foods to pick up more OJ.

I did try yoga in the past, but I think I must have ADHD or something because I have the hardest time sitting still for the isolated movement. It's awful, but it's like I can't relax or something unless I'm in bed and then I'm down for the count.

I'm actually extremely flexible and have really good balance, but when I got hurt, I noticed that my flexibility was shot. I use to do back bends and get my head down to just above the floor without putting my hands down. That's something I want to try working at again. I've been doing a lot of stretching this past month and I'm back to getting both legs behind my neck, I can do splits again and while standing, can raise my leg up to the side almost at my head, if that makes sense?

One thing I'm thrilled about is that I can pirouette again. I use to spin all around the house (habit from my ballet days) and had really good balance, but after I got hurt, I couldn't even get my leg up to turn. Just this past month, without even realizing, I was pirouetting around the house. I caught myself and started crying, I was so happy. At this point, it's the little things I'm getting back that make me feel like the old Jennifer. When I get better, I'd like to take dance classes again, especially lyrical. If I could do my life over, this time around I would stick with dancing and not drop it for cheerleading. I'd love to be one of those girls who performs acrobatics with the aerial silks.

 

[Jennifer]

My issue seems to be seasonal: it seemed to go away when I started the low fat experiment which also happened to coincide with my garlic experiment in June. Now that I'm eating more fat and the days are so short, I wonder...
I'm now thinking that I have some sort of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency...a shortage of lipase and amylase maybe? Who knows...perhaps I need a new pancreas. That's my latest theory. Anyone know how to regenerate a pancreas???

Hmm...I can't remember, but do you supplement light with incandescents?

You know, I'm starting to think our deficiencies are from more of a Polynesian persuasion. I read a study that showed if ladies are having digestive troubles, bouts of depression and hormonal imbalances, that a ticket to Bora Bora is all they need to cure them.

All joking aside, if I remember correctly, the stool test I took checks for pancreatic deficiencies. We'll have some fun dissecting my results. LOL

 

[thebigpeatowski]

Hmm...I can't remember, but do you supplement light with incandescents?

Yes, I shine a red light right at ma bare belly for several hours a day....I desperately need real sunshine and salt water tho....no joke. I'm a Cancer crab and absolutely LIVE to be on a beach, any beach.


OMG...I just figured out you can bust the Christmas lights across the top of the page with your mouse!!!!!!

 

[Jennifer]

Looks like we're both made for the beach, BP. I'm a water baby...an Aquarius. :)

LOL I didn't know we could bust the lights. Nice!

 

[lindsay]

Christmas Lights busted!! Woohoo and Happy New Year!!

But seriously, regarding the OJ, I like Wholefoods 365 Pasteurized no Pulp organic stuff. It's the only kind I've liked, aside from fresh squeezed. I have seen their fresh stuff, but it's super pricey. Still, worth a try!! I also just like to eat oranges. Between my hubby and me, we go through about a half gallon of the WF's organic OJ daily. I used to hate OJ and then when I started taking thyroid, I became addicted. Thyroid gives me regular cravings for certain nutrients - I get regular OJ, coffee, shellfish and SFA cravings. Lately I've been craving sushi like nobody's business. I've eaten it the past two days and if my sushi place is open today, I will probably get it again.

Anyhow, enough about sushi!!! Regarding yoga, I had the worst time with it in the beginning because, like you, I just got bored with it. I've always been a movement person and sitting still is so hard for me. But then Pranarupa's "breathe less" mentality started to sink in with me and realizing that the best way to boost Co2 might actually to be through regular yoga practice, and I started to really concentrate on it. There is a lot of brain power involved in yoga and I went from hating it to craving that 30 minutes a day I shoot for. I'm not into the New Age spiritual side of yoga so much, so I like Tara Stiles videos. She has a funny laugh. I also really like this one video from a Canadian Dude on My Yoga Online.

Anyhow, I would really recommend it - not for the sake of physical fitness so much as calming the mind, which I believe is a truly important process in achieving good health. We've been watching Lost lately and there's this one scene where they find a guy inside this room being blasted with media (the way we are these days) and it was so horrifying - I think we tend to overload our brain with so much information that taking time to release some of that and concentrate on just breathing is so important. Also, I can never take a group yoga course because about 15 or 30 minutes in I have to go poop and holding it for a full class would be unbearable

I totally recommend dancing again when you can and following your dreams - dance is also very therapeutic, but yoga is calming. I would definitely check out Tara Stiles easy videos. She used to be a dancer, so she kind of incorporates dancing and yoga together :)

Here's her page on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TaraStilesYoga

I love her Strala Relax routine. I do the first 30 minutes of that one daily, but today I just might do the whole thing!! Happy New Year!!

 

[Jennifer]

Haha! Happy New Year, Lindsay!

Yeah, the fresh squeezed is a bit pricey. I drank that one because it was the only one that didn't give me heartburn at the time. Even the Trader Joes OJ that is enzyme and flavor packet free gave me heartburn. I'll pick up a container of the 365 pasteurized tomorrow and give it a try.

Hope you enjoyed some more sushi today. :)

Thanks for the link on Tara Stiles. You've convinced me to give yoga another shot. I really need to learn how to quiet my thoughts some, but I just can't do the whole "meditating on a pillow" thing. No judgement to those who do it, it's just not for me. I prefer some kind of movement.

I even thought about doing belly dancing because I've been trying to loosen up my spine more and when I dance, I've been focusing on using my hips and mid-section and it's definitely helped me get flexibility back.

I know exactly which Lost episode you're referring to. Funny, that scene bothered me too. The girl that played Claire (Emilie de Ravin) plays Belle on Once Upon A Time. I love that show!

 

[Jennifer]

This will be a long log so feel free to skip it. It's been crazy these past few days. My mother and I went to pick up my grandmother Tuesday morning to get her blood work done and called her before we left. She answered the phone all in a panic saying she went to the bathroom and when she got up, blood just gushed out of her. She wears one of those life line bracelets where all she has to do is press a button and emergency response is notified and immediately dispatched to her, but she said she didn't think to press the button. This is the second time she doesn't press the button in an emergency.

She fell this past spring while getting out of bed and instead of pressing the button, she calls me and my mom. When asked why she didn't press the button, her response was that she didn't want the young guys seeing her like that. I thought to myself "Nope! That's not it!" If there's one thing I know about my grandmother, it's that she has never shied away from the help of a young man no matter the situation, mostly because she's been trying to marry me off for years now. Never mind the fact that this women lives to read her romance novels so she of all people knows that the best love affairs start with a chance meeting with an EMT or fireman. :P All joking aside, she's at the point where she doesn't want to be taken care of by anyone other than my mom and I.

So we rushed over to get her and her bathroom looked like a crime scene, but thankfully she had stopped bleeding. We immediately took her to the emergency room and were there for about six hours waiting for a bed in the cardiac ward to free up so they could observe her. While the nurse was taking care of my grandmother, something in me said I was going to pass out and I thought "not again!" Sure enough, about a minute later I started to feel queasy. The room and everyone's voices were getting really fuzzy so I quietly sat down in the chair next to me in hopes to catch myself before anyone noticed. I know I should of said something, but I didn't want anyone to worry about me, particularly my grandmother.

I was able to keep myself conscious and when I knew I was okay, I got up and looked across the room at my mom and motioned to my face. She knew exactly what had happened based on my lack of color. I really don't know what's going on with me. I've been poked with so many needles and had so many ER visits in the past and not once did I ever pass out. But in these last two months, I've almost passed out twice.

Anyhow, they examined my grandmother, ran blood tests and a CT scan and all that was found was her previously diagnosed diverticulitis. My grandmother said she had absolutely no pain. We suspect she had an internal hemorrhoid that burst since she has a history of them, but because of her age, they wanted to keep her for a couple nights to make sure she was okay. We picked her up this afternoon and she looked really good. She was so happy to break out of there.

One thing I noticed is that when we first picked her up to bring her to the ER, I had this calm come over me. My depression had lifted and I felt at peace again. I think what happened was I was sensing that something was going to happen to her. I know it sounds crazy, but I had this really nagging ominous feeling for a while now that I just couldn't shake. About two weeks ago, I dreamt something terrible happened to her. It was so disturbing that I woke up crying and wanting to see her to make sure she was okay, but my family convinced me she was fine so I let it go. But when she was here for Christmas, I looked at her from across the family room and was struck with the thought that something wasn't right. I'm so thankful she's okay. At this point, we're thinking it might be time to place her in assisted living for her safety.

So tomorrow morning I get my stool test results. YAY! Okay, now that's definitely depressing. My New Years resolution is to get a life beyond a doctor's office.

Tonight's songs...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=65l07xmHRAw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3IUfGfOK3z0

 

[SQu]

Jennifer I hope your gran is doing better and you too. I know how enormously stressful it is accompanying a sick family member to hospital and waiting in long queues. It's like drinking a gallon of strong black coffee without sugar or milk or anything at all to eat. Even without the worry and the waiting I find hospitals draining and they have terrible energy. Even more inspiring music needed than usual!

 

[Jennifer]

Thank you very much, sueq. :) I called my grandmother the day after we brought her home from the hospital and she was quite chipper. I don't know what they gave her while she was there, but I want whatever she had. LOL

Yes, it's definitely stressful to be at hospitals. Just in 2014 alone, I was at hospitals twice for my mom when she had surgery, when my brother had surgery, for both my dogs and my cat and then twice for my grandmother. I thought I was done for the year, but she had to go and sneak in a visit at the last minute. But yes, definitely more inspiring music is needed in those situations.

The strangest part of it all, my uncle just started working at that hospital a few weeks ago so I made the joke that I'll have to have my yearly visit to the ER so I can see him. A week later and I'm taking my grandmother there. The universe has a sick sense of humor.

 

[Jennifer]

So I had my doctors appointment Friday and while sitting in the waiting room, the receptionist was on the phone with Genova Diagnostics trying to find out where the results of my stool test were. Apparently, they recently changed the way they do that particular test I took and so they're backed up (Hehe!) with stool tests and I won't find out till the 8th what the results are.

My weight was checked and I've dropped 9 pounds since the beginning of December. Not good! I got rid of my scale a while ago, but I knew I had dropped weight given that I'm back to fitting in my tiny size clothes again. I just didn't expect it would be that much. So basically after my 1 1/2 years of refeeding, I'm 5 pounds away from where I started at. So frustrating!

I've been keeping track of my calorie intake the past few days to get an accurate count of what I've been taking in and I've been getting between 2300-2400 a day. Before I was getting around 3000 daily, but now I find it a struggle to even get the 2300 in. I've been downing chocolate bars, eggs, chicken breast, juice and maple syrup since they seem to cause the least issues. When I told my doctor this, she said my weight loss was due to consuming all sugar. :?

So I continue to feel a bit frustrated, like I'm trying to force my body into submission. It just keeps wanting to go back to the same size despite my best efforts and I feel like force feeding myself has only killed my digestion. I may have to resign to being a tiny female and leave it at that. If I wasn't so scared of having frail bones because of what's been drilled into me about small females being more susceptible to osteoporosis, I wouldn't care about my small frame. At this point, I'm trying my best to not drop below 100 pounds. My weight always goes back to the 95 - 99 pound mark so hopefully I can keep it from getting that low. It would be so much easier if I could have dairy.

One of my friends always says "I'm not little, I'm fun size." So for all you little fun size people out there, tonight's songs are for you...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B8j4mn4eF-c

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=abME1JVF18g

 

[thebigpeatowski]

Well, I guess if that's where your body wants to be then you are THE Tiny Dancer



http://youtu.be/e0aRyxNRMn0

 

[Jennifer]

LOL That was great, BP!

Whenever I hear that song I imagine one of those tiny spinning ballerinas in a little girl's jewelry box. If I could ever figure out how to scan photos into the computer, I have a very fitting picture of this Tiny Dancer to send to you in a PM.

 

[aquaman]

But I can't understand why I'm still struggling, especially after refeeding and pounding it with so many calories/nutrition. I've dropped weight and I've been worried that I was going to end up having to refeed again after all this was said and done, but I think I've managed to stop the weight loss. I got rid of my scale a while ago so I've been going by my clothes and I'm back into my tiny sizes again so I know I need to get weight back on. I'll definitely keep you guys posted with the results of the test. Thanks! :)

Why don't you paste a couple of days of precise meal/calorie break down, along with timings, and your body temps and pulse?

I find your log a bit haphazard. Real data should help.

 

[Jennifer]

I apologize if my log comes across as haphazard. I started logging with the intention of not only hammering out my diet, but also journaling my thoughts since I figure we're more than just the foods we eat. We're also a product of our lives and emotions.

I was more thorough in the beginning with documenting my food intake because I was able to play around with it more, but currently I've just been doing my best to eat/drink what will cause the least digestive issues and until I get the results of the stool test, proceeding with a diet "plan of action" has taken a backseat. I figured people wouldn't mind if I still continued to journal despite it being more about my life and feelings right now. I really do apologize if anyone took offense to this. I'll stop.

I appreciate you caring enough to ask about my diet, aquaman. I'm not really sure how helpful this is given my current limbo state, but below is 1 day of 3 consecutive cronometer logs I did over the weekend. I've been consuming pretty much the same thing everyday, except for switching up my egg and chicken intake depending on gut pain:

Strawberry juice - 1 (cup) 137.87 cals
Cherry juice - 1 (cup) 135 cals
Watermelon - 1 (cup) 75.21 cals
Acerola - 1 (cup) 55.66 cals
Apple Juice or cider, unsweetened - 1 (cup) 114.08
Sparkling water, unsweetened - 1 (large bottle - each 16 fl oz) 0 cals
Dark chocolate bar 70%-85% cocoa - 3 (King size bar - each 2.6 oz) 1322.34 cals
Syrup, maple, Canadian - .5 (60 millimeter) 108 cals
Chicken, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, grilled - 1 (3oz) 128.35 cals
Eggs, cooked - 4 (Large) 310 cals
Salt - 2 tsp

Energy: 2387 kcal / 1878 kcal (127%)
Protein: 72.7 g / 70.4 g (103%)
Carbs: 258.0 g / 281.7 g (92%)
Fat: 120.0 g / 52.2 g (230%)
88% of Nutritional Targets Achieved

I've been keeping track of my oral temps and pulse and find they've been pretty consistent everyday for months now. Note - I'm on 2 1/2 grains of NDT and go through a bottle of progest-e a week.

Average temps:

Waking - 97.8
After breakfast - 98. 6
Evening - 98.8

Average pulse rate:

Waking - 75
Midday - 90
Evening - 95

 

[aquaman]

I was more thorough in the beginning with documenting my food intake because I was able to play around with it more, but currently I've just been doing my best to eat/drink what will cause the least digestive issues and until I get the results of the stool test, proceeding with a diet "plan of action" has taken a backseat. I figured people wouldn't mind if I still continued to journal despite it being more about my life and feelings right now. I really do apologize if anyone took offense to this. I'll stop.

LOL, it's not about taking offense so don't worry :)

In terms of the psychology, it's very insightful, keep going! And it's cathartic for sure to log your thoughts/feelings.

It's just harder to give advice without data.

The positive thing from above is that your temp and pulse is increasing. So that's good!

The fat seems very high. The obvious thing is that half your calories are coming from Chocolate!

Is there nothign you can do to reduce the fat and increase the carbs a bit?

Have you tried organic milk powder? It's good for protein and card source, and low on water. You can make custards and pancakes from it mixed with eggs., obviously gluten/wheat free too. You can add more maple syrup which hopefully you won't have reaction to.

 

[Jennifer]

LOL, it's not about taking offense so don't worry :)

Oh, okay! Never mind then. LOL

In terms of the psychology, it's very insightful, keep going! And it's cathartic for sure to log your thoughts/feelings.

It's just harder to give advice without data.

Good call! Given that this is a health forum and not Coffee Talk with Jennifer, data would definitely help. LOL I'll make sure to post more data updates.

The positive thing from above is that your temp and pulse is increasing. So that's good!

The fat seems very high. The obvious thing is that half your calories are coming from Chocolate!

Is there nothing you can do to reduce the fat and increase the carbs a bit?

Have you tried organic milk powder? It's good for protein and card source, and low on water. You can make custards and pancakes from it mixed with eggs., obviously gluten/wheat free too. You can add more maple syrup which hopefully you won't have reaction to.

Yeah, I was trying to eat something that was a calorie/mineral rich food that didn't hurt my gut so I went for the chocolate. Plus, I was thinking that fat would keep fat on me, but of course it's not working. I'll see about picking up some maple sugar candy instead since it's solid and one of the few foods I actually tolerate. I'm of Canadian heritage so I'm about 3/4 maple syrup.

I had started out having milk chocolate made with whole milk powder and I still got the rash so right now, all dairy is out. That's a good idea about the custards and egg pancakes, though. I'll remember that! Thanks!

 

[BingDing]

I thought of you when I heard this today, Jennifer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H64Klav7AC4

 

[lindsay]

Jennifer - have you considered adding honey to your diet? Can you eat honey?

Also, can you explain your ongoing gut pain again? Since I've had every bad gut issue in the past, maybe I can think of something. I believe you said it was in your lower GI, but how does it feel? Like gassiness/bloating or painful - like knives stabbing you?

 

[Jennifer]

I thought of you when I heard this today, Jennifer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H64Klav7AC4

Aww...you guys don't know how happy you make me when you leave me songs. Thanks, BingDing! Love it!

 

[Jennifer]

Jennifer - have you considered adding honey to your diet? Can you eat honey?

Also, can you explain your ongoing gut pain again? Since I've had every bad gut issue in the past, maybe I can think of something. I believe you said it was in your lower GI, but how does it feel? Like gassiness/bloating or painful - like knives stabbing you?

Unfortunately, I'm allergic to honey. I've tried many different brands and still get hives. I do well with maple syrup though.

Yep! The pain is in my lower GI, pretty much the whole lower half of my abdomen. It's a gnawing, burning feeling that sometimes turns into cramping. I can go days where I can eat and it doesn't bother me, but then I'll get hit with it despite eating the same foods.

And I'm still rather perplexed and slightly worried because I have mild bleeding close to three weeks out of each month now. I can't for the life of me figure out why I'm still bleeding when using progest-e, but don't at all when I'm not using it. And my doctor hasn't done anything about it. I tell her and she looks at me with that "that's not good" look, but then does nothing. I've already had ultrasounds done on my ovaries and uterus and everything looked perfect. I seriously am sick of being told how everything is perfect. LOL Clearly my body hasn't received the memo.