Had enough with trial and error

[DebE13]

I've been trying to figure out for a very long time what my last offending foods are. My diet is very limited now but I continue to have daily D. I'd like to blame it all on stress but I don't know that for sure. It plays a part but not maybe as much as I think.

Is it reasonable to say if I just ate hamburger for two weeks that I should see something close to Norman? And if I don't, I may need to alway include entocort? I know I'm asking for black and white answers and there are none but I may be ready to commit to the trial to see if it works. It was always out of the question previously because the lack of variety is hard.

I was very stupid this weekend and ate a piece of Pizza Hut pizza which includes ALL of my offenders. I hate to even bring it up because I'm actually ashamed of my lack of better judgement. Simply- I know better than to do that. I'm still feeling crappy. It was a blend of being bummed out, in a rush, and nothing pre-prepared for me to eat. Still, it's no excuse when I knew what would happen.

Needless to say, I don't think I will give in to pizza cravings again. I could kick myself because aside from the D I am feeling better. The stupid idea that maybe I don't really have an issue ........duh.

Anyway, health wise, sticking to one food temporarily shouldn't be an issue? I'm hope to notice something, then do the meticulous addition of single foods to get on the fast track to no D and no D with no entocort.

[UkuleleLady]

Deb,

You shouldn't be ashamed, we've all had weak moments, I'm sure. A few weeks ago, I ate a gluten free cookie that was made with rice and oats (two of my big offenders). I totally succumbed to it. I'm lucky I didn't respond badly to it, but just as easily could have.

I also had a Jamesons on the rocks the other night, not knowing if it was gluten free or not. (Found out it is gluten free accrd. to their website). I just didn't care at the moment. Luckily, again, I'm fine. I have been lucky.

I would venture to guess that for a limited time eating only beef is safe, assuming you are not sensitive to beef. The risk you run is that you'll lose weight.

Personally, I have had great results when I go back to a near all-meat diet in times of duress. And I've only been dealing with MC for about a year.

I wish you the best and hope you get some healing soon,
Nancy

[tex]

with Nancy. The big question is whether or not you produce antibodies to beef.

When I was recovering, I found that beef produced many of my usual symptoms (to a limited degree) except D. IOW, I had minor to moderate bloating, back and shoulder pains, stiff neck, headache, but no D. The reaction lasted roughly 1 day each time I tried it.

Tex

[kd025]

I'm not sure I have anything particularly helpful to add, but I totally understand the frustration! This past year I messed with my diet for months (eliminating anything I could think of that might cause a problem) and it didn't seem to make any noticeable difference. After treating H. Pylori and taking Pepto for a while I'm doing better, but things still aren't 100% normal. The trial-and-error process wears on my patience, for sure! If you do eliminate a ton of foods, you might want to keep an eye on your weight, if that would be a concern for you. Just be careful not to eliminate absolutely everything for too long. At one point I went super strict and lost quite a bit of weight because I was inadvertently under eating. I wasn't going hungry, but I don't think I was getting enough calories.

[Gabes-Apg]

things like beef steaks are harder for your body to digest
(even harder if they are rare, medium rare)

while you are in such a sensitive stage, are there alternative meat/fish options you can try?

regardless of what you have, if it is well cooked and easy to digest mode ie mushy almost like baby food, then it will help you heal.

[LindyLou]

Out of curiosity Deb, what type of thyroid replacement are you on? I came across an interesting video on Youtube regarding all of the allergens found in thyroid replacement meds. I've personally found that I'm much better on Tirosint than any others. Went to my endo a couple of days ago and he prescribed Cytomel. My pharmacist knows me so well that she researched the drug and found out it has wheat starch in it and went as far as finding a generic by Paddock labs that doesn't have any gluten in it. I don't know whether to be sad because I have these problems or happy that even my pharmacist is so proactive for me.

[DebE13]

I know you all understand slips in judgement but I'm no longer in the learning stage about this and what I need to do. I'm a pretty no nonsense person so making bad choices isn't an option. There goes the perfectionist in me. I know we are all human but I really had no excuse. I refrained from any complaining to my family since it was self inflicted. At the very least, it is a strong memory that will stick with me the next time I ponder the idea of straying.

I've not noticed any bad reaction to beef but who knows? I'm not a big fan of steak and prefer regular hamburger. For a while now, I generally have a burger on one slice of Udi's bread for breakfast, a bowl of Chex cereal with banana or pear and almond milk for lunch, and a burger with rice, potato, carrots, or sweet potato for dinner. Lara bars are my dessert. I've had close to Normans eating like this but primarily D. There are other foods I eat but this my base. I should probably go back to this without any "others" for a while. I'm probably just extra ornery because of the lack of daylight and crazy cold weather we've been having.

I pretty alternate with ground turkey or pork, too. I should look harder for good cod. I've been burnt too many times buying bad fish and it irritates me because it's so expensive. I favor fish over anything but it's not a big part of my diet for that reason. Plus, so much of it is farm raised. Maybe fresh fish would be better to buy instead of frozen. For whatever reason I have an aversion to chicken unless it's marinaded in teriyaki.
That out though because of the soy.

I should make a better effort in mushing up my food better. Thanks for the reminder Gabes.

I'm taking levothyroxine manufactured by Mylan. I jumped through a few aggravating hoops to get that one. I didn't know enough at the time to see if I could start with tirosint and am hoping for Cytomel to be added in January. I should be good with the ingredients in this med - I made sure there weren't an extras that might trip me up. LindyLou, you are lucky to have a good pharmacist. I'm skeptical of mine. They ran out of my pills from mylan and substituted another manufacturer as a combo pack telling me with a smile that there were no worries and they were both the same. I shoved it back through the window and told them to try again. That's scary not only because of the difference in ingredients but the potential difference in drug strength between manufacturer 's.

[LindyLou]

Be careful with Cytomel Deb.

http://whattofeedyourkids.blogspot.com/ ... luten.html

I'm on Liothyronine (generic Cytomel) by Paddock Pharmaceuticals and this one is gluten free. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to take it. I've only been on it for a couple of days and when my endo wrote the script he said start out by taking one pill in the morning but if after a few days I hit the afternoon wall and take my regular coma nap to break up the dose into half in the morning and half at night. Think I'm going to end up doing that. On the plus side, the coma nap only lasted for an hour and a half instead of the regular 4 hour one. Yay me! Be watchful regarding the levothyroxine. It turned out I was sensitive to an ingredient in it. Possibly the dye, but once I was switched off of it, I noticed an improvement in my GI issues. The pharmacy I go to is very small sort of like the Cheers Pub where everyone knows your name . I am blessed these wonderful people watch out for me. Also blessed to have finally found an endo that believes me. They're pretty hard to come by. Good luck to you Deb.

[DebE13]

Thanks for the info LindyLou, good to know. That's quite a choice to make. If it only says starch, how do you know it's not corn starch? I will have to do my research before my next appointment because it's clearly up to me to track the ingredients. No one else seems alarmed that a medication may contain an ingredient that could cause serious issues for me. It seems like it may take an act off God to get the Cytomel. I am feeling better than a few weeks ago so that's encouraging yet am still feeling run down so would like to at least try T3 meds to see if it helps. I now feel like I'm functioning at 70% instead of the previous 30%. I'd like to make the point that this is the perfect reason to try NDT but I wouldn't get far with that. Although, I always bring it up because they need to keep hearing about it. The article stated it perfectly...it's crazy to think that no one has made any change since MC and thyroid issues go hand in hand.

That small town feeling is exactly the way it should be. So happy that you found an endo who listens. So far mine seems to be listening with just one ear. The jury is still out on that one.

[Gabes-Apg]

Deb
please remember our discussion a few weeks ago, the actual amount of the stabilising ingredient in the tablet is minuscule.

Unless we live in a bubble, we cant protect ourselves from EVERY contaminate/trigger. We all do the best we can, that suits budget, lifestyle, and be at peace with that....

overthinking and stress is not our friend...

[DebE13]

Thanks Gabes, I am one that tends to overthink everything. I even annoy myself at times because if it.