Cristi, are you feeling better today?

[moremuscle]

Hi Cristi

Wow, I just finished reading your thread about not having a good day. I also noticed you have been gluten free for several weeks now. Thumbs up for you!!

I don't often think about how long ago it is I was diagnosed but in responding to your messages it dawns on me that it's been 2 years since I became sick with D and fatigue. Explosive diarrhea was by far the worst and most hated symptom for me - I couldn't control it and had D all the time, completely regressed to being a baby again - helpless, smelly, and not capable of performing the most basic things - I almost lost it completely - just cried and felt sorry for myself.
I know you are not like that - you are already taking action and control on doing everything in your power to get things under control. You are so brave

I found the lovely people on this board immediately after getting my MC diagnosis and they have helped me in countless ways. They encouraged me when I was feeling hopeless. I got up in the morning and tapped away on my keyboard - it was just so wonderful to find people who cared and understood me. Otherwise I was pretty isolated with this disease.

Cristi, it may seem impossible that one day (sooner than you imagine) you will feel good again and be healthy and have a good life; but it is not at all impossible - it WILL happen to you too. Keep working on it

I am not a food intolerance expert but I do keep a strict diet and I prepare 99.9% of my meals myself so I have a little experience at this point in how to control my own symptoms with diet. I have learned all of it from the folks on this board. However, noone else can DO it for you - you are the person who is going to be in charge of doing the things that your body needs. And let there be no doubt, your body needs attention and care. You are already doing it - you are so GOOD!!!

OK, soy licithin was mentioned. I am soy intolerant just like you. Soy licithin is used in most dark chocolates as an emulsifier. I have experienced how this tiny amount of soy can make me go into complete explosive out of control diarrhea, nocturnal and all
Soy is probably the single worst "food" group for me in terms of creating diarrhea in me. If you want a horrible experience just go ahead a chuck down some Silk (it's supposed to be so good for women's health, you know LOL!!).

That's it for now, Cristi - I just really hope you are having a good day/evening w/o rumbling and discomfort. You deserve it for working so hard on this very difficult change of lifestyle. And YEAH, oh YEAH, feeling a little weird................ I am SOOOOOOOOOO weird!! I just can't eat out or eat with other people unless I bring my own stuff. Don't worry too much about the being weird thing; you will find a way that works for you - I KNOW you will.

Love,
Karen

[cludwig]

Hi Karen,

It's inspiring to hear from people like you who have made it to the healthy side. Nice to know that so many of you have figured this out and can lead a life that's close to normal.

Today was a better day...less nausia and bloating. Hard to imagine that two bites of steak could mess me up for three days. I have done plenty of crying...I didn't figure out the gluten connection for months and only recently found these wonderful people on this board. It's such a relief to find out that my life is not over as I had come to believe before. I was feeling that my family would be better off without me and wasn't sure I was up to a life with so much pain. I'm much better than that now because I have hope.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do about my blood tests that are all messed up now. I hear you were in a similar situation while you were sick with MC. I'm not sure whether I should just wait to see if removing gluten somehow fixes these problems or let the doctors try to figure things out.

I'm sad to hear soy is in dark chocolate...but at least I know it's there and can avoid it.....I'm sure in the future I will mourn all the lovely food I won't be able to eat, but right now I am just so grateful that there is a possibility that I'll regain good health again.

You are so right about the isolation....Most of my friends have disappeared....I was actually too sick to enjoy anyones company anyway. So I have been up here tapping away on the keyboard as well.....and everyone has been so supportive and generous of their time and knowlege.

AS for being weird...I've always thought normal was highly over rated.....haha....so I can deal with that. It does seem like it will damper one's social life if I let it. This is something I'll worry about down the road a bit.

Thanks for the support Karen,
Cristi

[moremuscle]

Hahahahahaha!!! Normal is highly overrated, I couldn't agree more - that's so wonderful to see that you have humor to tackle this monumental task with. You have a WONDERFUL attitude and that's the battle half won already!

About the steak - is it possible that you ate a piece of steak that had been injected with a solution or had been marinated?

One of the things we MI'ers (Multiply Intolerant) need to pay close attention to is when we buy so called fresh meat - much meat has been injected with a solution to make the meat more palatable. This is often the case with turkey (which is dry and without flavor unless it is injected) and chicken but unfortunately it is also sometimes done to beef. One of the down sides of lean meat is that it doesn't have moisture or flavor - so in order to sell it and make people happy with it the meat manufacturers have figured out they can inject flavor, tenderisor (sp?) etc.

If you read the labels on the meat package it will say it if the meat is injected/treated.

Wayne told you he eats a lot of pork - I do too and it agrees very well with my gut. Smithfield is a "clean" brand of pork - I buy it at my regular grocery store. It is a good idea to talk to the butcher at your local grocery store and ask them to show you which meats are clean or w/o injections.

I eat a fair amount of beef too w/o problems but it has to be injection free.

Love,
Karen

[cludwig]

Hi Karen

I had heard about turkey being injected but not other meats. I will look at the label more carefully next time....and just get to know the butcher so I can double check with him/her.

Good to know about the Smithfield brand of pork. My daughter will be home from college this week...so I won't be trying anything new until she leaves..don't want to ruin the visit. But I'll look for that brand when I'm brave enough to try something new.

Thanks
Cristi