November 02, 2014

Another Day, Another Diet

I called my doctor's office October 21, and after relaying through his nurse through several calls, we he decided the BRAT diet was the best way to control my headaches and the resulting tummy problems. I had talked to him once before about having candida and he pooh-poohed it just like every other doctor I've ever been to, so I didn't argue with him this time when he said candida doesn't cause digestive problems. I should have. I really should have.

It took a week and a dose of Imodium before I was functioning normally, or as normal as anyone could function eating only rice, bananas, and applesauce. And on the upside, I've lost eight pounds. On the 31st, I added steamed carrots and was happy to wake up Saturday morning without a headache. That was especially good since I went to a garden swap in Fort Worth that lasted several hours. (I got a century plant and a couple of Manfreda plants among others. Very cool.) After my usual breakfast of rice and lunch of banana and applesauce, I was pretty pumped about eating carrots with my rice again for dinner. I know. What a sad life when carrots are a thrill. Then, for a reason that escaped me afterward, I added soy sauce to the mix. By bedtime, I had a headache, couldn't shake it all night, and this morning I was at the sick tummy stage.

It didn't last more than an hour, so I still had time to get to church. I haven't been there in three weeks, two of them because I was sick. Everyone said I looked good... better than ever.... very healthy. That's good I guess, but it annoys me that I look better when I don't feel good rather than when I do. That's one thing I've noticed a lot over the years, and I'm sure people with other invisible illnesses see also, that unless our eyes are sunken into our shriveled faces, no one believes us when we say we aren't well.

All that to say that I am tossing the BRAT diet and going back to the Candida diet. In the middle of the week, I wondered why the diet, especially the bananas and applesauce wasn't bothering me. I had noticed some of the symptoms of Candida overgrowth, but nothing like this morning. My doctor won't like this, and I don't think I'm going to tell him. A lie of omission. But I've decided to follow my instinct, which says this is a Candida issue, not just an allergy issue. There may very well be an allergy issue, or gluten intolerance, but if that were the case, the BRAT diet wouldn't have caused today's problems.

Usually, starting the Candida diet makes me feel very deprived, but two weeks of BRAT will make the Candida diet feel like a feast. I've already enjoyed a meal of fried eggs and rutabaga. It was.... interesting.




6 comments:

  1. I hope you can find the cause and a siolution soon.

    I've had heart issues for over a decade and grew very weary of people telling me I "looked good" when I felt ill. I've learned not to say that but rather, "I'm glad to see you!" instead.

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    1. Auto-check strikes again. That should be solution. ;o)

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    2. Me too, and when they use the standard greeting "How are you?" I say "Good to see you" because if I say "I'm fine" then they want to know why I wasn't at "such & such". LOL And they really don't want to know if I'm not fine.

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    3. I worry about the lack of calories on some days. Please be careful.

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    4. It does seem that way to me too. I'm not sure if the nutritional value information on some of the recipe websites is accurate or if I am figuring it right when I calculate each ingredient in a recipe. I know I'm eating a plate full of food at lunch, graze through the morning, and try to eat light at dinner. I read an interesting article today about the difficulty of absorbing nutrients after gallbladder surgery and I've wondered if that is part of my problem.

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  2. That's definitely no fun. I was going to say looks like things are getting better, but then noted that you had a headache today. Hope you can get this under control so you can enjoy the holidays.

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