First thing, first – the doctor’s visits. I think I would
just bleed from my fingers if I type in one more time how much I hate all my doctors’
appointments. I have never been fond of medical staff, but since I moved to
this God forsaken state with practically failed medical school, almost not
graduates, it’s been even worse. Just hours and days of wasted time and no
results, no new insight.
Mind you, I know that my disease is chronic and without
cure. I don’t worry about finding an alternative solution for that. But since
my new “food allergies” have started, I
have found not one doctor that knows, or cares enough to find out why my rashes
and all my GI troubles are happening. They all wave it as “food allergies” and
when I ask them “WHAT FOOD, then?!” They shrug and say “test all of them and
see which one”. Really. Honestly.
I can buy that there is no conclusive food test that
would rule out everything else (you gotta know what you’re looking for), but at
the same time: could it be something different? Do they want to eliminate
everything else, first?! Everything else that is testable and
diagnosable?! For the allergies, they need
to trust that I have tried to stay away from pretty much everything and the symptoms
are not much better. They are spotty at best, but definitely not gone.
I read a lot about my symptoms, and they can be allergies
or any amount of immune deficiencies, for instance. One test was done for the
Complement System proteins
and one of them was at the very lower end of the “normal” range, which, in some
literature, can be a concern. Not for the GI doctor that ordered the test. I am
not a doctor, but I would take that wild guess and just make sure I checked everything
in here, to rule out an immune system problem and maybe temper down all the
symptoms that have wreaked havoc in my daily life since last year. But hey,
again: not a doctor, right?!
Speaking of doctors, the only one I sort of like is my
cardiologist. He is very open, honest and thorough. He teaches me how to read
my symptoms and my test results, and he offers me all the medical options,
whether he knows I will nix them (like participating in studies or apheresis) or
try them out (like diets, pills, reading books, etc). But, as my luck would
have it, he is retiring. So, there I am again, starting with a new one (one of
his co-workers), whose second specialty is, apparently, lipidology. Bonus for
me, of course, but why didn’t I know this 5 years ago when I first moved here,
that they have a lipidologist on staff?! Ah, well! Like I said – I’ve only sort
of liked the one I have had. I am meeting my new guy in a couple of
weeks. The office staff was supposed to call me with a stress test appointment
(which I have not done since 4 years ago, but my symptoms have not changed, so
this should just be routine) but it’s been 2 weeks since I have seen them and
they have not called yet. So, we shall see.
The second point I wanted to make was the one good thing
that came from all the crazy “food allergies”. Like I said it here before – it’s
the vegan and virtually fat free diet I am on. The March numbers spoke for
themselves as to what this diet is doing to my cholesterol. But the way I feel
is even better, I think. I still wish I would exercise more, but that is my own
fault: I get dragged into chores, and gardening and surfing online just to rest
my overloaded brain from work that the days just rush past me! But the energy
level is incredible, my skin feels better, my hair even looks better, and my
acid reflux is very rare nowadays!
My mom cannot understand how I survive without meat and
animal products, and she thinks I probably just eat carrots every day. Here are
just a couple of pictures of some foods I made lately, both for dinner.
One is oven
fries (no oil, just organic Pam for coating the tray) with fresh tomato and
onion salad and garlic roasted Brussels sprouts. The bread is homemade vegan
bread, made by my husband:
The second dish is vegan burgers. These burgers have
everything but the kitchen sink in them and they are delicious: black beans,
corn, brown jasmine rice, onions, peppers, mushrooms, cornmeal. I ate them with
the vegan bread and mustard. So amazingly flavorful. And no, I never feel
hungry after these vegan foods. I only feel hungry if I don’t eat enough. If I
eat just a grape, or just a carrot, I promise you I will be hungry. But that doesn’t
happen!
I still refuse to label myself. I just eat food, is what
I say about my diet. I never say “never” so who knows what kind of food I’ll be
eating tomorrow, but right now, it’s mostly veggies, starches and grains, and very
limited oil, if any. And I mean very limited any oils (none of these: avocado,
coconut milk, seeds, nuts). We shall see new numbers in about 2 months
(August). Till then, I’ll keep fighting the new cardiologist and they newly
ordered tests.
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