Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Of (Good) Food and (Not So Good) Doctors



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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