Love Thy Gut

Meditative Monday

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food”

~Hippocrates

I started my epic journey in gastrointestinal health in the 5th grade.  Yes, you heard correctly, the 5th grade.  That was the first time I really remember receiving treatment for stomach issues.  Well, besides Mom adminstering different treatments for chronic constipation since birth, but we’ll leave that aside for the moment.  I have gone through life always waiting, always sensitive to the next moment my stomach would fail me.  I have lived a life filled with anxiety and fear over this.  When?   Where?  With who?  I am determined to stop this monster in it’s tracks once and for good!!

If you have ever had any sort of chronic gastro problem, you know how painful, debilitating, and frustrating it can be.  Top that with that fact that many, many people are unable to get an exact diagnosis or cause for their distress (how utterly frustrating is that?) .  I am one of those people and that is why I have struggled for years with IBS.  I have found no good answers.

No one has ever been able to find an exact physical dysfunction in my gut.  Not family physicians, gastroenterologists, or any other “experts”.  Except for the recurring constipation, diarrhea, nausea, and severe cramping that often wraps around my entire torso I have been deemed perfectly healthy.  Strange but true.  Healthy…you should see the steam come out of my ears when I am told my body is completely healthy.

So, that has led me on this journey to health.  Over the years, I have tried more treatments and exercises than you could ever imagine.  Some successful, others were dismal failures.  From alternative to “mainstream”, I have not been afraid to try something in hopes of finding a reprieve.  I hope to share my past experiences here, as well as exploring my newest medical adventures.  That is where you my fellow reader, possibly IBS co-sufferer come in.  We need to pull our resources together!  We must stop this monster from wrecking our bodies and spirits!  Are you with me??  I said, Are you with me??  I hope so, because I am going to save my life from being flushed down the toilet by this gut o’ mine.  This time…it’s going to work.