Initial Thoughts From G.I. Doc...

Initial thoughts are that my intestinal pain is NOT a gluten issue, but separate from that. While acknowledging that I definately have issues with gluten, she says my pain stems from something else.

What is the something else? Her initial "hope" is that my pain is coming from endometriosis tissues that have permeated the intestinal wall - that I now have endo tissue INSIDE my intestines. Here's a link:  AKA - Bowel Endometriosis. She said that once she's in there looking around that she will be able to see and remove the endo tissues, as well as anything else that maybe in there.

Further - The endo tissues permeating the intestinal wall has probably caused a (here's a link:) leaky gut syndrome. Or, did the problems with gluten cause a leaky gut??? Who knows. I don't care, I just want to repair it.

Here is another good article:  LINK HERE.

So, next week is my colonoscopy. I hope they find SOMETHING so I can give it a name.

To make intestinal matters worse, I ate some soup today that went sour. I didn't drink lots of it, but several good tablespoonfuls because I couldn't decide if it was bad or not. Then I tried another jar - it was also bad, so dumped all 4 quarts. They didn't seal quite right and went bad on the counter. So, now I have diarrhea on top of my "normal" pain. 

It could be worse. I'm not complaining, I'm just journaling.

July Woes 2012

My July 2012 was filled with health issues...

Sore spot on old c-section scar.

Tenderness all over

Bloating

Fatigue

Vertigo

Abnormal PAP results

Praying

Ultrasound

Transvaginal scope

Lumps, bumps, bruising and more

Masses vs. cysts

Cancer scare

Sleepless nights

Medications

Pain days

Drama

A few pounds heavy

Tenderness at the waistband

Fibromyalgia hot spots

Gluten issues

~

~

~

July ended with a praise report...

No cancer

Still the tender body issues

Now the medical bills issues

Always the praise.

For it wasn't this ~ It would be something else.

I'll take this.

Thank you, Lord.

A Day Centered On Pain

I am in alot of fucking pain!

Today

Endo pain

&

Fibro pain

Work in the morning --- all day long

Four pills instead of two

Two more pills instead of one

Endo in front

Fibro

in back, legs, neck and upper arms.

Pain in Waves

My blogs are like oceans. I've said that before.  However, now I'm relating my body to an ocean also.  Some days I'm calm and serene. Other days the waves are loud and crashing; all consuming and hypnotizing; powerful surges from head-to-toe.  Like an upsurge or rise, pain comes to a crest.  Progressively swelling not only in size, but also intensity.  I am reminded by that sea shell to tread lightly through my pain... through my life.  Nothing matters unless it has to do with eternity. I tread lightly through my pain days. Eventually, calm will come again. The sun will come out as the fog clears.

When I'm in the throes of a flare up, it feels like it will never end. I know it will, but it's kinda overwhelming and sometimes I get scared while I'm in the middle of it all.

Not only do I feel waves of pain going from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, but I also feel a nagging headache trying to get my attention.  I feel that I may be slipping into a weekend that will end up on the couch. Waves of pain are slowly growing in their intensity. I'm glad we got some movies!  One of them was the second half of the latest Dr. Who season! Yay!  The laundry is pretty much done, the house is pretty much clean, the dishes are done and this weekend we will use paper plates if I'm not up for anything.  I wonder if wine coolers will put me to sleep or aggravate my pain???  hmmm... Groceries are purchased and put away, so lunches won't be a problem. 

I guess I can just sit back and try to relax!  I wish I had a list of uplifting scriptures to go to when I'm in this mindset. I have a friend that can help with that - I'll send off an email to her straight away!  Then I should be all set when my hubby gets home!

Endometriosis

Cycle is not too bad so far. 

Praying that I'm 'back on track' after all of the emotional turmoil I've been thru this year.

That would be wonderful!

Feeling A Bit Blue

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself when a friend mentioned that she was having another child.  This feeling has stayed with me for about a week now.  I am surprised that I am tearing up over it. I'm happy for her, just bumming for me.

It's also the week before my cycle, so I'm sure I'm more emotional and self-conscious than normal.

It's been 15 1/2 years since my last baby and I'm not over that yet.

It's a loss.

Endometriosis - Good days

I've had several consecutive pain-free days with my endo symptoms.  The pain-free count stopped this morning.  However, my pain was short-lived and went away in about an hour or so.  My pain this morning was in my descending colon. 

Otherwise, I attribute my pain-free days to being 99.9999% gluten free for almost 4 weeks.  I also attribute my pain-free days to staying on task with my progesterone cream, enzymes and the Myomin herbal supplement that I am taking.



Okay, so my liquid fast does not
include wine, but the photo was
pretty.  I found it at 15 uses for
empty bottles.



I've been on a liquid fast for going on three weeks now. Last night I broke the fast and ate some solids. Today is my hubby's birthday, so I also ate solids for lunch. No cake though, but I did enjoy Breyer's Lactose-free vanilla ice cream with my added peanut butter.  Such a great treat.

It amazes me how great I feel. I'm amazed at being pain free for a few weeks now. Amazed at how I feel. So, when I felt minor pain this morning, I was surprised. It was almost funny. The pain woke me up ~ now that isn't funny. The funny part was upon waking and not being totally awake and coherent, I couldn't figure out what was going on with my body! I couldn't find the pain. I couldn't put a name to what I was feeling. Then I said, "Oh, it's you. You're hurting me again. Why are you here this morning? What do you want?"

Response to My Fb Post

Ladies! Thank you so much for the support! - what wonderful advice. I, too, do the gluten free, the swimming and the soft pants on those bad days. Thank you so much for sharing.

Recently, I've heard that gluten and endo girls DO NOT mix well. So I'm gluten free. I can't tell you how great I feel, I don't have the words, but you already know how great I feel if you, also, are gluten free!

As far as workouts go - I'm not able to take advantage of hard workouts either. It doesn't pay to go to a gym and pay $$ because it would be a waste! I was able to find a hotel that allows the public to use their pool for $3.00 a day. Sometimes I spend alot there, and then some months none at all.  But at least its as I can and no membership dues, etc.  Swimming is a wonderful and complete body workout anyway.  I also like jumping/skipping rope and hula-hoops!!

I've not had to give up caffeine. I've heard lots of endo girls can't do caffeine tho'. I'd miss it.

I really want to add:  A natural doctor told me that it can take 6 months or more to heal the interior intestinal wall from gluten intolerance aggravation or damage.  So, I decided that I was going to fast to try and speed the healing along.  I drink Kefir and yogurt, kombucha, lots of teas, water, coconut water, home-made stock soup/broth, aloe juice and ionic colloidal silver.

If you can go natural in your healing I highly recommend it.  My OBGYN calls me his medical freak because I defy every medical advisory he has given me -- and it all works.  He doesn't understand why!  LOL  I believe in doctors, but I want them to work with me naturally too.  It's a good balance. My endo blog journal (http://tyrasendo.blogspot.com/) has what I do. I just started my journal, even though I've been dealing with endo since I was a young girl.

I hope someday that we can all find a good internal balance and not gage our days by pain, or even by the hour.

Thank you again for your support. I must say that my tummy went down and since I've been gluten free, it hasn't been cranky with me!

Pain Days Come and Go

My Fibro & Endo are both aggravated by poor diet and stress, etc.

Back in April (2011) I lost 2 part-time jobs and a Gramma died. Then in May my Dad had a heart attack. He lives in a state that is a 3-day drive away from me.  In June, another Gramma died.  July saw me with a bad back.  During those several months, I was not taking very good care of myself.  Lack of sleep, lots of stress and forgetfulness.  I forgot to take my supplements regularly, if at all and had to succumb to pain meds for my back and sleeplessness.  I also had to eat in the car between working and visiting in two different cities.

I am now back on track, but with my last cycle I could certainly feel the effects of my forgetfulness and previous high stress levels!  My cycle was incredibly hard and painful. I passed large blood clots and had several headaches.  In April I remember I actually had to take Ibuprofen for the pain. My sleepless nights in May, spent waiting for that phone to ring and making medical arrangements for my Dad created a perfect body environment for fatigue headaches and body aches.

I must stress how important it is to NOT let the small adjustments to your health habits slide away from you during times of stress.

 I am a bit... anxious and nervous to see what my next cycle will be like.  I am also trying to remain calm and centered. Focusing on peace and tranquility; health and diet; and keeping stressful situations at bay.

I have closure with my Grandmothers' deaths and I just recently found some closure with my relationship with my Father.  I have lots of other people to pray for, whose situations are more dire than my own and I'm trying to keep my focus on the Lord.

I now have some free time, due to the passing of my Grandmother and I am using that time to get back into my art hobbies.

I am also buying enormous quantities of chocolate from Fleet Farm - they just had a sale!

Please take care of you. Remember who you are without pain.

Gentle thoughts and hugs ~Tyra

This is my journey and my decisions. No one can make certain decisions about our bodies, save ourselves.  I do believe in consulting the medical community and utilizing the help of the medical community when necessary, but final decisions are mine alone to make.  I adore my OBGYN, he helped me tremendously, not taking into consideration that he was the one that had to do surgery on my girl parts!  He was a great help and we both learned much together.

I was on traditional medicine and several pain killers, but am now completely off. I think I've taken 2-3 advil in the past 9 months for a headache caused by my classes/computer work. (I used to take that much every 2 hours for pain!)  My menstrual cycle is very regular - like clockwork, every 27 days. If it weren't for me keeping a detailed journal of my cycle, I wouldn't even know that I'm getting my period (my family never knows unless I tell them) - no more PMS, extremely infrequent and mild bloating and only a slight headache at the onset of bleeding (it's usually a 10-15 min. headache that is more like a mild pressure than a headache) and end of my cycle (which is also more of a mild head pressure than a headache and also lasts less than 15 min.) due to the change in the hormones.

The things that I've found work best for me -- and that my OBGYN says are helping make my endo tissues 'dissolve' are:

~Progesterone cream (found in Dr. Lee's books) I suggest reading any and all of the books by Dr. John R. Lee.  He is now deceased, but two of the women that he worked with are still promoting his research and practices. His books are the What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About... Menopause, Premenopause, Breast Cancer, etc.  He has lots of books. All great information.  I believe that if you have never used a progesterone cream that Dr. is the best place to start.  Other progesterone creams I've used are from Arbonne Essentials - Prolief and another from Life-flo - Progesta Care.  The first progesterone cream I used, way back when, was Fair Lady Moisturizing Body Cream.  I can't find a link to it anymore. However, the website http://www.progesteronenatural.com/ has some helpful links to educate you further on making your personal decisions.  Personally, I've only used Arbonne for one cycle, so I'm still deciding how much I like that brand.  I really liked the Life-flo brand, but I was using it for so long, I wondered if I needed a change.  My OBGYN laughed and told me "If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Leave your system alone if things are working fine!"

~MYOMIN - a natural supplement found thru Energetic Nutrition;

~Staying away from soy anything. We have too much soy in our diets and not enough good soy.

~Reading up on Dr. Wong's website - Dr. Wong is adamant and very clearly explains why (so much soy) soy is detrimental to our bodies and what it does. I found out that Dr. Wong also believed in Dr. Lee - which I didn't know until AFTER I was studying the two men.

~I also found a systemic enzyme thru Dr. Wong that helps to eat away at the endo tissue. This isn't necessary for everyone, just women that KNOW they have excess end/scar tissues on their organs.  For instance, a young lady probably wouldn't need the enzyme because her body produces enough enzymes already.  As we age, our body produces fewer and fewer of these enzymes. Dr. Wong explains it much better.

~Fasting. Just this past year (2010), I've read up on fasting. As controversial as fasting is, I decided to give it a try. The endo sufferers that I read about fasted for great lengths of time to rid their body of endo tissues. Now, I don't have the determination to fast for a great length of time (40+ days, etc.), but I do complete mini fasts regularly. I don't know if it will work with my endo, but it does work with my blood pressure - which was elevated due to the vast amounts of endo tissues on my organs. I don't recommend fasting - I'm just telling what I've done.

I was skeptical too - and so was my OBGYN, but after all this time of utilizing the above sources/supplements my OBGYN says that he sees 'chartable' improvement. The ultrasound measurements don't lie!!!  I have been studying this since 2005. I'm far from an expert, but I'm a great cheerleader!! I want to encourage women to take control of their reproductive health. You CAN live without terrible, debilitating monthly pain!

My endo was so bad that they used me as a medical journal example. Not a single organ could be identified during open abdominal surgery. He couldn't slide his hands around a single organ. He could barely find my ovaries and took out almost 2 liters of fluid/gunk that was contained in two massive cysts. He saved my ovaries, but I can't have anymore children - at least I have my own hormones though. But, there is nothing more surgery can do for the rest of my organs - I had tissue all the up to my lower lung cavity and all the way down to my rectum. Part of my rectum is 'fused' to my muscle tissue down there; my upper colon is fused to the muscle wall; the descending colon is fused to the muscle wall; the sciatic nerve has tissue on it - it's everywhere. Afterwards he told me to never get an abdominal injury because the medical staff wouldn't be able to get to the organ(s) thru the tissues without probably damaging an organ. He said I would need a specialist.

Anyway, my point is - after all this time, my OB still is impressed with the natural stuff and tells me that he does tell his patients that there are natural ways to help with endo.

He has also confirmed what other natural believers have told me: Going on the pill does not CURE endo.

It is a bandaid.

Birth control pills are hormones.

Adding extra hormones, specifically estrogen, messes with endo.

Endo feeds on estrogen.

So, one could say that by going on a birth control pill - one is putting MORE estrogen into one's system.  This extra estrogen feeds the endo. The endo then grows inside the abdominal cavity on the organs.  In many cases, the endo tissues grow on the reproductive organs, thus creating an environment of infertility.  Infertile because the egss cannot get out. The tubes are no longer smooth for the egg to move.  The tubes become damaged - diseased, if you please. Thus, endometriosis is now a classified disease.

I just want every woman out there to know that we can make our bodies better!  I want you to know that I know your pain and I only want to help make every endo sufferer to feel good again.  I feel I have to share this information because of infertility issues. If I can plant a seed of information in a woman and she makes the right decisions with regards to her fertility....

In Europe these same natural practices are utilized and the doctors over there encourage them along side their medical advice. Endometriosis is a classified disease in Europe and women are treated with the best bedside manners. Employers are empathetic to the working woman that has to miss work due to endometriosis.  Since this isn't Europe, we have to take matters into our own hands!!! It's YOUR body! You only get one, don't clog it up with chemicals. Given the right 'fuel' our bodies CAN heal themselves. Your monthly cycle does NOT have to be painful, just noticable.

To your health!