On that note, I've always had quite a...unpredictable...tummy. Sometimes something will bother me (leaving me bloated, cramping, diarrhoea) sometimes it won't. It kind of ended up being like a roulette wheel of food.
It reached a head the other weekend though, when I started to get awful sharp griping pain after having a cup of tea. What?! I can't even have a cup of tea?! *blub*
Roulette Wheel of Tummy Hell
Apparently, I am a "mystery". I think what the doctor meant was that it's hard to diagnose straight away because my MS can kind of 'muddy the waters', if you know what I mean. After all, the fatigue and aches could have just been MS symptoms, not caused by the tummy issue.
Needless to say, I have been tested for Coeliac disease, the infection that can cause ulcers, and if they both come out clear, then it's likely I've just got IBS. I say 'just', but that in it's self is a pain in the bum (literally!).
I suspect it is IBS because it comes and goes, so I've decided to do a bit of detective work before my results are through to try and work out what really doesn't agree with me. Guess what that means? DETOX WEEKEND. Urgggh.
I'm not the type of person to detox voluntarily, but I know that it'll be good in the long run. I'm only going to do it for a couple of days...I couldn't function if I did it for longer than that! So it's a couple of days to give my tummy a bit of rest with only eating light soups and vegetables, then I'll start introducing the bulkier stuff gradually. I've already worked out soya milk isn't great (it explains the problems after a cup of tea). It could be that it's better for me to go back on dairy and not even think about the Swank diet any more. Swank has some great results, but the study was so long ago that there could be more effective things to try. After all, Swank asks to get your fat intake from oils such as sunflower and olive, but there is a lot of recent research* that shows that processed oils can be doing far more damage to our systems than any natural fat (such as butter) could. I think I just need to find what suits me personally and try and get into an overall healthier mindset, as opposed to say cutting way back on saturated fat, and then thinking it's ok to have more sugar ('because at least it's not fat'........I know. I'm an idiot).
So we will see. This is obviously an on-going adventure, and I get my results on Monday, so we'll see what crops up, if anything.
All I know is that today I am BL**DY HUNGRY!!!!
*This is just one example. There are loads of books out about it too. The article specifically refers to heart disease, but you get the picture, right? :)
Sorry your tummy is playing up. I'd also ask your Dr to test you for H pylori if the detox doesn't help. The symptoms can be v similar to IBS but it's not and can be treated really easily. Good luck!
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