Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

A bit anxious as my day was very stressful because I had to take care of things medically related which exhausted me.

Advocating for my health is always a bit hard for me which is to be expected for my age I believe while I try and figure out what is wrong with me and who I need to see.

Which unfortunately is a difficult task.

Having to make appointments for multiple doctors and having to go and see new ones for a list of health issues and symptoms that never gets answered because there is nothing they can visibly see which is another pain of having an invisible illness.

Symptoms that don’t make sense to most doctors so I have to go to different doctors for them to also not know what is going on.

And then I wait a month only to have to wait for another more.

And then I have to get bloodwork done and/or imaging via x-ray or ultrasound.

Particularly with my kidney problem where I have too much calcium but with perfectly functioning kidneys that actually work better than most.

And I find it very depressing and overwhelming.

I can’t do anything fun because all the money goes to the doctor.

But then again I probably wouldn’t have had fun anyway due to the pain and chronic illness.

I’m not sure, this all just feels hopeless and a lost cause.

#MentalHealth #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #MajorDepressiveDisorder #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #CrohnsDisease #InflammatoryBowelDiseaseIBD #Undiagnosed

Today was quiet.

I mostly slept all day today as a result of me not sleeping at all yesterday,

Was in too much pain to sleep again so I got exhausted easily today with everything.

I was also very dizzy and lightheaded perhaps as a result of not really eating enough unintentionally.

I don’t have any energy left so I’m cutting this review short,

My win for today is that I got to pet my dog while feeling anxious and my anxiety lowered due to petting her.

#MentalHealth #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #MajorDepressiveDisorder #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #InflammatoryBowelDiseaseIBD #CrohnsDisease

The gut is the center of a biomedical revolution. This whole field is disrupting modern medicine.

Autism, Depression, Anxiety, Parkinsons, and Cancer are ALL related to the gut microbiome

Our gut affects our whole body. The gut is the second brain. Our brains have never existed without signals coming from the gut.

70% of our immune system lives in our gut.

You get your first habitable microbes when you are born out of your mother's womb. We shape our gut microbiome based on our experiences. The relationships you have, the pets you have, exercise, stress, the food you eat. Because of this, everyone has different microbiomes. It is a collection of microbial memories.

Knowing the microbiome is the key to health is key because you can't change your genes. BUT you can change your microbes by simple edits to your diet and lifestyle.

The modern-day microbiome is pretty unhealthy and is pushing up to this prevalent rise in chronic conditions such as hypertension, food allergies, diabetes, obesity, etc. The way we think about disease needs to change.

Changes to our environment. Western diet. the way babies are born (c-section), baby formula, sanitation, and antibiotics, all lead to decreased microbiome diversity, Exactly what we see in today's industrialized microbiome.

Currently, in the states, 60% of the calories eaten are ultra-processed and ultrally refined. This strips it of its natural ingredients and adds in a ton of processed sugars and chemicals.

When you look at quote healthy labels, it is hard to depict what is even in it. Most healthy labels are full of sugars and processed chemical components. Because of this, it is very hard to navigate what you should be eating. The food and wellness world is incredibly confusing.

Current recommendations in the United States recommend 28-40g of fiber per day, HOWEVER on average we are only eating 15g at most in the average American diet. The field of microbiome science is realizing we need to be eating access to 50g of fiber per day. If you don't feed your microbes fiber, they start to eat you. If you stop eating dietary fiber, the microbes need to start eating something. If there is no fiber, it will start to eat away at your mucosal gut lining and spread to various parts of your body, causing inflammation all over. Which can lead to many diseases such as IBD or IBS.

If a gut microbiome is very diverse and has a different variety of bacteria, then it can adapt to what life throws at us. A bouquet of possibilities.

Today was better,
I got up and took my medicine with a complete breakfast for once as it’s something I need to work on.

Eating has always been a struggle for me due to various factors; mostly my GI issues but also just never being hungry despite going without food for a whole or nearly all day.

But also the texture of the food; it could be my ASD causing my distaste for certain texture like not looking gooey cheese.

However,
I just can’t eat; not hungry, gross texture, stomach irritation, feeling disgusted and nauseous while eating anything no matter what it is.

I was on medication for gastritis for a while and all medication has run it’s course; I should feel better right?

But not really.
The stomach pain hasn’t been too severe but the disgusted feeling and lack of appetite is so intense that I find it difficult to eat anything and there have been days I haven’t eaten anything at all because I’m not hungry.

It’s not my Crohn’s apparently as it’s still in remission but I’m struggling so much with eating and I don’t know why.

My physical pain was average today but it seems it gets worse particularly at night for some reason; left knee and both thighs.

The thigh pain is relatively new and I can’t pin point a cause.

But, more positive things are worth mentioning to me as well!

My win for today; I went outside for a few minutes and got to enjoy nature and watched some birds.! 🦋

#MentalHealth #ChronicPain #ChronicIllness #InflammatoryBowelDiseaseIBD #CrohnsDisease #MajorDepressiveDisorder #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #AutismSpectrumDisorder

Same as before;
physical pain and mental pain.

Though the physical pain seemed to be prominent in the way I walk as it hurts my left knee so much to just get up off the bed and go the bathroom.

Walking hurts but resting also hurts,

As I’m typing this my left knee is just throbbing even though all I’m doing is just laying down and resting.

It’s constant but lately is getting worse at night compared to how it usually hurts or has been hurting.

I’d rate it a 7.5 on the (chronic) pain scale at the moment.

I’m sure a lot of you can relate to your pain scale being different to an average person’s pain scale!

Not to say their pain is invalid, I just feel like after living with chronic pain for years you’re pain scale is different.

What does your pain scale look like to you?

#MentalHealth #ChronicPain #ChronicIllness #InflammatoryBowelDiseaseIBD #CrohnsDisease #MajorDepressiveDisorder #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder

Just sort of drained,
I am still very tired from seeing a professional for an evaluation of a condition that I might have but also might not have.

It’s been back and forth wether I have this condition or not but hopefully this will provide the answers finally.

Whatever the result will be I will be happy with just knowing so it can put an end to this back and forth situation.

Aside from that,
I’m still losing weight though I don’t try to. I suspected it was my Crohn’s disease but turns out my Crohn’s is under control.

Is it possible to have the losing weight symptom while in remission?

It’s something I’ve never asked before as it never crossed my mind if you can be in remission but still feel symptoms.

My stomach pain comes and goes but is manageable while fatigue is and has been terrible, my lack of appetite is severe;

I never feel hungry and when I try to eat I still feel nauseous; I had been taking medicine for gastritis, the medicine has run it’s course but the symptoms haven’t improved still and it’s not my Crohn’s.

I don’t know why it is lasting so long.

My mental health is fine in a way; on one hand my depression is mild but on the other hand my anxiety is moderate to severe.

I know it’s from trauma as a result over a certain event; I feel it has been so bad due to appointments about my mental health as it revolves around mental health.

Unfortunately I have no solutions as I am having another appointment tomorrow that has to be in person and will likely be about the trauma.

I will hope I will be able to manage it but it gives me so much anxiety I don’t want to talk about the issue at all.

#MentalHealth #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #MajorDepressiveDisorder #InflammatoryBowelDiseaseIBD #CrohnsDisease