Short and simple post today.
Last week I got a new phone (yay!). I had a blackberry, and have now upgraded myself to a probably-too-fancy-for-me Samsung Galaxy SIII. A) It's huge. but B) it's fantastic. I had gotten the blackberry just as the rest of the world became obsessed with their iPhones, so all of these touch screen easy to use apps are blowing my mind. And thanks to following some key Crohn's organizations on Twitter, today I read an article about the best apps for #Crohnies!
If you'd also like to read: http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/best-iphone-android-apps-crohns-disease
I downloaded two of them for now: GI Monitor and Bathroom Scout. The bathroom scout will truly be tested only when I go somewhere other than work or home, so I'll keep you posted on how I enjoy that one, but so far after less than a day with the GI Monitor, I am feeling good about that app.
It's so hard to keep track of every little thing you eat and drink and try to put together what is upsetting you and what is not. The app allows you to input food, BMs, if you miss medications, and even your stress and pain levels and keeps a diary for you. It also has a social aspect of it which I have yet to explore, but I see a lot of people communicate through it to share their crohnie woes - always nice to have some venting outlets with those who truly understand.
Fingers crossed that this app will make me more of an organized crohnie, especially with my self control issues that I've mentioned, maybe it will cause me to buckle down on the bad stuff!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Busy Weekends = Busy Tummy
When you're in your 20's, at times (I hope) you have some exciting weekends planned. I just had a fun filled weekend - attending a 6 hour country fest concert with one of my best friends, followed by my little sister's 21st birthday the following day. Granted... these fun things all point to danger for one's stomach when dealing with Crohn's.
The motto I went with? Do the best you can, and face the consequences of your bad choices.
Was this the best motto I could have gone with? No. Obviously the best motto would have been: Enjoy yourself but don't stray from your Crohn's friendly diet.
I have bad self control.
Like I've stated in previous posts, until being diagnosed with Crohn's, I wasn't one to have to "watch" things. Eat, drink, and be merry. Fried food satisfies, even if you go dancing after. Actually, I would say I did much better at the concert than at my sister's birthday celebration, and neither was per choices of alcohol. I have experimented with alcohol limits a bit since my diagnosis, and know that it is simply not a good choice. One liquor drink is about all I should have. I can have a couple glasses of wine and be ok. Beer is just a no-go.
Alcohol is pretty easy to limit myself on. Basket after basket of corn tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant dipped in onion/spice filled salsa however? This is a completely different story. The dinner I ordered was fine - lean chicken with a tequila lime sauce and a side of rice - no beans, no peppers or onions or corn tortillas. But while you're waiting, they just keep bringing the chips. I LOVE THE CHIPS. How can you not? They're warm, and salty, and their salsa is delicious. I have labeled myself something of a child now after this lack of resistance. And indeed, it led to a downfall later in the evening (which probably wasn't helped by the birthday cake and apple I ate) - but I bet if you took me back to a Mexican restaurant tomorrow, I'd eat the chips all over again.
I guess I'll keep working on this...
The motto I went with? Do the best you can, and face the consequences of your bad choices.
Was this the best motto I could have gone with? No. Obviously the best motto would have been: Enjoy yourself but don't stray from your Crohn's friendly diet.
I have bad self control.
Like I've stated in previous posts, until being diagnosed with Crohn's, I wasn't one to have to "watch" things. Eat, drink, and be merry. Fried food satisfies, even if you go dancing after. Actually, I would say I did much better at the concert than at my sister's birthday celebration, and neither was per choices of alcohol. I have experimented with alcohol limits a bit since my diagnosis, and know that it is simply not a good choice. One liquor drink is about all I should have. I can have a couple glasses of wine and be ok. Beer is just a no-go.
Alcohol is pretty easy to limit myself on. Basket after basket of corn tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant dipped in onion/spice filled salsa however? This is a completely different story. The dinner I ordered was fine - lean chicken with a tequila lime sauce and a side of rice - no beans, no peppers or onions or corn tortillas. But while you're waiting, they just keep bringing the chips. I LOVE THE CHIPS. How can you not? They're warm, and salty, and their salsa is delicious. I have labeled myself something of a child now after this lack of resistance. And indeed, it led to a downfall later in the evening (which probably wasn't helped by the birthday cake and apple I ate) - but I bet if you took me back to a Mexican restaurant tomorrow, I'd eat the chips all over again.
I guess I'll keep working on this...
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Don't Be Consumed by Your Disease.
I'll be honest about my secret love of cheesy TV. Anything on TLC is usually A-Okay in my book. Feel good shows, with people being people and accomplishing things, large or small, or just being themselves. A lot of these shows have a hidden theme in them that seems to emulate through each week's featured character - no matter who we are, we are human, we have struggles both apparent and hidden. We have struggles we might not even know we are having.
Take "What Not to Wear" for example. Sure, Stacey and Clinton rip people apart for their lack of fashion, but mainly for their lack of appreciation for themselves. Somehow there is always an inner issue unleashed through the simple process of what you choose to wear. Many times it ends up that the lesson learned is taking time for yourself, and when you can do that, you can be a better person, the person you're trying to be for everyone else in your life.
Thanks one of my best friends, today I had a "What Not to Wear" moment. Her mom owns a massage salon (See tag below, if you're from NH), but is trying to incorporate a brand of makeup, custom fitted to your skin by this chemist of a woman. Honestly, it was over my head; I've always had a sense of girly in me and embraced it, but never got into the fancy terms of makeup of hair care products, etc. I wasn't even going to have the foundation made for me, but my friend's mom insisted, handing me a towel and some face wash to take away my $5 Walmart paint job. Then I sat in the chair and had my personal skin tone concoction whipped up for me: one tablespoon ivory, a dash of red, a dash of yellow-orange, a pinch of bronze, etc. Once the perfect mixture was made she applied it to my face and started the same process with the powder. After looking in the mirror, it was like when they spin that chair on "What Not to Wear" during the makeup session. I'll be the cheesy spokes person, I'm fine with that - I've never had makeup look so natural. It felt... dare I say this about myself... pretty.
Most importantly, for a small window in time, I was doing an activity that made me feel good, that unleashed a stress I hadn't fully realized I was having. Turns out focusing on your stomach all day - what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, mixed with the anxieties and anticipations of the body's response to whatever it is you choose, weighs down on you a bit. And when you let everything weigh down on you, the stress causes more problems for your bowels, and a viscous cycle begins.
So let's all promise ourselves to be cliche. To be selfish at times. To dare to do things that take our mind away from the cramping, the pain, the worry, and the fear. You'll thank yourself.
Take "What Not to Wear" for example. Sure, Stacey and Clinton rip people apart for their lack of fashion, but mainly for their lack of appreciation for themselves. Somehow there is always an inner issue unleashed through the simple process of what you choose to wear. Many times it ends up that the lesson learned is taking time for yourself, and when you can do that, you can be a better person, the person you're trying to be for everyone else in your life.
Thanks one of my best friends, today I had a "What Not to Wear" moment. Her mom owns a massage salon (See tag below, if you're from NH), but is trying to incorporate a brand of makeup, custom fitted to your skin by this chemist of a woman. Honestly, it was over my head; I've always had a sense of girly in me and embraced it, but never got into the fancy terms of makeup of hair care products, etc. I wasn't even going to have the foundation made for me, but my friend's mom insisted, handing me a towel and some face wash to take away my $5 Walmart paint job. Then I sat in the chair and had my personal skin tone concoction whipped up for me: one tablespoon ivory, a dash of red, a dash of yellow-orange, a pinch of bronze, etc. Once the perfect mixture was made she applied it to my face and started the same process with the powder. After looking in the mirror, it was like when they spin that chair on "What Not to Wear" during the makeup session. I'll be the cheesy spokes person, I'm fine with that - I've never had makeup look so natural. It felt... dare I say this about myself... pretty.
Most importantly, for a small window in time, I was doing an activity that made me feel good, that unleashed a stress I hadn't fully realized I was having. Turns out focusing on your stomach all day - what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, mixed with the anxieties and anticipations of the body's response to whatever it is you choose, weighs down on you a bit. And when you let everything weigh down on you, the stress causes more problems for your bowels, and a viscous cycle begins.
So let's all promise ourselves to be cliche. To be selfish at times. To dare to do things that take our mind away from the cramping, the pain, the worry, and the fear. You'll thank yourself.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
To Eat or Not to Eat?
Allergic to peanuts? Don't eat them.
Celiac Disease? No gluten for you.
Lactose intolerant? There's a pill for that.
Crohn's Disease? Your new life mission is finding food to eat. No definite guidelines, no magic pill, no list of toxic foods. I'm not trying, by any means, to reduce the issues of people with the other examples I listed above - I have friends who fit into all of those categories, and it can be hard. But Crohn's seems to be a different struggle.
Even trying to be an active part of The Crohn's Disease Forum (a very helpful site I might add!), reading through the advice of Crohnie's world wide, young, old, recently diagnosed, and veterans, there is no real answer to help with this quest towards tolerable food. You are essentially on your own.
Everyone with CD is different. We all have CD in different parts of our Gastrointestinal systems. Mine is mainly located in my colon. Everyone has certain foods that are safe, and certain foods that are seemingly toxic. It's all about controlling inflammation, which can be difficult when your body is attacking itself. So I suppose it is more like avoiding food items which tend to aid in inflammation.
So. What to eat? It is the question I ask myself every day. And for a girl who had been eating whatever she wants her entire life up until this past year - it's hard! Ok ok, I was lucky. I was athletic and blessed with a fairly good metabolism. I was very healthy with my choices, but could also indulge in my overactive sweet tooth, and let carbs be my best friend. These days, sometimes just looking at food is a turn-off. It's as if the fear of the consequences of said food item pushes me to just not want to eat at all. Things that are definitely bad? Raw veggies. Not even raw actually. Sometimes even the not-cooked-enough-to-the-point-of-mush veggies don't sit well. If you had asked me 3 years ago if I ever thought I'd say the sentence "I really just wish I could eat salad instead of this bowl of spaghetti" I probably would have laughed in your face.
Another point I've learned recently: READ FOOD LABELS. Processed foods are generally worse for you, we know this. But sometimes, I find I revert back to my old "I can eat anything" self if I'm having an ok day, without thinking. This became a problem a few hours after I housed an entire bag of cheese puffs. The main ingredient of cheese puffs you might ask? I always avoided that question - they're just cheesy styrofoam right? Wrong. Corn meal. CORN. Corn. corn. For the one main item that I need to keep out of my diet, you sure do show up in just about everything.
Le Sigh. Just another day.
Celiac Disease? No gluten for you.
Lactose intolerant? There's a pill for that.
Crohn's Disease? Your new life mission is finding food to eat. No definite guidelines, no magic pill, no list of toxic foods. I'm not trying, by any means, to reduce the issues of people with the other examples I listed above - I have friends who fit into all of those categories, and it can be hard. But Crohn's seems to be a different struggle.
Even trying to be an active part of The Crohn's Disease Forum (a very helpful site I might add!), reading through the advice of Crohnie's world wide, young, old, recently diagnosed, and veterans, there is no real answer to help with this quest towards tolerable food. You are essentially on your own.
Everyone with CD is different. We all have CD in different parts of our Gastrointestinal systems. Mine is mainly located in my colon. Everyone has certain foods that are safe, and certain foods that are seemingly toxic. It's all about controlling inflammation, which can be difficult when your body is attacking itself. So I suppose it is more like avoiding food items which tend to aid in inflammation.
So. What to eat? It is the question I ask myself every day. And for a girl who had been eating whatever she wants her entire life up until this past year - it's hard! Ok ok, I was lucky. I was athletic and blessed with a fairly good metabolism. I was very healthy with my choices, but could also indulge in my overactive sweet tooth, and let carbs be my best friend. These days, sometimes just looking at food is a turn-off. It's as if the fear of the consequences of said food item pushes me to just not want to eat at all. Things that are definitely bad? Raw veggies. Not even raw actually. Sometimes even the not-cooked-enough-to-the-point-of-mush veggies don't sit well. If you had asked me 3 years ago if I ever thought I'd say the sentence "I really just wish I could eat salad instead of this bowl of spaghetti" I probably would have laughed in your face.
Another point I've learned recently: READ FOOD LABELS. Processed foods are generally worse for you, we know this. But sometimes, I find I revert back to my old "I can eat anything" self if I'm having an ok day, without thinking. This became a problem a few hours after I housed an entire bag of cheese puffs. The main ingredient of cheese puffs you might ask? I always avoided that question - they're just cheesy styrofoam right? Wrong. Corn meal. CORN. Corn. corn. For the one main item that I need to keep out of my diet, you sure do show up in just about everything.
Le Sigh. Just another day.
Keep Calm... Fight Crohn's
If you are reading this and you have Crohn's Disease, you can probably skip a few lines. If you are reading this and have just been diagnosed, or a loved one has recently been diagnosed, then perhaps don't skip the next few lines.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease a little over a year ago, just a couple of months after graduating from the University of Rochester with my bachelor's degree in Psychology. In celebration of this momentous occasion, my family took a trip to Italy immediately after I received my diploma. Then I started to feel "funny". I was having extreme stomach pains after eating most things. I needed to go to the bathroom often. I felt tired (I was always a very athletic, active person, so by tired, I mean out of the ordinary, lethargic). I tried to hide most of these symptoms, figuring I had some sort of bug, or that my body was just adjusting to both being in a new country as well as not drinking every night for a straight week, which is what happens before graduation. My family thought I was having some extreme heartburn....
For some reason, I didn't think heartburn would cause you to have to stop in your tracks and take a breather until the pain went away.
It wasn't until weeks after my return to the States, and about ten pounds of weight lost that I finally went to the doctor. My 22 year old self was ordered a colonoscopy, and by July it was announced that I had Crohn's Disease.
You may be wondering why I've waited a year to write about this experience. Call it naive. Call it hope that this wasn't going to be a permanent burden. Either way, it's taken me about a year to realize this problem is not going to subside in one foul swoop of over the counter meds.
When first diagnosed, I was told my colon looked fairly bad, but that they were going to attack it with medicines, and hopefully that would help with the inflammation. I was put on Enticort, Imuran, and Remicade. One steroid, and two heavy duty immunosuppressants - one in pill form, one IV treatment every 8 weeks. It wouldn't be until recently that I discovered that these medicines are actually some of the best treatments found for Crohn's. Because up until recently, these medicines seemed to have been working just fine.
This blog is to serve whomever can get anything out of it. In writing it, I know it will help me work through the ups and downs of being a "Crohnie". And if you happen to stumble upon it, perhaps you will gain something from it as well, whether you are a Crohnie too, or know one, or just have some weird fascination towards this awkward disease to discuss.
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I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease a little over a year ago, just a couple of months after graduating from the University of Rochester with my bachelor's degree in Psychology. In celebration of this momentous occasion, my family took a trip to Italy immediately after I received my diploma. Then I started to feel "funny". I was having extreme stomach pains after eating most things. I needed to go to the bathroom often. I felt tired (I was always a very athletic, active person, so by tired, I mean out of the ordinary, lethargic). I tried to hide most of these symptoms, figuring I had some sort of bug, or that my body was just adjusting to both being in a new country as well as not drinking every night for a straight week, which is what happens before graduation. My family thought I was having some extreme heartburn....
For some reason, I didn't think heartburn would cause you to have to stop in your tracks and take a breather until the pain went away.
It wasn't until weeks after my return to the States, and about ten pounds of weight lost that I finally went to the doctor. My 22 year old self was ordered a colonoscopy, and by July it was announced that I had Crohn's Disease.
You may be wondering why I've waited a year to write about this experience. Call it naive. Call it hope that this wasn't going to be a permanent burden. Either way, it's taken me about a year to realize this problem is not going to subside in one foul swoop of over the counter meds.
When first diagnosed, I was told my colon looked fairly bad, but that they were going to attack it with medicines, and hopefully that would help with the inflammation. I was put on Enticort, Imuran, and Remicade. One steroid, and two heavy duty immunosuppressants - one in pill form, one IV treatment every 8 weeks. It wouldn't be until recently that I discovered that these medicines are actually some of the best treatments found for Crohn's. Because up until recently, these medicines seemed to have been working just fine.
This blog is to serve whomever can get anything out of it. In writing it, I know it will help me work through the ups and downs of being a "Crohnie". And if you happen to stumble upon it, perhaps you will gain something from it as well, whether you are a Crohnie too, or know one, or just have some weird fascination towards this awkward disease to discuss.
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