Thursday, February 3, 2011

The cliff notes version:

I'm still resting.

Still waking up tired.

My guts feel like crap and I'm about ready to do something drastic to try and get some relief.

I've gained 5 pounds since Saturday.

Pastured pork is awesomely good!

The longer version:


I fell asleep easily last night and slept until 6:30 this morning (when the alarm went off) and I'm still waking up, and worse STAYING, tired.  Even with caffeine I'm constantly dragging and sleepy throughout the day.  I actually feel worse this week NOT working out then I did last week when I was at least getting 45 minutes of exercise a day.  Still, I promised my body a solid week's rest so I'm sticking with it.  Although I hate getting up at 5:00 AM to do it, I'm looking forward to getting back into the gym next week.

My guts *sigh*.  Oh how I wish I could blame my issues on grains.  The sad thing is, I brought this on myself by not knowing any better.  You see, about 17 years ago I had a horrible gall bladder attack.  Something I know now was probably caused by a grain intolerance/autoimmune issue.  I listened to my Dr and had them yank out the offending organ.  After all, I don't really NEED it right?  Being young and stupid I listened to the medical community and did no research.  I just went in and did the deed thinking all my problems would be solved.  10 years ago I started getting level 10 gut pain.  It would hit without warning, leaving me doubled over and throwing up.  Problem was, by the time I would decide I should go to the Dr, the pain would be gone.  Trying to explain to a Dr that you WERE in pain and where it was and how it felt, when the pain itself is gone -- it's a lesson if futility.  After about a year of this I finally told myself that when it happened again, no matter the time I would go to the Dr and if they didn't believe how much pain I was in, throw-up on his shoes.

So, the pain hit, I hit the emergency and after a LOT of hemming and hawing, during which one Dr decided I just had gas...   I finally got a scan done and discovered that my appendix was leaking!  Well there was no consult at that point - within a few hours I was back under the knife.

So, you can imagine my fear and frustration when a few years later I started getting abdominal pain again.  This time I didn't mess around.  I was into the Dr and yelling at him to 'FIX THIS!'.  Only, I was told there was no fixing it.  One, or both of my abdominal surgeries had caused scar tissue that had wrapped around my intestines.  (called adhesions) I was looking at having surgery that had about a 25% chance of success to 'clip' the scar tissue, or just learning to live with/minimize the pain.  I, of course, chose the latter.

What's interesting is that the pain comes and goes.  I don't really know what causes it to start, or what makes it go away.  I just know that I've been dealing with a severe flair up since before the first of the year.  The best explanation I can find as to what is going on is
In most people, abdominal adhesions do not cause any symptoms. Adhesions that partially block the intestine from time to time can cause intermittent bouts of crampy abdominal pain.
Yeah, that about explains it.  Of course having a crap food binge on Monday didn't help my little digestive issue and as the week has progressed, the pain and general malease has gotten worse. So, what do I do?  The SAD diet doesn't help.  Paleo made things a little better, but not perfect.  I've been taking Super Enzymes and Probiotics and nothing seems to be making things relax.  Therefore, I'm seriously thinking about doing some kind of 'cleanse'.  I feel like I need to give my guts some kind of break so that I can get rid of this spasm and get 'moving' normally.

Anyway, enough of that crap - if I find something that works, I'll alert you all.

Tied into all of that though, as of today I'm up 5 pounds since Saturday.   The pizza I had on Monday lingers on...

However!  Last night we finally tried some of the pastured pork that we bought over the weekend.

From the website of the place we bought it (Baron's Meat & Poultry)...

Niman Ranch partners with Willis Farms in Iowa to raise non-confinement, all-natural pork. Niman Ranch is dedicated to ensuring that meat production does not impact the environment, so "factory farms" are not allowed in its protocols. Pigs are pastured and eat human quality feeds. The pork Baron's Meat & Poultry provides is sweet, juicy, and flavorful.
Yeah - "Sweet, juicy and flavorful" doesn't even begin to describe it.  It was so yummy!  My husband who swore he didn't like pork chops went back for seconds and asked when we could have these again.  If you have never had real free-living pork, I would challenge you to give it a try.  As with eggs, the difference may just be worth the extra cost.

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