Posted 6/30/2008 4:59 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Jen:
Welcome to the Healing Well family.
My first obstructive episode came on hours after eating barbequed steak, so I get where you're coming from. I find I can eat food from the barbecue, but not barbecued food -- as in hamburgers or steak etc smothered in sauce. it's the sauce that gets me I think. Of course most barbecues come with salads and alcohol. Both can wreck havoc on my system.
Sounds like you have your symptoms well under control. That's great, but just remember that even when you have mild symptoms the disease can sometimes still be active at the cellular level. For some of us with "mild" crohn's the impacts are only appreciated years later when we end up with fibroid strictures from chronic inflammation. That's my story and that of a few others on the board. I was seriously undermedicated in the first years with this disease. Because I was afraid of the side-effects of drugs i minimized and under-reported symptoms and just sort of toughed it out. The problem is that I was on a slippery slope of wellness. I used to tell the few people who realized I had crohn's that, "I'm one of the lucky ones. I only have a mild case."
I lost ground very slowly, had few fulminate episodes, just malaise that grew gradually more pervasive. It wasn't until I started suffering obstructive episodes five years after diagnosis, that I woke up to the damage that had been done inside my bowel. It's always a balancing act between drugs and symptoms. That's why I'm a big believer in keeping journals of foods and symptoms. Doesn't have to be all the time, but whenever i start thinking I'm not feeling as well. I activate my journals and take the time once a day to jot down what I've eaten and what kind of symptoms I'm having. It has served to keep me rooted in reality over the past few years and it has helped me be more effective when discussing treatment with my physicians. With the journals, it's hard to lie to myself about how well I reallly am. There's the proof right in front of me. It forces me to act more aggressively than i used to and I think I'm better because of it. I up my medication or change my diet much sooner and I'm usually able to turn around the symptoms much more quickly.
As far as weight gain and diet goes, I can only sympathize. For years I was so chronically sub-pare that I became deconditioned and couldn't maintain an exercise schedule. It was like a viscous cycle. When I felt able I would exercise, always over-exerting for my level of condition and then crash and burn. And always inside my head, when I didn't have the energy, I would tell myself that I was lazy. Never sick.
I am thankful for interventions from my disability insurers and others who insisted on a proper rehab program after my last surgery in 2005. Since then I have changed my thinking and become more patient and more forgiving. My advice to you is to stop focussing on the weight and focus on wellness. Do something everyday that contributes to wellness -- at whatever level you are at. If it means only a 10 minute walk that's grand. If it's an hour at the gym, great. But only do what you can do.
That's what's working for me right now. Hope you can find a balance that makes you feel good about yourself too.