mornings

Maybe getting up earlier? It might help ya to get your problems done with and give you less stress going to work.

Mornings are the pits when I'm flaring. I just know I have to be up at least three hours before I can leave the house, so I get up early enough to have time. I've been able to flex at work and go in at 9 instead of 8, so that helped me.

Yep, I just get up 3 hours ahead of time if I have any kind of a drive. Work is only 6 minutes away, but once a week I drive 35 minutes to a different clinic. That day I get up at 5 to be there at 8 ish. I really never even wake up with the alarm. My stomach gets me up at around 530 anyway. When inflammation goes down, my sleep in the mornings gets better.

Mornings are always bad for me too during a flareup. Canasa at night helps reduce the severity and I found that drinking Pau D'arco tea at night before bed helps, too.

Another tip I'd like to share is soaking in Epson salts. They reduce inflammation, in general, and when I soak in a bath of them a few times a week, I notice a difference. I don't know if it's due to basic stress relief or if it's more, but I recommend it.

 Yes mornings are when everything "wakes up". I am in what I consider remission. I only have 1 sometimes 2 formed BMs a day. However like clock work they are always in the morning. Even if I sleep a little later on the weekends once I get up it's only minutes after that have to "empty the tanks". That holds me off until the next day. I'm sure if someone did some research there is a connection.

Pooper Bowl Champ, I took your challenge to do a little research and starting Googling. Well, I just saw one of the most disgusting things ever and that has put a quick end to my search! What kind of person takes photos after a colon cleanse? Eeeewwwww. I might be scarred for life. (Ok, maybe that's extreme. But I am definitely not hungry anymore.)

I decided instead to consult the Chinese medicine book "Between Heaven and Earth." It says that in the morning is when Yang is growing. Think of Yang as energy, growth, heat. My book says that:

"The Stomach and Spleen are at their peek function between 7 and 11 AM. This is the time of optimal digestion and assimilation and helps explain why the first meal of the day is so important for maintaining adequate energy. The time of peak function for the Large Intestine occurs at 5-7 AM just prior to that of the Stomach. This suggest that the natural rhythm is to empty in preparation for receiving."

So if you think of sleep as your body conserving energy and the morning as a time when the body's energy is growing, it would make sense that morning is when the intestines start to get going. Although in our cases, they get going a little too much.