I'm not really someone who brags about
my own successes but I feel like I should share my experience in remedying a long-standing sleep problem that caused me no end of grief during 2015. For most of last year I was up 4-5 times every night with diarrhoea, discomfort, gas and everything else. I would dread going to sleep at night and dread having to go to work a zombie the next day. I became depressed, sought counselling, was put on SSRIs, regularly took afternoon naps and despite Remicade being helpful during the waking hours, I couldn't seem to do anything about
the sleep problem.
Late last year I started following the FODMAP diet, cut out everything remotely offensive on the "bad" list and cut back my alcohol intake by about
75%. Well, I have slept every night since then. My energy levels are back, I don't take naps any more and I took myself off the SSRIs. I no longer dread going to sleep at night and in fact I often look forward to the next day. We all know how important sleep is but I'm not sure we really realise the extent until we go without it for an extended period and then get it back again. It blows my mind to think this is just how the body is supposed to be under normal circumstances. I had forgotten what that feels like.
I still have day-to-day UC symptoms - I go about
5 times a day, mostly in the morning. But it is just so much more tolerable. I think I probably always had underlying IBS and I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out.
I recommend anyone who can relate to the above to lock down your diet according to the FODMAP protocol and cut back alcohol + any other irritants. For me it was an overnight success and the most profound, measurable improvement I have experienced in almost three years with UC.
This is the site I used for my good/bad food list:
www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list
Good luck.
Post Edited (ki-wi) : 1/18/2016 2:09:49 PM (GMT-7)