I had to hand in my tenure dossier in fall of 2015. The week I had to turn it in, I developed acute stomach problems, most notably, constipation. I know, possibly TMI, but the last few years have taught me that almost everyone has poop issues in one direction or the other, and that we need to talk about it more to help each other out! That started a spiral to bloating and then food intolerances. In summer of 2017, things got out of control and I started to see a holistic nutritionist. Her recommendations would help for a while, and then I would go right back to bloat and digestive issues. I then started seeing a gastroenterologist, and finally, an integrative physician. I've had a stool test, an MRI, a SIBO test, food intolerance testing, and an upper endoscopy. Luckily, nothing groundbreaking has shown up. But also, unfortunately, nothing difinitive has show up. I have gut disbiosis, slight stomach erosion (acid reflux?), problems detoxing estrogen, digesting fat, and gluten intolerance. I've been on countless supplements and medium-super restrictive diets, many of which work for a while, and then stop. I LOVE to eat, and these diets near kill me. Not really, obviously, but I struggle.
At the end of the day, I seem to have leaky gut and IBS, the latter of which is more of an umbrella term than anything else. I'm finding myelf intolerant to more and more foods. A low FODMAP diet helps, sometimes, but is hard to follow because it worsens the constipation. I'm beyond the point where my (likely) stress-induced issues are causing me a ton of stress.
Breathe. Observe the irony and move on.
My story isn't uncommon. A lot of people try for years and years to solve gut issues. What works for one person, unfortunately, does not work for another. So I keep trying. Some days are better than others.
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| You know it's bad when I'm unbuttoned and taking a picture in a public bathroom. |
