Seriously?!

I've been having some serious digestive problems since July. After an endoscopy, colonoscopy, MRI and numerous doctor visits to numerous doctors I was officially diagnoses with IBS and sent home with three different antacids to take and some laxative.

Seriously?!

I am a hater of IBS. In my opinion (note: my opinion) it is a lazy diagnosis given by doctors. IBS is just a plethora of symptoms for which could mean any number of actual problems that can be addressed and fixed. So I headed to a natural doctor that was highly recommended by my friend Emily (check her story here at http://www.shechoosesjoy.blogspot.com/ ).

Hallelujah!

After just one appointment (which cost less than the copay I had for the scope procedures) he found that I had some serious stuff going on AND gave me the tools to correct/manage them!

Turns out I have the highest gluten intolerance possible (so thankful we went on the PCOS diet a few years back. I've been gluten free for 3 years now), and allergies/intolerances to milk, cheese, rye, spelt, wheat oats and cane sugar.  Plus two different types of bacteria in various parts of my guts, infection in my ovaries, parasites in my liver and candida in my ovaries and guts and my brain (which likely explains why I have terrible insomnia and feel tired all the time).

Yuck! After I found all that out I wanted to go back to the doctor who said IBS and smack him in the face with my diagnosis paper and maybe my hand (I know, not what Jesus would do, just being honest. And the feeling passed and I didn't go smack him).

Okay, so here we are 4 days and several meltdowns later.

Did you know that cane sugar is in everything? I mean, I went through my pantry and found evaporated cane juice in my bread mix, cane juice in my organic tomato sauce, Better than Bouillon, organic vegetable broth, etc.

So I've been making literally everything from scratch the last 4 days. But, I am already feeling better. The first night I had the worst stomach pain, oh, it was awful! And my muscles ached for two days. I figured I was sugar detoxing so I took a 45 minute detox bath (2 cups Epsom salt, 1 cup Baking Soda and 1 Tablespoon ground ginger mixed into as hot of a bath as you can stand and stay in for 45 minutes) on Sunday night and that helped with the muscle aches quite a bit. I haven't taken a single dose of antacid or laxative since before my appointment and my digestive system is working better than it has in months! Praise Jesus!!

So for now I am not eating any sugar. I have honey and maple syrup on hand if I want it, and am working on getting some dried and fresh Stevia leaves to work with, but so far I have had no sweetener for 4 days. I do eat fruit still, but only as part of a meal and not for snack or when I am craving something sweet. I eat a lot of fresh or juiced veggies and am eating mostly grain free as well.

I'll be posting recipes in the next day or two. But for now I am going to go sit down and take a break while the kids are napping and drink some more water.

Just wanted to keep everyone posted on what is going on and where I am headed.