Forgive me for
the Star Wars line, but I’m sure it’s an emotion every Crohns sufferer has,
right? A new treatment on the horizon, a new GI with a different approach, or a
well-researched supplement that could help control the disease.
My last blog, in
summary detailed my up and coming appointment with a well established
Nutritionist. The goal I set myself was first to find a Nutritionist that had
vast experience with Crohns and related symptoms, and be able to integrate
IBDoc into this new plan. As I’m sure you are aware you simply need to Google
“nutritionist” in your local area and pages upon pages of nutritionist will pop
up. I had diligently researched this nutritionist so I didn’t find myself with
a snake oil salesman.
Before I had my
appointment, I was to fill in a detailed questionnaire about my general health
and symptoms, Meds I’m currently taking, diet, exercise etc. so no stone was
left unturned in the pre appointment details. I must admit I was a little
anxious on meeting Helen, as I am before all appointments relating to my Crohns
(Should I even call it “My Crohns”? like this disease is something precious to
me). Anyway, Helen put my anxieties to rest immediately as she was kind,
understanding and more importantly, she was on point and shared her vast
knowledge with me regarding nutrition and how it can help with symptoms. She
was incredibly impressed with IBDoc and the significant part it could play in
the lives of Crohns patients.
We got to work
straight away with a food reintroduction plan based largely on the LOFFLEX diet,
which I have been on for five years. However, for the first week, Helen
recommended digestive enzymes to see if they help with the undigested food in
my stools. After the successful introduction of the digestive enzymes I am then
over the course of a week going to begin introducing, salmon, then white fish
(haddock or cod). If this is successful I am then going to introduce coconut
milk yogurt… Hmmmm.
If I could successfully
introduce the recommended supplements along with the salmon, white fish and
coconut milk yogurt in to my diet it would dramatically change my day-to-day
life, give me a little more freedom to have the option to eat out more often; I’m
also hoping I will see an improvement in the fatigue and brain fog, and more
importantly gives me hope there are other foods out there that I can add.
So how does this
plan relate to IBDoc? If I didn’t have IBDoc I would be relying as I have for
the previous five years on symptoms alone which I have found to be inconsistent
and unreliable, which in tern has the knock on effect of me giving up on
testing new foods. I am so fortunate to be able to integrate IBDoc into this
new plan. My nutritionist thinks IBDoc will play a significant roll in the out
come of the food introductions.
I will update you
on my progress in my next post.
And remember, “ always pass on what you have learnt” –
yoda