Bed, pajamas, pain medication and my Chum Charlie (heated rice bag) have been my exclusive partners and life force for the majority of my life. Living with chronic pain is the only existence I have known. It is a very lonely place to be lost where you are sadly aware no escape exists. Of course I have traveled down every road of promised relief. Western medicine made my hair fall out, increased the number of emergency room visits, cost thousands of dollars, increased depression and eventually lead to prescriptions for narcotics with the statement, “all we can do is attempt to manage the pain.” Really? What is the cause? Where is it coming from? Are there others who suffer with the same symptoms? Those were the questions I wanted answered. Not handfuls of addictive prescriptions that would mask the actual cause of my pain, while increasing health issues by horrible side effects and ultimately snowing me out. No thanks! Some of my close family and friends might describe my personality as stubborn conversely I would like to think of my spirit as determined. Either way my stubbornness or determination did lead me to a double diagnosis. Interstitial Cystitis and Celiac Disease.
Interstitial Cystitis, IC, is a condition that consists of recurring pelvic pain, pressure or discomfort in the bladder and pelvic region, often associated with urinary frequency and urgency. Without turning into Web MD or boring with the gross details, IC has an unknown cause and cure. Cool. No, ugh! Okay, so at least there is a name for my body’s rude interruptions of 10 to 15 trips to the bathroom during my unsuccessful attempts to sleep at night and the lifetime of excruciating pain I could only describe as someone setting your insides on fire. Next.
Celiac Disease is a lifelong autoimmune condition. When people with CD eat food with gluten it creates an immune-medicated toxic reaction that causes damage to the small intestine and does not allow food to be properly absorbed. Gluten is a protein in specific grains including wheat and related grains such as rye, barley and triticale. Symptoms of this glorious condition include but not limited to constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, abdominal pain, vitamin deficiencies, weakness, fatigue, bloating and I saved the best for last, GAS! My family could tell you a story or two….too much info I know! The good news with CD is the treatment. No drugs! Just a major life diet overhaul. As depressing as these diagnoses have been, I’ve felt hope finally knowing what was happening inside my body and a place to start the healing process without narcotic medication!
Let the discoveries begin! Someone very close to me once said, “Everything has a life force and what we put in our bodies can change our life force.” I believe this to be very true. In high school and college I was not the best to my body. In a vain attempt to look like the magazine cover models, I withheld needed nutrition. Luckily for me, in my mid twenties I discovered the gift of exercise which strongly encouraged if not forced an education in nutrition. One cannot bike 200 hundred miles in one day through three canyon passes, compete in triathlons or train for a marathon on a rice cracker a day diet.
There is a saying, “God does not close one door without opening a window.” My body may be suicidal at times but through nutrition and exercise I am determined to make myself whole. This is the story of a girl who will one day have a funeral for her beloved Chum Charlie because she cured herself though healthy food and exercise while simultaneously increasing her good Karma by sharing healthy gluten free recipes and hot body exercising training discoveries.
