Wow its been a month since my last entry!
Its been great a month. I'm the happiest I've been since I can remember. I wake up almost every day feeling like a NORMAL person!! My day is almost never interrupted by being sick.
Solid bowel movements, with the odd loose one. Usually only once a day. The amount of undigested food passing has reduced quite a bit. My joint pain only mildly bothers me. I'd say its almost gone... but can't say its completely gone.
No heart burn or acid reflux despite the fact I'm not taking the meds for it anymore. I've also weaned off my imuran, FINALLY. There has been no increase in symptoms either coming off of it. This was the first time--in a long time that I remember-- that after 8 weeks I still didn't feel like I needed my remicade.
I know I'm not healed. I still have Crohn's disease and if I eat something I'm not supposed to I get hit with symptoms, which can vary. But I don't care, I feel fantastic and I'm still 3.5 weeks from the therapeutic stage. The stomach pains from the proinflamatory phase have pretty much completely disappeared now. One more med to go! Hopefully my next remicade infusion is the last one.
Also, I think I may have mentioned before that I've had this crappy metallic taste in my mouth for like 3 years now. Finally got a diagnosis that fits: zinc deficiency. I'd tried to take zinc supplements in the past but they always made me vomit. Now I just take the same zinc tablets but break them in half and take them at separate times of the day. The metallic taste is almost gone now. Its improved quite a bit.
There's also been some not so nice stuff happen too that I should mention. I noticed that my anxiety has been worse. This might be due to low magnesium which I just started supplementing for this week. It seems I just can't relax. If something small sets me off, even after it resolves I'm still stressed and anxious even though I know its not rationale. Its been affecting my sleep. I have a hard time falling asleep and then usually wake up early and can't go back to sleep. This is very unusual for me. I used to sleep 9-12 hours a day.
Another thing that happened is I've been getting some weird allergic reactions. I've been randomly itchy in different areas and was finding small bumps. Then one morning in the shower, I noticed my should had a rash. When I got out it started burning and swelling. I took some Benadryl and it went away. Then almost 5 days later, I had woken up out of bed, been up almost an hour and was still in my pajamas when I started to get itchy. I was scratching and then looked down and I had rash with hives on my shoulder again, then on my chest... then on my neck and chin, and it started on my feet and legs too. It was burning and hot to the touch but went away with Benadryl. I ate nothing new, used no new soap.... didn't even touch anything different. Its been a week since the last reaction... hopefully it doesn't come back. Still though, every time I itch now I'm worried I've broke out into that rash.
That's all for me. No more really to update on. I'm still loving the SCD diet and I've found that even though I don't tolerate cow's milk dairy, I do tolerate goats milk dairy much better. There are more and more foods now that I'm eating and the food is starting to become much more enjoyable. And I still haven't cheated yet, so I am proud of myself for that. So far, I can conclude the specific carbohydrate diet is doable and enjoyable.
