Home »
You cannot diagnose what you don’t understand
Homegrown
By Stephanie Stevens
Three years ago I discovered I am celiac and lactose intolerant. I had spent nearly my entire life with abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea (from the celiac disease) and then conversely painful constipation (from lactose), constant bouts with sties in my eyes, chronic anemia and lethargy, almost non-existent B-12, battles with my weight and on and on.
I cannot count how many times I went to the doctor or ER in so much pain I thought I was dying, only to be told, regretfully, they did not know what was wrong with me, so go home.
Now, I don’t harbour any ill-will at all towards the docs I did see as let’s face it, celiac disease in particular has had little if any attention or study in North America until very recently. And they did always try to help, thinking I had IBS perhaps, or something stress related.
You cannot diagnose what you don’t truly understand.
My diagnosis did finally come about after I spent a week in the ICU at the Invermere and District Hospital critically ill with a campylobacter infection. Now, campylobacter is a nasty infection for anyone, however to me, with intestines ravaged from years of inadvertent abuse by myself, it was very nearly a death sentence as I went septic and my organs began to systematically shut down.
My husband, by taking matters into his own hands and scooping me up to see my doctor, and my doctor, seeing immediately I was indeed very ill and admitting me right away, quite literally saved my life.
Had I been in a city hospital, in a crowd of other patients, I would likely have had to wait hours, and would not be telling this story. I will forever be grateful to the incredible team at our local hospital. I get exceedingly irritated at people who complain about our facility for this very reason.
But that is not my point.
My point, and I do have one, is this: in some cases, a doctor is only as good as the patient they treat.
We have start taking our personal health more seriously, and help those trying to treat us, and stop asking for a prescription every time we see them.
If you have had ongoing chronic health issues, and never been able to resolve them, please, for you own sake, take a good look at what is truly ailing you. I could very well be what you are putting in your mouth.
Since I have gone though all this, I have come to realize that had I done some investigation of my own, I may have been able to help myself, and help my doctor help me.
Not all bodies are created equal. And not all bodies can exist in a strong and healthy manner according to the good old Canada Food Guide. For me, that guide is little more than a recipe for illness and pain.
We are just recently beginning to realize that what we put in our bodies can drastically affect our health in so many ways. It is time to start re-assessing what we have always been told is a healthy diet.
We know, for example, that fast food is not a healthy choice. But it goes so far beyond that. You have to become a dedicated label reader, study up on what all those ingredients really are and the effect they can and do have on YOUR body. And remember that advertising has one purpose: to make you buy the product. Look beyond that advertising.
The other thing to be aware of is how the food is produced. If it was genetically modified, covered in pesticides or some other chemical, it alters the benefits of that food drastically. And how processed is it? Oatmeal, a good healthy choice for many people, but the more processed it is, the fewer the benefits.
Just as gluten and dairy are an issue for me, those same foods (assuming you are buying as pure and organic as you can) may pose few or no issues to someone else.
The most vital thing you can do for yourself and your health, at least in my opinion, is to listen to your body.
The seemingly strangest things can be affected by something as simple as what you are ingesting.
As I said earlier, I have had issues with anemia and low B-12 my entire life. I clearly remember my doctor showing me my blood tests several months after I was ill and had eliminated gluten from my diet.
I stared at the numbers thinking I had read them wrong. For the first time, ever, my red blood cell and B-12 counts were perfect. She and I were both thrilled. No more pills, liquid supplements, or injections required.
When you think about it, it is simple. Because I had been eating gluten rich food my entire life, my ravaged small intestines were unable to absorb nutrients properly.
I have had issues with sties in my eyes pretty well my entire life as well. No more dairy, and I have not had a sty since.
Often when a person has had an issue like celiac disease, particularly if it did not manifest itself dramatically as a tot, a critical illness like the one I had will kick it into high gear. The celiac symptoms are much more dramatic now if I do ingest it, as are the lactose issues.
However, now that I am not living in pain and discomfort all the time, I am just that much more aware of them when they do on occasion occur.
But consider all the issues I had, which have all but disappeared simply by listening to my body and changing my diet, and then consider any chronic or recurring health issues you have.
It goes much further than lactose or gluten. We are all unique, from our DNA up, but there are some very common foods that will exacerbate or create an illness, inflammatory issues, pain or just general “I feel awful” symptoms.
It takes work, trial and error, study, a determination to feel better, and in some cases, changing your outlook on the medical practitioner you see. I am not saying dump your doc (unless they steadfastly refuse to consider anything other than prescribing a drug instead of considering the root cause, I do have issues with that. In that case, you may want to shop around for another health practitioner), but you can access a variety of other medical and nutritional professionals who can help you with this process.
I am not a doctor’ I am not saying I know better than they do. But if you don’t try to help them help you, you are not doing yourself, or them, any favours. And I do believe that most doctors, if they see you are trying to help yourself, will be supportive of your efforts and probably have some resources for you to draw upon. If they are not supportive of it, well, again, you may want to shop around.
Really have a good, hard look at the food you are buying. I generally skip anything processed now, though there is a gluten free/dairy free pizza I occasionally indulge in that has a few ingredients I am sure are not on my top hundred list of good things to put in your body! But hey, I never said I was a saint. Sometimes you just want that treat, and if I only indulge in a g-free/d- free pizza every couple of months, I can live with that indulgence.
You can be your body’s best friend, or its worst enemy, the moment you open your mouth to eat.
I woke up to a bit of a cold yesterday, and realized that it was the first time I had been sick with a cold or flu in probably two years. Prior to my diagnosis, I caught everything that came my way. My immune system has obviously become much stronger.
Perhaps not every health issue can be healed with a change in your diet, but a great many can. Take your time if you embark on a journey of discovering what food works best for you and which ones are detrimental to you, don’t jump in blindly. This is where the work comes in, through research and label reading and reading and asking. And remember that no one dietary regime is going to work with every person. You are unique. There are a lot of professionals out there willing to guide you because it can be overwhelming when taking something like this on.
There are a ton of books out there as well. Be choosy when picking one up, but if I were to recommend anything, it would be to start with The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, by Jonny Bowden. It is a great compilation of the foods he and his contributors have researched and listed as the best to have in the house. What I really like about this book is they go through the foods, and list their attributes, but also include a section on each called “worth knowing” which takes into consideration any reason that particular food might not be best for people with certain health conditions such as diabetes or thyroid issues.
It is well written, easy to understand and truly seems to give you a well-rounded knowledge of each food included.
The hardest part is to look at a food you have always eaten and thought was good for you and consider if it truly is or not. Your body is your best guide. Every now and then I think I could totally murder a big ol’ Pizza Hut stuffed crust gluten filled pizza with extra cheese, but being sick for a week after makes it a far less attractive choice for me.
Give it time and have patience. You really have to take things slowly, record how you feel when you take out or introduce a new food. Stick with it. If nothing else, you will discover a new culinary world, and hopefully, you will also discover you feel better.
– Stephanie Stevens is a Columbia Valley-based rancher/journalist and RDEK Electoral Area G alternate director.
