Just an update

The work issue has been solved. I spoke to my team leader and he offered to talk to my colleague for me. He had a chat before she started her shift and apparently, she was very apologetic. I didn’t need her to apologise to me so my TL told her to just draw a line under it and make sure she doesn’t do it again. This has made working with her less daunting so I’m happy.

In other news, I’m being good today. I’ve had gluten-free cereal, grapes, tea and gluten-free savoury rice cake snacks for lunch. My stomach has cramped it’s way through most of this morning but I hope the gentle food stops it from hurting too much this afternoon. I’m not sure what I’ll eat for dinner but I’ll try and stick with the few safe foods I have at the moment. Chicken maybe? Possible with rice or noodles. I haven’t tried steamed vegetables in a while so maybe that with a little grated cheese on top. We’ll see.

Update

So I got a call back from my IBD nurse and she’s said I need to drink more water, try eating more grapes (brcaise they are good for aoftebing stools) and stop taking the colesevelam for a couple of days before starting again on half the dose. She said colesevelam can cause constipation so I need to be mindful of that and call again if things don’t improve with the half dose.

I’m feeling really tired today despite having had about nine hours sleep last night. I’m trying to have a chilled out day today but I realised I need to go out to drop off a prescription request at the doctors and get more grapes.

Need some advise…

I have a new colleague at work who is about seven years younger than me and has been trying to advise me on my Ulcerative Colitis. She’s been saying I need to eat more, have breakfast (because it’s “the most important meal of the day”), have more fruit and veg (despite me telling her it’s bad for me when I’m flaring) and she has even said once that she think it’s “all in my head” and that I need to “think positively” to feel better. I want to tell her in the nicest way to back off but I don’t know how. I don’t want to get my manager involved but I can’t let my colleague keep thinking my UC is an open topic. She’s even said she wishes she could be like me and “not eat” so she could be skinny. It makes me kind of angry and annoyed that she thinks like this. I want to say something to put her straight but I don’t want to make thinks awkward at work. Our store is tiny so it’s not like I can avoid her.

Any ideas of how to approach this are welcome!

Things don’t seem to be getting any better; I’m still cramping after every bit of food I eat and bathroom visits are painful and unpleasant… I think I’m going to have to call my helpline on Sunday and see if there is anything else they can do.

Inflammatory bowel disease should never be misconstrued for someone having an eating disorder. We eat what our bodies can handle and we eat as much as we can. Never be quick to be overcritical of our eating habits because to you they may be unusual, but to us, they are our safe foods. We do not need a lecture on how to eat healthy or what we should be eating instead, but rather we don’t your input unless we ask for it. If one were to read up on inflammatory bowel disease, you would see we have to worry about several trigger foods. These foods oftentimes bring on our symptoms and are difficult for us to digest. There is a difference between telling us what to eat and asking us what we can eat. Learn about the inflammatory bowel disease first before you decide to sit there and dictate what foods we should be eating to work towards living a healthier lifestyle. We cannot eat whatever we want and we, as the patients, are very aware of the kinds of foods that our bodies can no longer tolerate.

Wade Sutherland (via fellowibders)

This is something I wish I could share with certain people. It’s hard not to come across as defensive or ungrateful when telling someone that you know better than them what your body can handle.

Doctors appointment went fine. He was just checking up on me and making sure I was ok with my meds and so on. I said that I couldn’t feel any real change yet but it’s only been two weeks so I’ll give it until the end of the month and if nothing has improved by then, I’ll call the helpline again.

I’ve got a doctors appointment tomorrow morning but I don’t know what for; the surgery called me and asked me to make one but not with my normal GP. I’m assuming it’s just a general checkup because of what’s been going on with me over the last few months. Hopefully nothing serious but I’ll update either way.

I’ve been self-destructive again this week. I tried to have me-friendly food but I have eaten a lot of things that I shouldn’t have. I had a korma last night (which stayed down) but it inevitably hurt last night and this morning. I’m going food shopping tomorrow so I’ll be able to get more of what I can eat. I’m going to try and have sandwiches for my lunches at work again provided I can find a gluten free bread I like.

Happy belated New Year, everyone!

I hope everyone’s had a good New Year so far. I’m unfortunately still flaring and I don’t know if the increased mercaptapurine and additional colesevelam are actually working anymore. It’s quite painful after eating and my dinner didn’t stay down last night so I’m feeling a bit unsure. I’ll probably give it another week and then call the helpline if things don’t improve. I also need to book my next infusion; for some reason I wasn’t given an appointment for my next one. I’m starting to feel as though I need them more often.

Last update of 2016

TGIFriday’s went well on Thursday. I had a nice gluten free burger and I got a free mocktail. Friday was good too so was today, although I did have a bit of a stomach cramp this afternoon. I am spending New Year with my fiance, sister and her fiance watching Dara O’Briain, eating pizza and drinking iced tea. I hope everyone has a good, safe New Year.