Jac's Countdown to 50! page 5

[Paleobird]

Paleobird, it's a good thought, but unfortunately lots of the good probiotic foods are triggers, as are lots of other foods. I still hope I can get past this and into a less fragile state, but every time I have a flare I can't explain, everything has to come into question again. It gets more complicated by the time between trigger and response - sometimes it's almost immediate, but as I've become more healed it can be up to 30 hours.

I had very little sleep last night, as a full flare hit me about 8pm. At 2am I ended up taking buscopan again, which helped me get a few hours sleep. Triggers could be the kombucha, but could also be the stress of detoxing, then working hard over the weekend, followed by 2 high stress days. It's quite possible that it was all down to stress. It could also be the daily apple I've had for the last few days - it's apple season here, and they're sooo sweet and crunchy. Or it could be all of the above. Today I'm weak as a kitten, and waiting to eat until I'm hungry.

On a brighter note, it was a stunning frosty morning today. This is the view from my front yard. I love living here!
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That really sounds like it's difficult to tease out all the variables involved. Hmmm.
I think the stress is a major factor all around, right up there with toxic substances.
That is a gorgeous view. I only spent one day in NZ once on a cruise stopover but I have always wanted to go back and spend some more time there.

[zoebird]

I have to say that I love living in NZ too, though I would like to spend more time at home these days. Even a year ago I spent more time here than I am now, and it's a bit rough on me because I miss sitting in my window with a hot cup of tea, reading/writing and observing my view while DS played along side.

Plan being, of course, if I can get the teachers trained up, I'll be able to be home 4 afternoons a week, and therefore have more afternoons enjoying my beautiful view. I'll have to post a picture of it some time. When I figure out how. It's the edge of wellington's harbor, and very pretty right on the water.

I have a feeling that this particular IBS flare-up of yours likely was stress, because that' the most common trigger.

Managing stress isn't easy.

[Jac]

Yeah, I can usually actively manage one, even two stressors, but the last 10 days have been pretty intense. To prove it I now have a couple of zits and cracked lips. My poor, poor body - hopefully we're on the mend now.

I went shopping yesterday to get some hats for my soon-to-be-born grandbaby. My daughter reckons she has had 'horrible ones, scratchy ones, and big ones' given to her, but no soft, little, sweet ones for the first few weeks. (The 'horrible' ones are home knitted contributions from her MIL - and I have to agree. Seriously, who's gonna put their firstborn in a roughly knitted cap with Where's Wally stripes? Or a bile coloured thing with a pompom?) Anyway, it was fun - and I would usually augment that fun with a coke. It wasn't too much of a strain to walk past them. Still a little call, but nothing dramatic.

Still took buscopan and neurofen last night, and cuddled a hot water bottle for the evening. There's a definite improvement, so that means I've managed to stop the trigger at least. I'd planned to stay home today with a pile of essays to mark, but I had a call from one of my favourite PhD students, so came in to meet with her. She's a psychiatrist doing a fabulous study on what constitutes a 'healing space' for mental health service users. She was one, herself, and is using her own experience to form the first part of the study. It's exciting to talk to her . No pain relief needed so far this morning.

Food yesterday was mince and rice for lunch, steak and kumara for dinner, and a banana mid-evening. I waited until I was hungry, and stopped before I was ready. This morning I haven't eaten yet, but have hard-boiled eggs, blueberries and coconut milk for lunch. If I'm still hungry I'll get some sushi. And, damn, this reminds me that I didn't get anything out of the freezer for dinner. Bummer!! I put some more kombucha on to brew last night. I have one batch that will be ready in about a week - the scoby has just covered the top of the tea. This lot will be ready about a week later. I used black and green tea this time, so will see what the taste is like. I'm really hoping the kombucha wasn't the trigger for the flare . . . I'm willing to test it again, though.

[marthat]

Gotta ask - what's kumara?

[zoebird]

kumara is the maori sweet potato.

The best hats that I had for DS were made of t-shirt material -- very simple cotton. not scratchy, very warm, simple caps. i had such a giggle about the MIL stuff though. I feel her pain! Ha!

Also, scratchy hats can go *over* the soft cotton ones, which is what we did with my MIL's home-made hats.

[Jac]

kumara.jpg

It has a soft texture, and is very sweet. I love them, and would eat them every day if I could

[Jac]

Read. The. Damned. Ingredients.

I've been drinking this lovely new herbal ginger tea. Today I was wearing my reading glasses while I boiled the kettle, and I noticed that it seemed to have other things in it as well. The ingredients are:

• ginger root
• chamomile flower
• peppermint leaf
• pineapple fruit
• papaya fruit
• fructose
• fennel seed
• L-Glutamine
• citric acid
• papain
• bromelian
• flavour

Hmmm, I just wonder if that's contributed to the horrible pain I've been in all week?? I haven't been following my usual pattern of improvement, and in fact have been in more and more pain each evening, getting a bit better in the morning. I've been having this stuff every night - sometimes twice in an effort to calm my gut. I've been seriously considering going to the doctor to see if I've developed an ulcer or cholecystitis, too. Now I'll wait and see if I actually do get better over the weekend. My own stupid fault, I know.

In other news . . . I have gotten through an unprecedented amount of work in the last 2 days . I feel like, perhaps, a bit of general ditziness is passing. Not exactly brain fog, more like a constant brain itch that kept me from focusing for any length of time. Caffeine? Sugar? Chemicals? Who knows?? Long may it last.

[zoebird]

wow, your teas have a lot of stuff in them.

i just buy twinings. then there's just tea in there. like, normal tea stuff like bergamot or whatever. and traditional medicinals (my mom sends it to me -- good stuff), which is literally medicinal tea. good stuff! so good. just herbs.

anyway, i'm freaked out by the ingreidnet list from fructose down, except for fennel seed, which is fine. But what's with the rest of it? weird.

[Jac]

Well, that's the first time I've ever seen a tea with that much stuff in it! I was completely freaked out by the list from after it listed peppermint! I usually have peppermint, or green tea with jasmine - the kind that have one or two flavours in them. It didn't even occur to me that anyone with "ginger tea for digestion" on the label would also have all that extra crap in it! I generally get mine from the supermarket, but this stuff was in a lovely organics shop in Napier, where I also found kombucha for the first time ever. I guess I got over-excited, lol, and assumed that everything there must be good for me .

I noticed the label yesterday BEFORE I drank any of it, so I'm now at probably 36 hours since I last had some . . . and the pain and bloating is so minimal it's barely there. I'm going to give the horrible stuff to my daughter, and if she doesn't like it, it can go in the compost bin.

The builders start on Monday . This weekend we have to take down a curtain rail, move some furniture and ornaments from the hallway so they don't get broken or damaged by blokes with tools, and put up a fence to keep the dogs away from where the builders will be working. Nothing too strenuous - I just totally can't wait to get started! I have Monday morning off, to set them up and watch the first stages.

I had eggs and leftover kumara fried in coconut oil for breakfast yesterday, which lasted me until dinner - beef casserole. I also went to a meeting at a coffee shop and enjoyed a pot of peppermint tea. They actually had nice tea, and a decent sized ceramic pot. Breakfast this morning will be leftover stew, and dinner will be roast chicken and veges. Yummmm.

I had a moment last night of almost having some sweet tea or some diet lemonade - both of which are in the house because Tony likes them. I was in pain at the time, and just felt as though they'd sort it out. So glad I didn't cave!! I'm going to the movies later, to see Rock of Ages - I don't think I'll have any issues with not taking anything in with me, though - I don't usually like to eat while I watch movies or TV, but I usually have a coke. (Not whining, just preparing myself for a change in process).

[zoebird]

my recommendation would be to make your own chai, using roobois tea.

so, you'll want to create your own blend of the following spices:

Green Cardamom
Ginger
Cinnamon
Vanilla
Cloves
Black Peppercorns
Nutmeg
Bay Leaves
Black Cardamom
Anise/Fennel Seed
All Spice

So, you take these lovely spices and put it into a pot and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, but you can go much longer if you want.

Add more water and bring it up to a boil, and then add the roobois teabags.

You can drink it hot, or even better, let it cool and have it as iced tea. It's so good.