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Something I've figured out - digestion related


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I am on my fifth round of WholeSomething these days.  I did two Whole30s and two Whole60s in the past several months, and at the moment I'm in the second week of a Whole30.  I've had great results, dropped three of four medications, altered my body composition, basically changed my life.  It's been an amazing gift that really felt like it dropped out of the sky.  (Also, I always liked to eat stuff like leftover roast beef for breakfast and I used to think I was weird but now I know I was just cool. :lol:;)  )

 

Many people on these forums write about digestion issues, but I had never seen my particular issue crop up, so I thought I'd describe what's happened and how I've found a way to a sense of balance - just in case someone else has my particular issue.

 

Most folks who write here talk about constipation.  I have tended to respond to any change in diet, medication, or stress level by, well, let's just say doing the opposite of constipation.  For instance, when I was pregnant with my daughters (twin pregnancy) I took iron tablets.  These have the usual side effect of causing really bad constipation.  For me they caused the opposite effect.  Like, really really reeeeeeeally opposite.  I shall say no more.  :ph34r:

 

Well.  At the start of my first Whole30, I was taking a particular blood pressure medication which I later learned had the side effect of - wait for it - diarrhea.  Now, you'd think my contrary digestive system would get it backwards and respond to the medication by making me constipated (see above under reaction to iron pills).  No. such. luck.  I got pretty much the full effect of that particular side effect. :wacko:   The problem was that I hadn't read up on side effects and I thought I was developing IBS or something.  Nope.  Medication.

 

Anyway!  Fast forward through several months, lots of inflammation/edema gone, huge changes in health.  I was able to drop that particular medication.  Phew!  As a safeguard, I started taking a particular form of magnesium known to be high absorption.  Magnesium, again, is one of those medications that can cause what the promoters of the supplement call loose stools.  Ha!  It turns out that there's just really no level of any form of magnesium that doesn't hit my digestive system like a landslide.  (Note: I also tried bathing in epsom salts - bam, same result.)

 

Fortunately, my health is sufficiently stable that I now feel comfortable experimenting with no magnesium.  I still thought I had general digestive issues (a good guess given my long time history) and thought I'd benefit from the digestive enzymes often recommended here.  Well.  Guess what.  They have magnesium in them.  Sooooo - same result.

 

Then - another thing I started noticing.  When I ate avocadoes (which I had done daily since starting Whole30 back in Sept. 2012) I had some immediate unpleasantness every time. 

 

So, I dropped the blood pressure medication (didn't need it anymore, phew); dropped the magnesium chelate; dropped the digestive enzymes; and eliminated avocadoes (my true love - moment of silence).  Result?  I have the digestion of an actual human being. 

 

I suspect that several things contributed to this.  I think that eating Whole30 for this long has finally begun the hard work of healing my poor li'l gut.  I think that getting healthier helped me understand how truly sensitive my body is to anything that I ingest, whether medication, supplement, bath salt :o  , or (hello Whole30) food.

 

So there we are.  I'm glad I do not have to be within a few feet of a bathroom for the first time in nearly a year.  I'm glad that thanks to Whole30 I've been able to begin healing very difficult health issues.  And I'm glad that good food is so good for me.  :wub:

 

Viva Whole30!  And - I am NOT posting this from the bathroom - WIN!  :o:lol::D

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