After dealing with constant stomach problems and then going to a Gastro Doc who decided to just throw pills at me, I think I finally found a guy who's going to help me crack the code.
I went to meet with Dr. Glenn Gero you can read all about him here.
He's a naturopathic doctor who takes a dietary/fitness and natural approach to healing and ailments. After checking him out, I decided that he was worth talking to and boy am I glad I did.
First of all, it's evident that he takes his health seriously. He lives a "clean-eating" life and is still on a rowing team. He doesn't just preach about health, he practices it. Unfortunately, that seems rare amongst traditional doctors now a days.
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| My doc rowing to health |
He spent a WHOPPING two and a half hours with me. Carefully analyzing and discussing my blood work, my issues, why we were doing what tests we were doing. Have you ever spent 2 hours with a doctor? Not me. Not ever. In fact, the gastro specialist diagnosed my IBS and threw 2 toxic prescriptions at me within 5 minutes.
Anyway…
After a bunch of tests we found out that I have food sensitivities to:
- Gluten
- Dairy
- Artificial sweeteners
- Almonds (ALMONDS!?) Yes. Almonds.
I have been cutting back on gluten and dairy (though I still was having cheese a few times a week and I'm sure some gluten here and there) and thankfully I cut out artificial sweeteners a few months ago… this will encourage me to be even more diligent on all of it… but, almonds? Wow!! No wonder I can't get over my stomach issues - my milk has been replaced by almond milk for years. I eat a handful of almonds almost twice a day. That combined with a cheese stick snack and my day could be ruined and probably has been regularly.
Wow.
And by the way, it's probably worse when I combine these foods so when I did my full marathon and had a MISERABLE 26 miles of porto-potty stops it makes perfect sense now - I carb loaded the night before with pasta topped with cheese and then woke up and chased it with a bagel and cream cheese.
Oh. Super bad move. Epically bad move.
When I'm home I never eat that. Even before cutting out gluten, I didn't do much pasta and my running breakfast go-to is typically oatmeal… since I couldn't make oatmeal in the hotel, I decided on that friggen bagel. So that could've been what did me in.
Oh, I know, "don't try anything new on race day." A few weeks prior I had, had a bagel the morning before my Jersey Shore half and it didn't seem to affect me. I also assumed bagels and pasta to be a relatively bland food so I didn't think that it would cause issue… Guess I was wrong.
Hmmm and I wonder if the sports drink they served was "sugar free" and used a artificial sweetener? I guess that would be a trifecta of tummy troubles. Who knows.
There were a few other minor issues that I have to deal with too - and it was all very fascinating.
Good news is, chocolate, coffee, avocados, rice, red wine - all thumbs up foods :-)
Also, I swore off bananas 4 years ago because I assumed I was allergic to them since I always got a stomach ache when I ate them. Doc says I am not sensitive or allergic to them! It could've been the skim milk I was using with them for my smoothie or the "light wheat" bread I was making my sandwich with but it wasn't the banana! Oh I hope that is true, I would love to eat banana's again and will put that to the test.
The Dr. gave me three supplements to take for my stomach, one was an IBS formula that he has created. Stomach issues is his specialty and he says that I won't ever have to buy that one again because it's healing. He also gave me some super probiotics and magnesium (the magnesium is for a suspected deficiency for all the cramping I get in my calves and feet - a side issue). The supplements cost me significantly less than the drugs medications that the Gastro dealer doctor tried to push at me and Dr. Gero promises me that I'll feel completely better and passed symptoms by Wednesday - less than a week!!!
We will see. I'm excited to give it a shot… And now I'm off to throw out my whole jar of almond butter :-(
XO
Jen
PS: So what does this mean for my "celebration" foods? Well, lets face it, I'll probably not swear off pizza for the rest of my life but I'll probably generally avoid it… I still might suck up the tummy ache for a pancake post half-marathon - or maybe I won't… Taking it one meal / day at a time. Thankfully, I'm pretty disciplined.
12 comments:
I am so glad you have shared this part of your life on here and have found someone to help you figure out what is going on! I had an experience similar to your's when I saw a gastroenterologist a year ago. He didn't prescribe any meds to me, but he bascially said nothing was seriously wrong with me so I needed to "eat better" and "get more fiber" even though I did both very well already. Every once in a while it occurs to me that I have had an "upset stomach" for most of my life! I remember being in high school and having nausea so bad that I couldn't eat. That can't be "normal" but it's been my normal for so long, I just deal with whatever tummy trouble I have that day. I'm in NYC, so I think I need to a make an appointment to see this dr too! Thanks again for sharing Jen!
Oh Summer - this guy is fabulous and he is in Clifton, NJ - in fact his office is only a few blocks away from the train and you can get there from NYC in about 20mins!
If you took the NJ train from Penn Station to Secaucus - it's only 8 min ride (about $4 bucks each way), I could pick you up and take you! So happy I took the time to meet with him. And I'll know by Wednesday whether this is working or not.
If you are still doing gluten you might want to experiment with eliminating that - he says that a good majority of people have some kind of sensitivity to gluten.
I also see a naturopath. However, we had to do blood test to test for sensitivities. How did you get results back so quickly? I think I'm sensitive to almonds, but not to the extent you are. I think it's more common than people think.
There are some gluten free pancake mixes out there. :) I've tried a couple of them. They aren't too bad. And you can make them with water instead of milk :) I'm glad you got it all figured out!
I'm so glad this doctor was able to help you right away. I'd love to find out what kind of tests he ran on you that he was able to get the results back so quickly. Remember I told you it was probably something so simple? Spending 2-1/2 hours with a doctor is amazing. Absolutely worth the money!! On to tummy ache-free life!!! :)
YAY! I hope these are all the answers you were looking for! And I agree- you won't want to eat the foods you're sensitive to BEFORE a race, but a little bit AFTER the race will probably be ok, as long as a potty is convenient. but, you may decide that it's just not worth it, unless this lifestyle change will lessen the sensitivity?
I'm so glad you have some solid answers!
There are lots of gluten and dairy free options out there, even pizza [though it's no where near as yummy as the gluten and dairy filled version], so you should be able to find a lot of good alternatives.
Congrats on a happy tummy!
I am so glad that you finally are getting answers to this ongoing issue. Now you just need to follow the good Doctors orders. I truly hope that you see continued improvements. No one should have to live with those constant problems.
Thanks all - I'm really interested to see how this goes! I will (of course, like it or not) keep y'all posted!
sounds like a great doctor and a worthwhile experience...! xoxoxo
I recommend.....So Delicious Coconut Milk. Love the stuff.
And I am so happy that you have found hope. That is all we ever want. We can take it from there.
Please keep me updated on your progress. You know how much I love to hear about this kind of stuff.
BTW - outside of the physical I don't see Drs. They don't know sh*t in my opinion. They are not nutritionists or dietitians and do just as you say and that is throw pills at the problem. I believe that most, if not all, of our 'issues' are started from the food we consume so adjust that and the other things should go away.
Thrilled for you my friend.
I'm late to this party but wanted to say hi and raise a glass of [nondairy beverage of choice] to your naturopath.
I went a similar route in 2008 with my chiropractic nutritionist (which sounds funny, but that's exactly what she is). The tests confirmed what I already knew--dairy and eggs are my stomach's enemy--and tacked on a mild sensitivity to garlic (which I tend to ignore) and cranberries. Thankfully, it wasn't full-blown IBS, but I was on that path.
I'd been off milk for years, but giving up cheese was...well, let's just say I pick my battles. Fortunately, goat cheese tends to be safe for me, so that helps.
For me, the worst is the egg sensitivity. I LOVE hard-boiled eggs and miss the easy-peasy protein fix. I'll use egg substitute when I'm determined to make an omelet, but it's just not the same...
So. Hooray for getting answers you can work with, and *high-five* from another runner carefully managing her stomach lining. ;)
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