Blah Blah Flowers

Pills and Potions
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers.


Yes, this is my life now. Well, almost...

For some time now, I'm not sure how long, I've been having problems with my digestive system. I've been gradually giving up various different types of fruit and veg because I assumed they were what was giving me wind. But despite giving things up any relief was short-lived. My maternal grandmother and my Mum had or have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or thought they did, so I wondered if that was my problem too. Of course, I didn't do anything as dynamic as go to the doctors to ask about how one gets tested for IBS, if I dealt with my problems rather than worry about them what would I do when I'd sorted them out? What would I write about here?

During the summer my parents had been referred to a Natural Health Clinic over the other side of the town they live near. They'd been checked out and analysed and poked and prodded and now were on various regimen for various food allergies and gaps in their diet. Seeing as they are in their late fifties and their diets have been fairly consistent for around thirty years they did feel they were better after just three or four months on these pills. So, when they suggested it I decided to give it a try.

The Clinic uses the 'Bio Energetic Stress Test'. In lay-persons terms this basically means prodding your hand with a metal stick while you hold a metal rod in the other. This supposedly allows them to test your body for foods it is allergic or intolerent to along with the various vitamins and minerals your body is deficient in.

It was pretty painful really.

It ended up with me being told I didn't have IBS. However, I was intolerent to dairy products. Not all of them, but I was told to give up 'soft' dairy products, milk, yoghurts, ice creams. Ever since I was a child I was brought up to drink milk, even nowadays I probably drinked more milk than I did tea or water. It was also suggested that I give up any products with wheat in them, not permanently, but just for a fortnight. And what has my breakfast been for best part of this year? Weetabix, with milk. While I was sceptical about Alternative Therapies and the kind of treatments peddled by these places, the simple act of switching my milk use to non-dairy and my breakfast to a non-wheat cereal has relieved a lot of pressure in my stomach. I was told that I didn't need to give up cheese but I'm wondering whether the twinges I'm still getting are due to that. I'm thinking of giving that up for a few days as well and see if my problems go away.

I'm also on a number of supplements for dietary deficiencies. Supposedly my stomach isn't particularly good at digesting the food I eat (presumably because it can't handle the milk and yoghurts I've been consuming that buggers it up when it tries other foods) so they are there to encourage my stomach to start working more, if that works then I should feel more energetic and less tired. During the process the technician/clinician/poke-r asked me whether I had problems with depression. When I replied that I had it turned out the electrical wossname in my brain was low, which would result in me having low moods. She recommended I eat more oily fish and/or take omega 3, 6 and 9 supplements.

So, where are we now? Well, as I said above, cutting dairy and wheat (as best I can) out of my diet has made me feel better. I am intending to reintroduce wheat back into my diet after my fortnight quarentine is over, trying to go wheat-free is a pain, wheat-free bread is mainly dry and unappetising. However, looking at having less of it is a possibility and my mother and I are considering whether fresh bread from a bakery would be better for us than the pre-processed junk on the shelves in the supermarket. And I'll wait to see if the other stuff stops me feeling so tired, so low, or seeing the fairies that tell me to take a high-velocity rifle up to the roof of the town hall and let loose.

Labels: food, health, personal history