I haven't been able to focus on blogging a lot recently because I just couldn't focus on it. My life was taken over by school and my health. For most of this year I have been having stomach problems, and February and March is where it peaked.
Starting in early October, I would find myself randomly bloating and having days where my stomach would just feel sick all of the time. I thought this was just stress related or something similar so I just tried to keep going. My symptoms kept getting worse until I decided (after a lot of persuasion from my parents) to visit my doctor over Thanksgiving. I chatted with her, and after having a negative Celiac Test, we decided I should visit a GI specialist in Madison. Throughout this time, I was never really sure how I would feel. Somedays were completely normal and other days meant I was curled up in bed with a massively bloated stomach after barely eating all day. The idea of eating had become scary, because I never knew how I would react. Winter break was weird because I went a full week feeling fine, but then every other week I would have a different set of symptoms.
It was after break that everything started to go downhill. I began losing weight quickly, bloating abnormally everyday and after almost every meal, burping all of time (it made the library a place to avoid), and I began getting headaches almost daily. The bloating was getting so bad and common that I pretty much started only wearing leggings because jeans would hurt. On top of this, there were a couple occasions where my stomach would be in so much pain I could barely walk.
This began to effect my social life because I would feel sick every night and not want to hang out with people, let alone go to a party. It felt like each moment I wasn't doing homework was consumed by trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I spent hours on the internet looking for causes, went to numerous appointments and test, and if nothing else, the constant bloating made sure it was never far from my mind.
At my next appointment with my GI doctor, it was decided that I would go see a nutritionist and also get a CT scan to see what could be done. Thankfully the CT scan was normal, but that still meant I didn't know what was wrong and continued to feel sick almost all of the time. It was decided that I probably have IBS, which can only be determined through the elimination of other health issues. There is no test for it, it is just having all other tests come back normal. It was at the nutritionist that it was decided I would start the low FODMAP diet, while emphasizing eating a lot in order to at least regain some weight.
Since starting the low FODMAP diet at the end of March, I have been feeling a lot better. The goal was to be 50-80% and I am definitely in that range. Of course, there have still been some days where I bloat like crazy or have these weird burps but it is no longer a daily occurrence.
What is the low FODMAP diet?
FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharide and polyols. If you want to know more about it, check out this blog by Kate Scarlata. My dietician has worked with her so a lot of this information is exactly what I have been told. The goal of the diet is to remove FODMAPs consumed as they are typically malabsorbed. The easy way to describe it is that it is Gluten-Free, Lactose-Free, with no onions, garlic and a lot of fruits and vegetables with the fruits I can have being limited in portions.
This has made cooking for myself a lot harder. I struggle with making big enough meal as you can't "layer" FODMAPs because then it will make a high FODMAP meal. I have had to be creative in my meals and I also need to eat a lot more often because even with the small meals, I still need to gain back the weight I lost. You should see my backpack when I leave for classes, it is always filled with snacks because I can't eat anything sold around campus.
This is a temporary diet so soon I will be starting to add foods back in order to see what I react to. This will then structure how I eat in order to be healthy and feel my best.
For now, this is where I am. I spend a lot of my time planning what I eat. keeping up with homework and trying to still enjoy myself. Feeling better has allowed me to focus more on other things in my life such a blogging. I am hoping I can get back into the swing of things and post more often. Of course, that being said we are headed into the time when finals are starting soon and projects are due so we'll see how this goes!
Have you heard of the low FODMAP diet before?
xoxo,
Maddie
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