stress...

Stress, something that we as people all deal with. Stress comes in many "forms" if you will. It may be type of stress that is short term, such as studying for an exam in college. It is stressful during that time but once it's over, it's over. There is the type of stress where we just get stressed to our max limit, also known as "stressed out" and we simply feel as if we can't take anymore. During these times, we tend to be emotional, a bit edgy, some could even say that we're hateful. I know I get that way when I'm stressed out. It's almost like I need a time out just to calm myself down and refocus.Change is a huge stressor for me. I have a hard time dealing with change because I like being in control and knowing as many details as possible. Another type of stress is when things happen around us and we simply can't control them like an illness, injury or even death. Events and situations like these happen and as people we don't have the control and sometimes fear creeps in. Fear in itself is stressful.

I use to be a big walking ball of stress or at least I felt like it. I was so wound tight and all about the "perfection" in life. Umm, there is no perfection in life. I don't know where I got off thinking that I could just go on being like that. Stress and gastrointestinal conditions and diseases do not mix. It took me a really long time to understand that. After many, many GP flares up and goodness knows how many talks about managing my stress levels, I finally learned to start letting go of things.

Stress affects everyone differently because as people, we're all different. Who would want to be alike? The world would after all be quite a boring place. For me personally, too much stress will send me into a GP flare up. If I am cleaning out and get too stressed out or upset, it will stop my clean out. (I know, it's crazy but it happens.) Last May after being in the hospital for nearly a week due to having my intestines enlarged and inflamed, I learned that stress could trigger this again. It was a new side effect of my GP. Luckily it hasn't happened since. I am a daily work in progress on handling my stress but aren't we all?

the waiting game...

The waiting game, a game that we all participate and play in whether it be in a doctor's office or hospital, at the pharmacy while waiting on a prescription to be filled, at home while we wait for our tests results or by the phone waiting for our doctor to call us back. Let's not even talk about insurance companies and having to wait When you have a chronic illness, learning to wait and be patient becomes mandatory. Things just don't happen. You have to be patient whether you like it or not.

Whenever I went to my first GI appointment with my GI doctor who is also a motility specialist, I knew it would be a long wait because of who he is. I believe I waited close to three hours but in return I got to spend an hour with him discussing my case and the "plan" of action with how about we would go about dealing with my possible GP if the tests confirmed. The waiting was totally worth it.

Way back in the day, I remember I waited forever in the ER waiting room. I had never really been to the ER for my GP. This was an ER in a hospital. Weren't things suppose to move a little faster? And not to mention I was miserable and you know when you feel that bad you have blinders on and all you can focus on at that moment is you and keeping yourself together. Who wants to throw up in the middle of the waiting room? Not me. I still hadn't adjusted to being familiar with the hospital setting including the smells. It was a rough time. For those of you who have GP you know how it goes once you have a bed in the ER; you have to explain to the ER doctors that you actually have GP and that your legitimate. You're not lying and seeking out attention or pain medications. You know how it goes.

When it comes to waiting on test results, ugh. There is no way around it. Time always seems to go by so slowly and just drag. Whether you're getting your results in the mail, by person or phone, you want to know your results so you can deal with whatever the results may be and proceed from there. Or at least I do...

The hardest thing I have trouble dealing with when it comes to waiting is dealing with phone calls.  It never fails that whenever I leave a message for my doctor to call me back especially on a Friday, I will miss that phone call and have to wait the whole weekend to see what the phone call pertained too. Voicemail never does the call any justice. It simply drives me insane.

When it comes to insurance companies, whether you're needing a prior authorization on a prescription or you're needing disability coverage, waiting is bound to happen. Nothing happens automatically. Don't get me wrong, it would be a perfect world if we didn't have to wait all the time but I don't see that happening anytime soon unfortunately. ;)

salt cravings...

Salt or sugar, something we as humans crave. When it comes to food especially junk food, you either love those salty foods such as chips, popcorn or pretzels or you tend to have a sweet tooth and choose foods that are sugary and sweet such as cakes, candy or cookies. I use to be more of a sugary person. Gummy candies were my favorite. However things have changed and I crave salt like crazy. I simply can't get enough.

To put into perspective how bad my salt consumption and cravings have become, when I got married, I bought a big salt grinder. I'm currently on my second salt grinder. I may have a problem considering that my husband doesn't use any salt from those grinders.

Before my colectomy, I didn't crave salt. However post colectomy, I noticed that I was craving salt. After my ileostomy surgery, my cravings became very intense especially after my clean outs. The colon is responsible for removing any waste from our bodies made up from food, nutrients, salt and water. Since I have an ileostomy and my remaining eight inches of colon isn't connected to my small intestines, my GI tract doesn't function as it should. Since I have Gastroparesis, I have a hard time absorbing my nutrients. Throw in several clean outs a week and it just complicates things even more. Gastroparesis and ostomy patients can dehydrate quickly especially in heat. For me, output of more than 1000cc/ml per day will dehydrate me. On a day when I am cleaning out I may have anywhere between 3000 - 4000 cc/ml per day. It all just depends on how effective and well my clean out is going. On really "good" clean out day when I have a high output, I will become so dehydrated that I will begin to throw up. A few clean outs ago, almost every time I got up and moved, I threw up. The nausea was horrible. It was all from being too dehydrated. What is bad for me personally is once I get to that point, I can't rehydrate myself quick enough. I get horrible headaches from this. I hardly got off the couch the next day. This all could have been avoided if I would have not been so stubborn and just went to the ER and got an IV.

So the after effect of all of this is that I crave salt. The last time I talked to my doctor about this, they were fine with it. My blood pressure is perfectly fine. When you crave salt, it can mean many things such as dehydration, a lack in minerals in your body or under active adrenal glands. In my case, it is a combination of both needing hydration and minerals due to my GP diet and lifestyle.

After a clean out, a way I rehydrate and replenish myself is by drinking a lot of liquids as well as eating salty foods that go along with my GP diet. (I put salt on almost everything. I know, it's horrible.) To give an idea of how much liquid I drink (which is mostly water), the other night at dinner I drank 32 ounces of water over an hour or so. I felt huge and bloated but I need that amount of liquid with my meals in an attempt to keep everything moving in between clean outs as well as for my hydration. As I said, I drink a lot of liquids. Before my ileostomy surgery, I could not have tolerated this much liquid due to my GP. I still have a hard time but I have just learned how to pace myself and drink, drink, drink all in the name of my ostomy. (Smiling...)

There are all different types of products out there to help with hydration. Sports drinks help balance your electrolytes but they have higher sugar contents and I personally have to watch those. Smart water claims to have electrolytes in their water to help balance your electrolytes. Certain foods naturally contain water such as celery, cucumber and watermelon which aren't all necessarily GP friendly. It just depends on your GI tract and diet and what works best for you. When all else fails, there is always the ER where you can get an IV for hydration.