Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Battle of the Pumpernickel (or the Crohns is back)

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I’ve been quiet for a while because my abdomen has been acting up yet again. Yep … things were going so well for most of the last year, but Crohn’s has reared it’s ugly ugly head again and I’m suffering as a result.

It all started about a month ago … I bought a bread machine in mid-February because I wanted to start making healthy breads for my husband and I (even though I really don’t eat much bread or grains) and it seemed like the first few loaves that I made didn’t bother my stomach/abdomen at all … but towards the end of March I decided to try making my very first (and maybe my last) loaf of Pumpernickel bread and well … it seems that that turned out to be too much for my system to handle.

The Pumpernickel must have been quite strong because my husband would get stomach cramps if he ate a couple of pieces of pumpernickel in one day … for me all it took was half of a piece of bread!

Oh and the pain is still hanging around. I wasn’t completely pain free, but for most of the last year, my Crohn’s symptoms and the abdominal pain that I get from it was very tolerable, but once I ate that pumpernickel bread I was back in pretty much the worst pain.

Now I’m doing everything I can to calm my symptoms down. I’m not eating any breads or grains and I”m pretty much just eating baked or boiled chicken, potato and very mild bland foods that have never really bothered my digestive system in the past. I’m also drinking Aloe Vera Gel and talking acidophilus tablets as that can help calm the symptoms down too.

I’d rather just be concentrating on my websites. I want to change the theme for this one … I also want to try to find the time to check out seo elite … maybe now that I’m not feeling well would be the perfect time to sit back and do some reading and learn more about site SEO. I have several websites and because of that I never have time to learn a lot of new things anymore because I’m so busy just maintaining them.

Anyway … wish me luck on getting this stomach/ abdominal pain settled down again. I didn’t realize how much better I’d been feeling in the last year until the last few weeks when I began to feel so bad again. It’s awful. I hope I can get this under control again quickly.





An Update – Still not smoking!

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I quit smoking on October 12th after having smoked for more than 25 years. It was hard, but I’ve reached the two week point and I’m still not smoking.

I’m proud of myself.

Most days are fairly easy to get through, but every few days I’ll have a day where I get cravings several times and it puts me more on edge.

I’m still taking Zyban (Wellbutrin) to help control the cravings. I think it makes walking by people who are smoking out side stores and malls a lot easier. I certainly don’t like the smell as I pass by smokers.

I don’t think my body likes me quitting smoking though. I have Crohn’s and it’s actually supposed to be better for me if I quit, but I think the transition from smoker to non-smoker is wreaking havoc with my digestive tract. To put it mildly I had a couple of days where it was almost like I’d had a delivery from www.coloncleansingpills.net if you know what I mean. Luckily that side effect seems to be settling down, although my abdomen is still quite painful.

Any other former smokers reading this? Did your body rebel on you for a week or two or maybe longer after you quit?

It’s my wedding anniversary today

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It’s hard to believe, but my husband and I have been married for 16 years! It doesn’t seem like 16 years. Actually, my husband and I were together for close to 6 years before we got married so we’ve really been together for almost 22 years.

I guess it’s a good sign that it does feel like all that long?

Earlier this week we talked about going out for a nice dinner, but I’m not feeling very good today so I think we’re going to stay in tonight. What we might do is, or rather what I might have my husband do is, go to this great Fish and Chips place to get take out and then eat it at home. Yummy. It’s probably not the best meal for my upset stomach, but I know it will taste good.

If I feel better tomorrow I’d love to go out for a steak dinner. We haven’t had steak for a while and I know this might sound weird, but my Crohn’s, when it’s acting up, seems to do better when I eat red meat Strange, but it seems to slow my digestive tract down.

I think the in-laws might be coming down tomorrow though so I don’t know if my dinner plans will survive or not. If I know my in-laws they’ll be hitting the organics store for their vitamins, organic foods and all natural diet pills for my mother in laws neighbor. Then who knows what they’ll want to do.

I guess it doesn’t sound like a very exciting wedding anniversary, but it suits me just fine.

Taking my vitamins – trying to get healthy

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Approximately two months I started taking vitamins again. I’m not normally a vitamin or supplement taker, but because I have Crohn’s disease I do have malabsorption problems and I do have deficiencies that show up on occasion when I have blood work done.

I also started taking Biotin because the migraine medication I’m taking is really an anti-convulstant and anti-convulsants are notorious for making people lose their hair. Biotin helps with hair and nail growth, so I figured to be on the safe side I’d start taking Biotin and other B vitamins before a problem like hair loss started. Plus as I said I do have deficiencies like low folic acid and iron levels, and I’ve been battling vitamin D deficiency for 2 years.

I even talked my husband into taking vitamins again.

Now I just need to find a place to get vitamins and supplements at good prices. I’m currently checking out a site that sells vitamins online . I just have to find out if they ship to Canada.

Do you take vitamins or supplements? I know, if you have a good balanced diet you might not have to take vitamins regularly, but I have a chronic disease that affects my digestive tract so it actually makes sense for me to take vitamins.

Getting my vitamins

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I’ve been talking a lot about the new migraine medication that I started taking about a month ago. I’m sure if you were new to this medication you’d be babbling about it too … it’s so weird!

I mean — I’m starting to feel a little more normal again, but for the first few weeks I kind of felt like I’d been drinking or like I’d been taking illicit meds or something. I’ve never taken a medication that’s made me feel so strange – yet that’s worked so fast on it’s specific problem.

Of course as I keep saying it has lots of side effects. One of them is that I might start to lose some of my hair! It’s a low risk, but it’s there. So … rather than waiting around to see if my hair starts failing out and then having to start looking for a hair loss product I’ve been proactive and I’ve started taking a B vitamin called Biotin.

I’m just taking a low dose 300 mcg daily rather than the 3000 to 5000 mcg that’s recommended when hair loss has already occurred. I figure it can’t hurt, and since I have Crohn’s and have trouble absorbing a lot of my vitamins and minerals anyway it’ll probably help me out in other ways too. I’m also taking a daily multivitamin and Omega-3 oils.

Do you take vitamins daily or do you think your regular diet gives you enough vitamins and minerals?

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