unsure with a loooong process

[Petittk]

ever since I got pregnant with my baby my body started to react to food in unusual ways at first we thought just to be morning sickness so I went along with this. After having her it has been on-going they thought now it was acid reflux/heartburn. they've done blood, urine and stool tests all are clear of celiac etc and what they consider to be normal.

However, I get a burning sensation in my stomach, then diarrhoea followed by constipation and again. along with these I get headaches in the back of my head and behind my eyes, brain fog and a feeling as if food is stuck in the throat and oesophagus. I also get very anxious, irritable and begin the pattern of negative thinking.

Western doctors didn't help so I got some natural healing and without telling her what was going on she pretty much told me i had inflammation in the digestive tract but then had ultrasound on abdomen (not including intestines) and everything seems to be normal..

Doctors now think it could be IBS and am having to keep a diary to keep a tract of whats going on. (WHICH I HAV TROUBLE DOING) CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME TIPS ON HOW I CAN DO THIS PLEASE... I really wanna get on top of this but find it hard because I have a 2 year old and a 9 month old plus all my house wife duties...

I am primarily on a dairy and gluten free diet (which eliminates most processed foods) and I don't really have much sugar either so mostly whole foods with a couple extras.

[runswithdogs]

Keeping a diary of food and symptoms is a great idea. The easiest way to do that is to spend a couple of dollars on an ap for your phone. That way you can input data as you go about your day.

[Petittk in reply to runswithdogs]

Thank you i will check that out its hard because I have a windows phone so a lot of apps are not compatible these days which is really disheartening

[Hidden]

A lot of different things could be causing that.

One thing to maybe look into is hormone imbalance. This is a huge subject, but I found doing a liver detox made quite a lot of improvement for me (try to get one made up by your pharmacist rather than shop bought to avoid preservatives and other additives). Your liver processes and eliminates hormones. If it is overloaded it doesn't do it's job properly. THis article I posted explains this in more detail: sickofibs.com/ibs-symptoms/...

If you find this helps, have a look into endocrine inhibitors in cleaning products, bottles, creams etc as they can up your oestrogen levels and cause things like brain fog, depression etc.

Hope this helps,

Alison

[Petittk in reply to Hidden]

wow!!! THANK YOU SO much I will definitely look in to this. It is definitely hard at the moment to do a liver detox as I am still breastfeeding and my daughter is only 9 months old and I'm worried that this kind of detox will affect my milk supply.

I have heard of the study but only very minimal. everything is worth a try to get the best quality out of life while my children are young ... thank you

[Rarararara]

I developed gall stones during my first pregnancy which caused similar issues for me. However I also had terrible pain around my rib cage area Front and back but notably the bottom of my rib cage near my stomach. It wasn't until my 2nd child was 1 that I was diagnosed after I collapsed in agony, lucky my first child then aged 2 1/2 was such a little lifesaver and went downstairs and brought the phone back up to give me so I could call an ambulance. I had been to the doctors only 2 days before and he had given me stomach ulcer medication (probably because of the heartburn) clearly it didn't work. I had been complaining about my symptoms for almost 3 years to my doctor and he couldn't figure it out. Once I got to the hospital in the ambulance they did an ultrasound and found there were 5 stones obstructing my bile duct. Maybe you could request an ultrasound, because in my opinion doctors are only just guessing until they have something concrete like a scan or blood test result. In my case all of my test results blood stool and urine came back clear, several times, it was only the ultrasound that was able to pinpoint the issue.

[Petittk in reply to Rarararara]

Ive had an ultrasound on my abdomen everything was normal no gall stones present and all organs were in the normal size range. Ive had a MRI on both my spine and my head, no concerns except a bulge in the lower back which they are doing nothing about. Ive had blood tests and kinesiology test, blood test are normal, kinesiology test say my body is reacting to dairy and grain products. My chiropractor is constantly having to reset my digestive system and a natural healer said I suffer from a lot of stress and I have swelling in my abdomen, which I told her nothing of why I went to see her.

Its really hard to explain the symptoms. Because I always feel like Im missing something out and half the time I am and Im no good at keeping journals.

[Rarararara in reply to Petittk]

It's too overwhelming to explain it all, I'm like you and not good with journaling, well not consistent at any rate. Grain products are difficult for our digestive system to process and dairy is too as our bodies produce less lactase to break it down after adolescence.

[Hidden]

If it is IBS then look into the fodmap diet, it is designed for people with IBS.

If you do your food diary make you sure you listen to your body after you have eaten stuff so that you can tell if some of your foods are the triggers for your IBS. If you can work out the triggers then you can have some control over things by avoiding them.

Also look into foods that might help with your IBS, for me it is probiotics, coconut oil and bananas taken daily and if I do get a flare up I eat another banana. Some of these things don't work for everyone they are just examples. IBS is a hard thing to figure out at first but once you figure it out things become a lot more pleasant. I think IBS is linked to anxiety so if you get anxious about something you might find that you have a flare up, again for me bananas work well plus a good exercise session although with your kids you might not have time for that.

I hope this helps you some, good luck to you and don't be afraid to pop back into here if you need more advice, thee is usually someone here who will be able to help you out.