Shit Happened! (Part 4)

After one month of keeping a food diary, I came to the conclusion that I was somehow reacting to potatoes and iodated salt ever since I had the horrible episode with the rice bran oil. Every time I ate iodated salt, my teeth would hurt and my gums would swell to the point I couldn't bite or chew. After a few days of stopping, the swelling and pain would disappear.

It was the same with potatoes. My teeth would hurt and the gums would swell. The pain in the upper abdomen would 'magically appear' one day after consuming potatoes.

But I still had the pain in the upper abdomen.....

I had gone for a long vacation in March and though the pain was ever present in the upper abdomen, it was manageable. While we were away, our place experienced a water crisis. It came to a point that many of the reservoirs were completely dried.

A few hours after we arrived home, Joel said that the water tasted funny. By then, we had drank quite an amount of water. The 3 of us had some stomach issues the next day. I started having food poisoning symptoms the very night itself.  I had it the worst. I went to see a doctor who had worked at the ER of the hospital near my place. He said since the water crisis, he had lots of patients who had diarrhoea and stomach issues. One of his patient even had rashes all over the body. And that was the first time she ever had a rash outbreak in such magnitude. And it happened immediately after she showered. Imagine how awful the water at reservoirs would be when the water had returned. The mud and algae and whatever that was at the bottom being stirred up and sloshed around......

A week after that I had a follow-up with Mr. Gastro again. I told him of what I went through and he suggested for me to do a stool sample. And I was to continue to keep the food diary.

My stool results came back perfect. No parasites, bacteria, virus or yeast infections. My stools were perfect! And the pain in my upper abdomen was gone too. I had stopped eating gluten once again....

Mr. Gastro told me to do the FODMAP challenge where gluten was concerned and to observe how much wheat I am able to take before my stomach started to give me trouble again. I said things are just too quiet to re-introduce and that I would like to have a longer period of peace and quiet before attempting to re-introduce anything as my stomach problems had plagued me since December.

Peace and quiet in the gut is hard to come by for people with IBS and GERD. Treasure it when it happens.

But then again, Life loves to screw us up, front, back and centre.....