NHskinnygirl

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Well, not sure why I feel the need to post today but I do. It was so easy to get the weight off with surgery, I maintained my weight for 5.5 yrs and then I started having sleeping issues, not sleeping at all during the night which was making me crazy so my PCP gave me Rx that unknown to me for some time, it makes you hungry during waking hours. I put on 35 lbs in 6 months and I am not having any luck getting it off. I guess that's why I am mad at myself because I know I am not trying hard, until today.

I manage a chocolate shop and have been kidding myself that working in this job is not the reason for my gain. It is not totally, but it is a big reason, along with not doing any exercise at all. I fool myself thinking that because I am on my feet all day that, that is enough. IT IS NOT. I have got to start doing some of the dozen or so exercise video's, jump on the exercise bike that is in the middle of my living room taking up way to much room and not being used much either. But most of all I have got to get back to getting my 60 grams of protein a day, 8 glasses, minimum, of water and doing at least 30 minutes of exercise every day.

So today, November 1st, I have given myself a goal of May 15th (my 34th wedding Anniversary) to be back to at least my goal weight of 150 but ideally I would like to see my lowest weight of 140 by then.  I think it is a great goal,  7 months to loss 38 lbs. I am not going to pick at work, that does add up for sure...I'm a dumper but know my limits and have been playing games for a while now, a little here a little there...and I'm hurting no one but myself..and I have to stop it.  Of late, I have had head games due to family issues but as of today, I am pushing them right out of my life, focusing on myself again and getting my skinnygirl self back.  I will be journalling everything that goes in my mouth and making sure I do something to move and get my heart rate up, grab some weights daily to get my muscle strength back. It's not much but it's a start.

I'm hoping by getting this out, making myself accountable, that I will focus and make this new goal.  I am slowly getting off the Rx that started this and hope that I can make myself and my doctor's proud of me, again....wish me luck...and I'll post as the months go by....

I went today for blood work to see if I have a gluten allergy and that might be the reason for my stomach issues. I have been told that I do have IBS so that was a relief to hear. At last some kind of answer. I have daily pain, low just behind my crazy bellybutton (not pretty after PS but it's the one I was born with) sometimes it hurts more to the left side but resently, it has been really bad on the right side. My weight has spiked some from my nerves getting the best of me and I stress eat but I jumped 15 lbs in 2 weeks which is not normal and my journal showed that during that time frame I was only getting between 1000-1200 cals. per day. I'm really upset by this, it is causing me to be somewhat depressed, as I never ever thought that I would ever have to worry about weight again, well wrong stupid. The surgery is just a tool, you have to always work it so that you stay at your goal weight. My PCP thinks that if this blood work done today shows that it is gluten that is the cause that my new "diet" will help me drop these extra pounds, I sure hope so. I'm sure once spring gets here and I can get out and back to my walking routine, that the pounds will drop, (knocking on wood,head same difference) I am sadly a total couch potato in the winter, I love to cuddle up in a good blanket and just read good books. So I am promising myself that I will get back to at least doing a 1/2 hr of exercise everyday till my walking routine is back in place. Exercise is the whole key and without that, sure the weight will come off but without it, the weight will come right back on. I promise you that is what will happen, I am not willing to let it stay that way so I have DVD's ready, my exercise ball, pilates bar & DVD, yoga DVD
Wii Fit, and several other good workouts so it doesn't get boring and they say that your body works better if you shake it up.
I have promised myself that I will be a sucess story not a failure at this so I am going to be kicking my butt starting tomorrow to make sure I get this weight off and enjoy my summer back in my size 10's wish me luck and say a prayer, I greatly accept any help I can get...(mostly please pray that these pains go away once and for all, I am tired of being in pain and not knowing what is causing it)
Thanks for taking the time to read my rants & raves....Laurie

Today is January 19th 2009, 5 years ago today was the first day of my new life. I would not believed that life could be so good if you asked me that question 5 yrs ago. 

I have had my share of ups and downs but looking back, I would not change a thing, well I could have done without the awful stomach pains that I continue to have and sadly, all the tests that I have had multiple times don't point to what could be going on in side me. My wonderful Surgeon, Dr Jeff Brown, has always
been ready to help me, always looking for an answer or asking other surgeons if they have had any one with the same issues and what they did to help their patient that might help me. 

I had my 5yr check up today and it was bitter sweet. Dr. Brown is closing his practice here in NH to finally get back to what he loves and is in my humble opinion THE best bariatric surgeon. He is moving to Winchester Hospital in Massachusetts and I could not be happier for him. The sparkle has been gone from his eyes for several years now as the two hospitals in Nashua discontinued their bariatric programs. He is a brillant general surgeon but his heart is really with helping people like us, reach a healthy weight and have a happy, healthy life.

He is taking our files with him, he will still be my surgeon just an hour away instead of the 6 minute walk from my house here in Nashua. he is so worth the travel. I will be going to see him as soon as he is settled at his new office and hopefully we can continue with a fresh new place and his new partner to explore my system do the needed tests and maybe finally get an answer and fix me. I have been in pain, medications are not working for me and I have days on end that I am doubled over in pain for sometimes just 10 to 30 minutes and then days like today that it was about 5 hrs of gut wrenching pain...my appetite is almost nothing yet I am gaining weight like crazy...partly from my thyroid but the rest I think is because I am not eating enough and most of the food I do have is carbs, toast and cottage cheese is my staple lately or an english muffin with cinnamon/splenda and a bit of smart balance. I am trying to eat good protein but with these pains I have a lot of nausea so soft foods do the best right now...
But even though I am going through this I wouldn't change it for anything because I know that had I not done this surgery I don't think that I would have lived to see my family grow, to be there to hold my Mother's hand as she struggled for breath and left us 10 months 11 days after my surgery.  This has been quite the journey and I know it is not over, it never will be over. 
I believe that all of us that have been given a second chance for a healthy life style really need to pay it forward...I hope by talking at support groups, getting people to go to support groups or just answering questions or giving support to others going down this path that I am coming full circle in my life.
What more can someone ask for than a loving husband, a handsome son and a family and friends network that help me get through anything...
The one dark light in my journey is that I lost my sister. She didn't die, she just stopped talking to me and has made no effort to discuss what her issue is. All my life I was the big girl and she was the one that was tall and thin and very outgoing. I was always shy and very uncomfortable in my skin. But in all of this change in my life, I have found myself and I like who I am. I hope my sister will come around and call to tell me what I did to make her distance herself from me but if it never happens that's ok too. I have an older brother who is my rock I love him more than he will ever know and I know how much he loves me and that is good enough.
All I can say on this 5 yr anniversary is that life IS good and just keeps getting better. If you go into this with all the right reasons you will find out how wonderful life is meant to be....
 

Well, Friday August 8th, I saw Dr. Brown yet again because these abdominal pains that now radiate to the middle of my back are getting more intense and happening on an almost daily basis. Monique, my BFF, came with me thankfully, as she asked some good questions for me as I think I get a brain cramp every time I go to the doctors. I do try to write down my questions but somehow, I forget I have a list and never get to ask them.  So for this appt. I had a total melt down and thankfully she stepped in and asked the good doctor some really good ones. We are still at a loss as to what is causing this but I do feel better having spoken to him and He assured me that I do not have anything going on that would be life threatening to me.  He had looked at all of my past tests, most resent CT Scan and compared it to my one during my hospital stay in Dec. and he found that there was barely any change to the amount of waste still sitting in my large intestines.
He is going to contact his mentor, Dr Shicora
in Boston, to see if he has seen or heard of this and possibly sending me in to see him.
Dr. Brown know's I am gun shy to seeing any more Gastrointerologist's as the other 5, I have seen have not given any insite into what may be the issue, so we are going to see if a different route is needed to get to the bottom of this.  I am well aware that I did ask for this surgery, and I do accept anything that happens after it. I knew before hand that issues can surface and not any two are the same, and that it is possible that, it is just my bodies way of handling this life and body altering surgery. I am so thankful that I have Dr. Brown to talk to, he is so very caring and so always willing to help. He is as fustrated as I am, that he can not put a finger on the cause and help me to feel better. I hate to keep taking pain pills for these pains, because I am afraid of two things, one being, I do not want to become depended on them, so I only will take them on a Friday or Saturday so they do not cause me to have a bad day at work. They always make me very tired for hours after I wake in the morning and second, I think I need to be aware that I am having these pains, what may have brought them on and to know how long these pains last with each attack.
I am trying to stay positive, keep trying to loss the 20 lbs (I am down 6 now) I have gained in the last 6 months and to keep exercising as much as possible to stay focused and to try and not lose the muscle I have built up. Other than that there is nothing I can do to stop them from happening, I just have to work through them and pray that they will end and I will be feeling pain free again.
I did bring all the research I found from OH, Charlie's info and the info from Dr. Simpson and Dr. Brown was very happy to have it and is going to look into it too.  He did assure me that what is going on is NOT from a twisted or blocked bowel, hernia or anything of that nature and that he is conviced that the issue still, is that my large intestines and my colon are the problem.
We may have to do some kind of a test with a pill you swollow that has a camera in it, that goes and takes pictures as it works it's way through your system. He thinks this may give us an answer but He is going to check it out and will let me know. Please if you are reading my blog and are one that prays, please keep me and Dr. Brown in your prayers that an answer will come and I can get some relief from these daily pains.
I hope you have a blessed day...

Wow, I haven't blogged in a bit, I guess because I really have nothing new to add. I had my 4.5 year check-up on Monday and all my blood work was dead center in the normal ranges, which is a good thing. My iron levels were great and my cholesterol went from 225 in January to 178 in July, now it did help that we are out of winter and I have been walking alot. I know it was the lack of exercise that up'd my cholesterol cause I had not changed my eating habit's at all. I am walking 2 days a week with my friend Liz, we are walking for 60 minutes and are covering about 5 miles. I am also walking with my best friend here in NH, Monique, and we walk 2 days for about 3 miles. Then I walk on Sat and/or Sunday by myself, for about 3 miles.
That is why my numbers are back in a normal range. I am very fustrated however that my weight is up by 17 lbs. I voiced my concerns to Dr. Brown and we are going to keep track, to see if we try something different if the weight will start moving down and also help to stop these God awful pains, I am still having.
Most days I can put up with them, I have had every test imaginable, to see what is going on and everything comes back normal, no blockage, no twists, nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing they see is that even though I am have normal BM, my intestines and colon are full of stool.
Dr. Brown has asked me to stick with my normal routine, I do weigh myself daily,so he wants me to call him with my weight on Monday 7/21, to see if the scale is moving and also, to see if there were any changes in my diet that would help to change my stats.
So today I was at 161 so on his scale 163, hopefully this is a good sign, but I have still been have those pains. They started Wednesday night (during the support group meeting) at 6:50pm and stayed steady til I took a pain pill at 10pm, so I could sleep. I refuse to let these episodes stop me from my daily routines, I try not to miss work, or appts that I have scheduled. I don't always sit comfortable, but I get through it as best I can. They have been very annoying this week for sure. But I made it through the week, pains and all, I just rest when I get home, take the Rx my PCP gave me for them and they help a bit, by lessening the intensity of the pains, that I can at least function with them. I am confident that we will figure this out but, I hope we can do this without having to do surgery to find out. Sadly my body doesn't photograph well and I think, like my gallbladder, I will put up with it till I can't stand it any more and then insist that we do something, to make it stop for good. I figure that as long as I keep both my Doctor's informed of what is going on that sooner or later, we will figure out what is causing this and fix it. I am thankful that I can be a person that has patience to spare.

Well I spend my Mother's Day weekend in pain. It started on Friday night.
I had a hard time to fall asleep but I managed to get in about 5 hours of sleep.
Now every Mom's Day weekend, My girlfriend, Monique and I venture out of NH, usually on Friday to go to a jewelry show. This year we went on Saturday because we took a show virgin, our girlfriend Nicole. now Monique and I have had lap RNY and Nicole (Nikki on the lap board) had the lap band, and she is already at goal just 10 months out..I'm off subject so back to it. I was the driver and I was not going to miss the show so I sucked it up and headed out, to get the girls. We had a good time and my pain was not too bad but I did have a few good ones. We got home at 5:30 and I came home and crashed. I was up alot during the night and then Sunday morning I was really bad. I again sucked it up cause my husband wanted to take me out for breakfast (but made no reservation) because he felt bad our son would not be home for mother's day, that alone ruined the day but I did not let on.
We went for breakfast and sadly, I was so uncomfortable and bitchy, we just came home rather than take the ride to the beach that we had planed. Now I have seen 4 GI doctors all but one, have been the biggest asses on this earth. I asked my surgeon if during their training, do they ask if anyone wants to be an ass all their life to get in the GI line for training? Honestly, 3 of the 4 were so nasty, I truely am afraid to be seen by another one for fear of more of the same. Dr. Shea is a love, but he is old school, and i don't think he is up on all these newer things. 
I spend today going from my PCP's office to the hospital, bent over in pain,real gut wrenching pain. At the hospital the x-ray dept is in the basement, one flight of stairs, no big deal right? Wrong, by the time I got to the bottom I had to stop and hold on to the wall, I was so dizzy and the pain was unbearable. Lucky for me, a nurse was behind me and helped me to x-ray. they were great and got me out of the waiting room that had 2 sets of screaming twins fighting over toys, while grandma just watched and drank her coffee. I was to drink two 16 oz cups of contrast and then had to wait 2 hours before they did my test. OK I'm sipping, rolled in a ball on a gurney, watching Rachel Ray and the View. then they try to put in an IV, yeah sure, I am the hardest draaw they have ever seen and it took 35 minutes and 6 tries to put it in. had the test, and waited 30 minutes to be told nothing but alot of stool in my colon. AGHHHHHH.....I can not believe how much pain poop can cause. I would give birth, gladly ever day rather than have these pains. So my doctor calls me once I am home, tells me again that it was just a sluggish colon. She wanted to give me a Rx and I had asked the nurse before I left there office for the hospital to have the doctor call in my Rx. when the doctor called I guess I really needed to wait cause she gave me a script for oxycondone...OK so my DH leaves work, goes to her office signs for the script and goes to get it at the pharmacy. In the mean time i had e-mailed Nicole, who works for my surgeon and asked him to take a look and give me another opinion.
Same thing sluggish colon but he wanted me to do a bottle of mag. citrate to try an clean me out. I have drank the whole bottle and have gone only once. Now I haven't had anything but coffee in the early morning hours, and I am just not interested in food at all. I have been drinking water along with the "cocktail" but will do a full liquid diet for a few days to give my system a rest.
I knwe what I signed on for with having the surgery, I am still thankful to have had it, I would do it all over again even knowing that this could happen. I asked to have my insides rerouted, to finally reach a goal that was always in my reach but never could I grasp that brass ring... I will deal with this as it comes, I will whine to my doctors cause I think I have earned the right, just once in a while and I will always say a prayer every
morning, thanking God for giving me this chance, with these same doctors, cause in my opinion as bad as it is, they always try to help me, not the Gi doctors, but my doctors Brown ans Scheib, my angels.
This to shall pass (I hope) and for today, I will chock it up to just a bad day.

  I sometimes wonder why I make appointments with specialists.
I am on my third, that's right my third gastro doctor, and frankly this woman has Bitchy down to a science. if you have read my saga, you know that I have ben having some really bad abdominal pains that no one can figure out where they are coming from. I was sent to see a Dr. at Brigham and Womans Hospital in Boston this time. That is one of the leading hospitals in this country and I was given her name by my plastic surgeon, that works out of that hospital. He asked his fellow surgeons at B&W and they all said she is the leading specialist in motility. Dr. Brown looked into for me and I was given an appointment to see her the morning after I came home from a cruise.It was freezing out, raining turning to ice and it is a 50 mile drive for me to get there, in rush hour traffic. I managed to get there after a 2 hour drive(normally it takes 50 mins) I was made to wait 20 extra minutes, but that was ok I am a patient person. I get in the exam room and in she comes. No hello, no introduction at all. she sit's down and immediately ask me to tell her what is going on. I start, but I guess not where she wanted me to(not that she would know, cause for some reason the total file my surgeons office faxed to them never got there)cause she stops me and in a loud, angry tone says the beginning the beginning, start there, so I go back to tell her when these pains started and not once but twice more she stops me and says I want it from the beginning. Now I'm not feeling well, I'm tired from traveling and then that aweful drive to Boston, so the smart ass in me says i'm sorry I don't remember my birth. For some reason she did not find that funny. She does an exam briefly, and then gives me a Rx for pain, now if she had asked or read my file she would have seen that I have an allergy to sulfur among other things, so this script is no good to me, I find out when I have it filled. She also told me to leave the binder that I brought with all my records, this has been going on so long I have a copy of all my records since laste year. and she wants me to send her a disc with all the tests I had done during my two hospital stays last year. Then she tells me to get an appt to come she her in two months. Now this has been going on since last April almost a year I have been in some kind of pain almost every day and she wants me to wait another two months to try and figure out what is wrong. I have had it. One Dr. tells me "there is nothing wrong with you" another that puts me on a nuts and berries diet and a bunch of holistic meds and now the Ice Queen who clearly knows how highly her fellow Doctors think of her, cause she surely has a big head and no personality, but I guess you don't need one if your that good right?
I have had a really bad bout of pain today for about 3 hrs, thankfully it has subsided for now. Also her best guess, her words, is that the artificial sweetener's i use (in everything) is the cause and she wants me to stop all artificial sweeteners for two weeks. I have done that and guess what, still having the pains. Now my opinion of thhese Dr's is clear, 2 of the three should change specialties from gastro to proctologist and poor Dr. Detweiller would do better in the woods with the bears and deers. I can not go through this any more so i think after my 2 month out appt. cause I am going to tell her what I think of her and the way she treats people, I am done, finished ending the search for someone to help me. 
I am thinking of writing to Dr. Oz cause not only is he cute, he seems to have a finger on alot of things and if anyone can help I think he can. So I'm going to e-mail him on Oprah's site and hope that I will hear from him. He is only in NYC so I could hop a plane or take the train in to see him. At the very least maybe he will suggest to Oprah that I should meet her on her show...I think that would really make me feel better, don't you?
have a great night, i will dispite my self.

Some days I wonder. I have THE best Doctor's possible, I have family and friends that love me to death. I love my job(most days) and so many of the residents have become family to me. Why can't we figure out what is wrong and fix me? I am tired of crying, being doubled over in pain for hours on end, I am tired of complaining and explaining but you know I know in my heart that the bypass is not the reason for these pains. All the tests come back normal, negative but they all come back lots of fluid and gas. OK so for years I have know I was full of "poop" and my Dad always had bathroom issues but I don't remember Him doubling over in pain from it unless His ulcers were inflamed at the same time. So why is this so hard to figure out...My PCP will be back to work next week, I have been fighting with her new office manager to get an appt set up to get in to see her and this woman is the most negative, unfeeling and non-compastionate person I have had to deal with in a long time. She refuses to give me an appt. until she has my records in hand from my PCP's old office, they will send them but then we don't have doctor coverage and she insists if I am as sick as I say, I should be going to the office that won't see me because they transferred my care to the new office and she won't give me an appt til she has my records. Are you as dizzy and confused as I am, try this when your sick not fun I'll tell you. Today, after getting back to work, oh yeah, yesterday started out great but 10 minutes after I got to work, what I thought was a dumping bout from a protein bar but turned out to be an allergic reation to antibiotics, I was sick coming and going for 40 minutes, managed to get back to my desk, explain why I was going home after 1 hr, got in my car, pulling over 2x to barf and half way home started itching first my legs then my thighs, then my bottom and up it climbed. By the time I got home and ripped my clothes off I was blotched from my chest to my toes. lucky for me I guess it didn't reach my throat, that's all I would have needed.OK back to my original rant, Now I tried to explain to this woman and she did not care just kept repeating no records, no appt. Well by this time I had had it. I told her to please be quiet, it was my time to talk, I was quiet while she talked (for 10 mins. straight) I started to talk and she was trying to cut me off again, well I lost it. I told her point blank to shut up and listen. I plan to call the CEO of the hospital group she works for and I will be reporting her. I am not taking this any more. I have something wrong with me, I am in pain to some degree or another every hour of every day. I take care of my home and my husband, I cook, clean and grocery shop. I visit family all while feeling like crap yet try to put a smile on my face. I will not be talked down to any more and I want an appt today to see my Dr. next week when she is back. I got a full 360, she was going to personally go pick up my records and would call me back when she had then back at the office (she thinks I'm stupid and believed that and that I didn't know that was her way of trying to control the issue again) I gave her my work number to call (long distance) and requested it be before noon.(my power play it was 11 am ) She did call me at 12:02pm still power playing, and as I knew she picked NOTHING up, she called the old office, spoke to that office manager, and for some reason 3 pages of my 4 inch file was FAXED over and that was enough for her to give me an appt. I'm letting her sweat it out and when she least expects it next week, bam I'm calling to speak to the CEO. I feel sorry for my PCP to have to work with this woman. She kept telling me that she would be speaking to my Dr. about this issue, I so boldly told her, tell her all you want because she has already been told about the way you have treated me, and also two other patients that are trying to get appts', she was so snotty until I told her we all have her (my PCP) husband as our surgeon, he gave us an open invitation to call him if we needed ANYTHING or need to ask our Dr. anything, well you could hear a pin drop and I'm sure this Manager will be worrying about her position there if she keeps handling us new patients this way. Not a very welcoming group so far but I will not back down on this one. HMO's have rules and I go by the rules. And how have your days been....... 

Well, I just got home last night from a week in the hospital. Guess the nuts and berry diet just wasn't it.
Last week started out ok..DH left on a business trip. He was not gone 30 minutes and I started getting those gripping pains in my lower left side. Well, no one ever said I was the brightest bulb, but I would think after the last time I would have figured it out sooner, but no I was thinking it was the ovarian cyst I have, had finally decided to burst and I could handle the pain for a day, so I went to work. I was so uncomfortable all day and just came home and laid down to rest. Wasn't hungry or thirsty and decided to take my pain medicine and just sleep it off. Well I did not sleep very well and in the morning it was not getting any better. I laid on the couch aftr calling in for the day and was watching TV rolled up in a ball and rolling from side to side, at about 11 am I decided to get showered and dressed just in case my stuburn wore off and I would call the doctor.
At 3pm (I am relly stuburn and have a high tolorance for pain) I decided to call Dr. Brown, my surgeon cause at this time my PCP (Dr.B's wife) is changing hospital's and has taken a month off to enjoy time with her 4 children.
When I called the office, poor Daryl had to get me crying from the pain and whining that I didn't know what to do, cause I didn't have a doctor. She was great, called Dr. B and of course he said to get to the emergency room and he would see me there. Well hope springs eternal, I figured, drive over, get checked out, maybe get an IV for fluids (I hadn' noticed that I was not drinking and was dehydrated)and then go home with pain medicine but somewhere in the back of my mind I had decided with John out of town I had better go prepared so I had packed a bag with all the hospital stay essencials. Thank God, cause I was in a week and again still, not sure what is causing this pain. Dr. Brown is going with a problem with my large intestines and colon.
I will need to go to Boston to see a motility specialist to see if they can figure it out. I really am driving my poor Dr. crazy, all the tests come back as normal and that I have ALOT of gas in my system but noting points to the pain I am having so I just hope and pray that someone will be able to figure this out and it will not require surgery again, that is what my surgeon is hoping for me too. He is the best. He didn't have to see me and help me, he could have passed me off to another Dr. in his wife's old practice but that is not the kind of Man He is. He came in, even during a really bad snow storm to take care of all his patients, he sits with us and talks to us and never rushes to get on to the next person until you are done asking questions and he gives you honest answers or tells you he will have to find an answer for you. He is amazing and I for one love him to pieces. His wife is wonderful and they are lucky to have each other. She was helping him try to figure out this bout, and she is not even getting paid to do that. They are the most wonderful Doctors and I am so lucky to have them as mine. At nearly 4 yrs out I have to say I would not change one thing that has happened on this wild ride, the bouts of pain, they are not fun but I know one of these days I will get an answer and I know that no one will be happier for me than Dr. Brown and Dr. Schieb. I hope to have a wonderful Christmas season and I wish for Everyone to have a very happy and sucessful New Year!

Well I am on the end of week two of this nasty diet. I could kill for a carb or chocolate. I watch my husband eat the things I love and would like to reach across the table and smack him. (my fault, I told him he didn't need to give them up just because I had to. I was trying to be adult) I want oatmeal for breakfast or yogurt instead I have to have lunch meat and berries. I can have bacon but it just doesn't taste as good without the eggs or toast,lettuce and tomato. I think I would rather do the surgery and start over with my RNY before having to follow this diet. I am calling this new Dr. on Monday to see when I can add eggs,dairy and some other veggies back into my diet. This is all because I may have eaten food that was not washed well or if I ate dirt as a child (not to my knowledge did I but that was over 50 yrs ago who remembers) If your reading this and are suffering from stomach pains they can not find a reason for, you too may have eaten dirty food and will need to get this bacteria/fungus out of your system too. Good luck finding a Doctor who has seen this and knows how to fix it and good luck making it thru this diet and herb regime. I swallow 3 mega doses of garlic pills (I now have garlic breath yipee) a Rx fungal medication, a pill with 450,000,000,000 live active cultures,extra vitamin D and an herbal supplement that has not arrived yet all because of dirt. I will take all but the later for a year and the later is for a month only. I know I have to do this but do I want to do it for a year, hell NO. I am going to talk to them and let them know that I will be on a cruise in Late January, and I will be enjoying the things I want to. I will have a normal diet and if I have those stomach pains so be it. I have 60 days til my cruise and then I will enjoy.  Sorry to whine but I have to let it out before I hurt someone.