Crohn’s Disease, Sarcoidosis, Hip Surgery and whatever else I have!

I had this long post prepared. ( Longer that usual, believe that?)

And then July 16th, it didn’t matter what I had to say. All that morning I had felt sick, upset stomach. I was laying on the couch thinking I’ll be barfin’ soon but hoping for the best, that it would pass. You’d think I’d know by now. My wife was headed out and as she went to kiss me good bye ( in an event of REAL bad timing ) I about threw up in her face. Funny at first, ok sick and funny at first but it became clear quickly this wasn’t something I ate, or the flu. The Crohn’s snuck up on me with a vengeance and like so many times before I found myself once again in a god damn ambulance headed to the god damn hospital for the same god damn thing. ….God damn it.

Frustrated? Yeah - ya might call it that. But sadly it’s almost becoming a way of life. Or a way of,…. nahhh. Just a way of life, but certainly a pain in the ass. The only good thing is this time they didn’t discover something else wrong with me.

I’m out and home and better. Feeling like I have to start over again with recovery and all. At least I’m out.

So what was the long post going to be about?

A month ago Dr. Darcey got me hooked up with Dr. Maddux to help manage my pain issues. Aside from the obvious and traditional methods of medicine and pain management, he brought up something that piqued my interest.

CORN

Yep - Corn. Well to be specific High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in my diet. AND how two of the enzymes used, alpha-amylase and glucose-isomerase used in the production of HFCS, are genetically modified to make them more stable. Then there is a lot of technical this and that’s but it comes down to how, corn in general and the enzymes both natural and modified effect the body, more specifically in my case, how the body deals with inflammation. Crohn’s is an inflammatory disease. AH HA! And so I started trying,…. TRYING to eliminate corn from my diet. Start reading your labels people. It is close to impossible to find food that doesn’t have some corn related product in it. Like buying consumer goods that are NOT made in China. I thought maybe I was safe with fish - turns out some farm raised fish are fed a corn related product and the enzymes stay with the fish. Beef of course, unless you find it labeled grass fed. Chicken, obviously… even free range. So far Buffalo is ok and high in Omega3 which is also part of this whole equation in getting my inflammation under control. Game meat in general which I am ok with. I love Elk! They make a soda available at health food stores made with cane sugar, and its actually good. On and on, the jist tho now for me is to read the label and avoid the corn. It’s NOT easy and really, you should try - just the label reading part next time you are shopping and you’ll see.

Is this my cure? No. But eliminating Corn, HFCS, Corn Starch, Pop Corn, Corn Flakes, Corny Jokes, and anything Corn related is a good place to start, to start easing some of my symptoms. And so I started that process along with drinking several Univera Products for energy, my intestines, and joints. I’ll post about that stuff soon. Actually, it “seems” to be helping me ALOT and that was also going to be part of the long post I had had planned until my unexpected bad luck and hospital stay. This Univera stuff, if possible I may even try to start selling. Anyone who knows me, knows if I get involved with or become part of something that is of course on the level and helpful - I get behind it 100%. Univera is such a something. More on that soon but go check them for yourself. Dr. Maddux also suggested a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I have ordered the book and I do plan to do a review here for anyone interested. At some point I want to try to manage my health with diet. I’m motivated because, once again I’m BACK on prednisone, the same crap that killed my hip. On a side note, we like Dr. Maddux - I think he’s gonna fit in fine with the current cast completely baffled by my situation.

Now the reason I’ve kind of gotten all evangelistic about the corn stuff, the Univera, the diet change is, about 4 days or so before ending up in the hospital I felt good enough to walk around 2 miles. You have NO idea how incredible that is for me. Also, I live at an elevation of 8300ft above sea level and at least 1 mile of that walk was uphill. After a month of modifying my diet, drinking these kooky elixir’s, cutting back a little on the pain meds I was actually able to drag my ass down and up the trails where I live. My dogs sure were happy, as was my wife and I was surprised that I even did it. That’s the first time I was able to do anything close to that in close to 3 years or so. One hell of an accomplishment for me! So that tells me, something’s working.

And then I get sick. Ok, whatever - a little set back. Before I attempt that again, I have to see more doc’s and make sure what I’m taking doesn’t effect or screw up the prednisone…and make me sick again, and land me in the hospital again,…and defeat me again.

Overall tho, I gotta say I think things have been getting ( if even slightly ) better in general. It’s just 2 steps forward 10 steps back. Eventually there has to be progress made and I feel as if I’m getting close. Trial and error.

Well that is the latest info. So check back soon, couple weeks and I’ll have alot more info and know where things are. Thanks for checking in.