Day Nineteen of New Elimination Diet
August 1st, 2007NIGHT: Slept pretty well. Ran the dishwasher during the night while I was asleep and closed the door to the kitchen – didn’t notice it bothering me – was able to sleep through it at least
11:20am – woke up – felt really good when first woke up – nose was clear, throat was a little scratchy but not much. Got up out of bed had a small hard bowel movement and then a few minutes after getting up my nose got really stuffy – it seems like that is normal – my nose feels fine when I first wake up in bed and then once I get up out of bed and I’m more fully awake it starts to bother me a lot
11:25am-? – showered, washed up with baking soda, brushed teeth with baking soda, used crystal stick deodorant, and got dressed
11:36am – opened the windows a crack
11:43am – bug bites were really hurting – they were even bigger welts – I remembered that my mom used to put a baking soda paste on our bee stings and I thought maybe that would help with these bug bites too – so I tried it and it did help a bit to ease the pain
11:50am – signed into work
12:47pm – ate a bowl of cereal with milk
1:30pm – left foot felt numb and sort of tingly – moved it around and it got better – nose was still really stuffy and had been ever since getting up this morning
2:35pm – signed out of work, emptied the dishwasher, picked up a little bit
2:46pm – drank another glass of filtered water
2:56pm – had bowel movement – hard and small
3:00pm-5:30pm – a friend came over and we walked down to the café in our court yard and sat outside and I drank a bottled water and we talked for a while – it was so great to get out of the house and have some social contact for a while and just so great to get to know her better and connect with someone on a deeper level – felt pretty good while out – nose was fairly clear – hives were pretty bad off and on while out
5:30pm – got home – had a slight headache but not bad at all and didn’t last long
5:40pm – ate a handful of cashews
6:14pm – nose is stuffy and bothering me again
6:45pm – ate some green beans – boiled in filtered water
8:04pm – ate dinner – couscous with a little salt and butter and a yogurt. Drank a glass of filtered water and took my birth control pill
8:38pm – ate a pear without the skins. Started watching a movie with my husband (we watched Super Size Me – fascinating and disturbing - I would recommend it for anyone interested in health)
9:24pm – had hive on arm
9:56pm – ate a bowl of cereal with whole milk and a little sugar for taste
10:34pm – brushed teeth with baking soda
Today was pretty ok. I didn’t feel great but I had a few hours when I felt pretty good and I had an opportunity to talk with a friend and feel “normal” which was really nice. So, Day Nineteen is over now and I’ve been feeling a bit discouraged…has it really been 19 days and I still haven’t found any firm answers? Wow. So, yeah, after a week of trying to recreate my no hives week I feel like it was successful on some levels – I definitely felt better this week then I did the week before and my hives were much less most of the week (with the exception of the few days after eating the cottage cheese and the days I went out of the house and/or ran the dishwasher or laundry machine) so, that’s good I guess. But, I’ve still been really congested and a lot of people have been telling me they are worried about me and worried that I’m not getting the nutrients I need. Soooo, it’s time to make another change. So, after talking with some people, doing some research on my own, talking with my husband and just thinking through everything a lot I’ve decided to eliminate wheat and dairy and oil and all fruits for a week – so what am I going to eat? Well, I decided to stick with lettuce, pinto beans, kidney beans, lentils, cashews, green beans, green peas and potatoes. So, for the next seven days (day 20-27) I will just eat these things and see how that goes – or at least that’s the plan – I guess if things get worse instead of better after 3 or 4 days then I would consider doing something else but I’m hopeful that they will get better and not worse – but then again I was hopeful at other times that things would get better and they didn’t…so I guess we’ll see. Here’s to a new plan for Day Twenty…and here’s hoping it works.
Health to you and yours -
Beth