I feel like I'm being punished....after my slip-up, things went from bad to miserable. A few days after my McDonald's binge, I came down with a terrible stomach bug. At first, I wasn't sure what was going on. First, it started off with terrible nausea, but unfortunately for me, that's nothing unusual as I suffer from daily nausea and ultimately take as much Zofran as a cancer patient. I then started experiencing stomach pain and cramping shortly followed by severe bouts of diarrhea. Once again, nothing too unusual except that it seemed a bit more severe than it usually is. I have a ton of GI problems so I figured it was just that or something I ate (maybe that damn fish sandwich...), but shortly after the diarrhea started up, I began vomiting on the hour every hour for over a day straight. I had heard that there was a stomach bug going around, but wasn't convinced that's what was going on with me until I heard a couple of my girlfriends were sick with it too.
However, where my girlfriend's were sick for 24-48 hours, I battled the damn virus (or possibly bacterial) infection for well over a week. I don't why my illness is always more severe, but it is, and I know this from experience as it's happened before. I can remember being home over winter break a few years ago when a stomach bug hit my entire family. It started with my younger brothers and then quickly found its way to me and my sister. My siblings spent half a day in the bathroom while I spent an entire week. I remember at one point, I literally thought I was dying as I was vomiting then shitting my brains out every half hour on the dot for over 18 hours. It was absolutely miserable! I don't think I could even get up off the couch for days afterwards. A few days later as I was still recovery, I even shit my pants...literally, and lo and behold, I shit my pants this time around too - no joke! I honestly can't recall a single time in my entire childhood when I shit my pants, yet I can recall a few occasions when this has happened in my early twenties...wtf?!?!
It took me close to two weeks to completely recover and sticking to any sort of diet during this time was nearly impossible. The Sunday after my McDonald's binge, I was a good-girl and ate vegan, and the very next day started back up on the elimination diet then that Tuesday, I was hit with the stomach bug. As you can imagine being that sick while on the elimination diet completely turned my nose to every food I was allowed to eat. I still can't even think about making oatmeal or eating prunes without getting nauseous, and because my stomach has been and continues to be finicky, I knew I had to come up with a different plan so some days I followed a vegan diet and other days I just ate whatever was convenient. Even though, I feel like I should be mad at myself for falling off-course, I'm not, and that's mostly because I've learned a lot about the times I ate meat and/or diary these past couple of weeks. One, I no longer find the foods I used to love that appetizing anymore, and two, when I pigged out on a fattening meal full of meat and cheese I got a terrible migraine. Therefore, it was proof that the diet does work, which I believed all along, I just wasn't sure, and now I am, which is great news!
Therefore, I've developed an anti-migraine diet that I plan to start tomorrow. I adapted it from the information I received from the vegan study I'm currently participating in, Dr. Barnard's book, Foods that Fight Pain, and my own personal triggers and experiences. It's called the Two-Week Test, and it includes eating as much as the pain-safe foods as possible, avoiding all of the common migraine triggers completely, and eating any foods that aren't on either list freely but with caution. One common trigger is gluten, which is probably going to be the single hardest food to give up during the diet as wheat seems to be in everything... I had planned on starting the diet on Monday, but I had to continue to push it back as I came down with a terrible cold on Saturday that I have just now gotten rid of as of today. I just can't seem to catch a break! Regardless, my perseverance and patience are being greatly tested - I am just so tired of being sick. I had have enough to deal with in regards to my migraines and other health problems, this stomach flu and cold on top of everything else is just too much! Anyways, I'm looking forward to starting this diet tomorrow. I really think it's going to help, and it'll be difficult to follow, but not as difficult as the elimination diet. All I have to do is give this a try for at least two weeks. I also developed an extensive food tracker to help me pinpoint any triggers I may be consuming on this diet. If I can do that, I may be able to avoid going on the elimination diet. If not, well, then I can always give the elimination diet another try. I know at this point, not consuming any gluten is going to be difficult but I can do it, and at the end of the day, getting rid of my migraines is my number one priority. Here I go!
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