Tag health

Getting diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.

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After my colonoscopy on the left, wearing the pill cam device after swallowing a camera on the right.

I hope by just writing this blog I bring awareness of Crohn’s disease IBD (irritable bowel disease) which is an auto immune disease that affects the immune system by over reacting causing ulcers anywhere between your mouth down your digestive tract to your anus. Symptoms include diarrhea,vomiting, constipation, fatigue, weight gain/loss, loss of appetite, mucous or blood in your stools, anemia, anxiety, depression, accidents, joint pain, eye problems and eating disorders.

I always had digestive issues since a small child, it was always put down to Food intolerance and stress. But looking back the symptoms were there. Back in 2020 my body was suffering from alot of stress and grief which I believe triggered a big flare up which led to my diagnosis in 2021. I had always just dealt with my symptoms myself but after dropping alot of weight in a small amount of time I decided to reach for help, when I told my Dr about my symptoms he ordered a stool sample which came back with high inflammation levels which indicates inflammation someone in my digestive system. from there I was referred to digestive diseases for some further diagnostic treatments.

It didn’t seem much but these trousers were new and actually too small for me untill couple months later they were to big.

To diagnose a digestive disease lots of tests and procedures have to be done, unfortunately the digestive tract isn’t easy to reach without being invasive.

Just to name a few tests I had multiple Colonoscopies and biopsies taken from my colon, I had an MRI dye test which showed inflammation in my small bowel then a endoscopy pill cam which you swallow and it records a video from your mouth to reach your small bowel.

The results came back from the pill cam showing ulcers scattered around my small bowel and it was then confirmed as Crohn’s disease.

After this I had lots more blood tests done this was to check I was healthy enough to start medication. these drugs are immunosuppressant which are widely used for other auto immune diseases and chemo therapy for cancer patients. It is used to calm your immune system down to stop it from attacking itself. So when you are put of these drugs your immune system is supressed making you at higher risk of flu, virus ,colds and infections.

Unfortunately with these drugs come side effects which can be nasty such as vomiting, migraines , joint pain, pancreatitis and skin cancer. You have blood tests done on the 2nd week, 4th week, 8th week and so on to make sure your body is tolerating the medicine.

I was told when I start I may feel like a have the flu for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately for me I tried the 1st medication for 12 weeks and had terrible side affects, I had joint pains, migraines, my appetite was gone and my hair was falling out. Due to this they took my off the medicine.

I then went on to try different doses of the same medication with a combination of other drugs but my body was rejecting it and each time I got worse. The last medicine caused me to vomit and have extreme nausea I couldn’t get out my bed to wash or brush my teeth so I was taken off the medicine. At this current time I am waiting to start my 4th type of medication it’s a long journey for me to find the right treatment. For many they tolerate the medication well but unfortunately for some the side affects are strong. It’s a gamble the Dr have to make to find the right treatment for you.

Due to trying so many drugs and constantly feeling unwell my mental health has suffered, if your someone who is has just been diagnosed I’d advise seeking therapy to prepare you for your journey to help you be kind to yourself if treatments fail or find trying new things overwhelming.

Surround yourself with your friends and family and be open about your experience with it. Join a forum and find others who have the same disease as you so you can connect and ask questions.

I hope in the future to find a treatment right for me and come back stronger than ever.

In my next blog I will dive deeper into the affects IBD has on work, social life and relationship’s.

Healing

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Healing

I feel the need to write and share without the fear of judgement of others. I am healing, I’m learning to regulate my emotions, recognizing past traumas, habits and limiting thoughts. I feel like I’m breaking the chain of generational traumas, poverty and pain.

My family, my parents, grandparents, ancestors they all survived a lot of things that may feel so long ago that it barley affects you. But it does trauma and beliefs can be inherited to the next generation it stays stored in your nervous system preventing the new generation from success and happiness but instead just teaches them survival flight, fight, freeze.

I’m giving myself permission to live now I don’t need to survive anymore. I honour and respect the pain I have experienced these last year’s that be loss, grief, unsafe, scared. But as a human I must move forward with my emotions. Emotions are not just in the brain but also in your body. IBS, auto immune diseases, fibromyalgia. It’s all linked you cannot lie to your nervous system.

Your over active nervous system has been in the driver’s seat maybe since the moment you were born, your instinctual reptilian brain sensed danger or chaos. Your parents couldn’t regulate their own emotion’s or you were exposed to an event no one would even think it affected you.

It’s important to move in these times of releasing old traumas let your body feel the pain don’t avoid it. Let it move through your body and leave. Emotional pain won’t kill you. But I believe stored trauma can.

I have unfortunately watched quite a few loved ones leave mine and my partners life. By that I mean passing away. Pretty much the whole of my partners family are gone. I believe that a few reasons were unresolved traumas stored in the body causing the nervous system to over load compromising the immune system.

After watching that happen within a space of 10 years I promised myself I didn’t want to carry this into the next generation. I’m cutting the chord/chain so that me and my partner can live happily even after trauma and loss.

So that when we are ready for children they won’t be born into generational traumas like ourselves.

Be brave acknowledge your pain and let go of stored trauma in your body. If you are interested look at somatic therapy.

You have made it this far in life your body and mind just needs reminding.

Take care,

Layla.

5 easy garden vegetables to grow for beginners.

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5 Easy garden vegetables to grow for beginners.

I am a complete novice with gardening but I have learnt a lot from making mistakes, like anything you remember how to do things the right way by learning from mistakes. With that said there are a lot of plants to grow that are easy for beginners and mistakes are hard to make.

Of course it is good to take into consideration your environment and surroundings as these vegetables thrive with a sunny spot,feeding, good soil conditions and watering, we will cover this in another article. once established these vegetables will keep giving when harvest season comes round!

Runner beans

Last year I grew my runner beans in containers, they were producing right into the end of September, this year they are growing in my vegetable beds. A sunny spot, some adequate soil and some bamboo sticks and you are done. A part from feeding your runner beans and watering they can be left to their own devices.

Of course every plant is prone to pests, so it is bound to happen as long as you check your plants regularly you will catch them early. From my experience runner beans are easy to grow.

harvest tip: Make sure to pick the beans when they are medium sized, runner beans can grow pretty big when eaten they can taste pretty chewy, also if a bean is left to grow on the vine to a big size the plant will not send off new flowers to produce beans as all the energy is going into the big runner bean.

Tomatoes

If you have a small area to garden in you may consider getting the determinate variety, the plant will grow to a mature size after a short period then set off fruit. This makes it easier for you to manage and avoid so much pruning!

My black opal tomatoes tasted delicious, there is no going back to supermarket tomatoes after you taste your own. The INDETERMINATE Tomatoes do need pruning for adequate air flow this will help prevent pests and diseases, they like a good feed and watering when the fruits appear (remember to always water your plant at the base either late evening or early morning this prevents sunburn). Place them in a sunny spot and support them with tomato cages.

Beetroot

Beetroot are great for beginners, I plant them in fours they like to stick together. They need adequate watering on sunny days to avoid their skin becoming cracked. But they are still perfectly edible if that isn’t achieved, you can also use the tops for salads. defiantly give these guys a go.

strawberries

So strawberries aren’t vegetables they are a fruit, but they are so easy, hardy and tasty. They produce runners that root into any surrounding soil giving you free plants for next year!

Onions

If you love onions in your house its worth a try, although mine weren’t very big they were edible, they are hardy and you can grow them through the winter ready to harvest in spring. they make great cover crops, to keep the weeds away fill the space with onions.

We did laugh at the size of my onions.