05/02/2009

There are a lot of different ‘bugs’ going around all the time, and with the spectre of flu raising it’s ugly head again this season I became concerned when I started to feel very uncomfortable intestinally last Wednesday. The food I was eating lost it’s taste; my stomach and intestines hurt; and I was uncomfortable bending over.

So I started to assess the situation with questions to my body, about my body. Does this feel like flu? No. There is no feverish feeling, no bone aches, and accept for the discomfort in my alimentary canal, no other complaints. Did I eat something spoiled? No. There is no rapid onset of pain, vomiting, diarrhea, or cramping – not to mention sweats, dizziness or general weakness. Hum-m-m, what does this feel like? My body has stopped digesting food and the food I ate has not gone anywhere!

How did I come to this conclusion? I am burping and it smells and tastes like what I ate more than three hours ago. Everything in my stomach should be gone in three hours, passed on to the small intestines. I am starting to bloat and it feels like the food in my stomach is fermenting instead of digesting. What to do?

Stop eating was the first step. Then I took some enzymes that cover all of the various foods I have in my system to help them digest fully. Next I took a mild antacid like Tums to calm and sweeten the stomach.  Drinking ginger and/or peppermint tummy tea always helps.

[One of the best stomach and intestinal teas is made with bay leaf, mint, and periwinkle leaves (vinca minor). Put equal amounts of bay leaf and periwinkle leaves in a cup or teapot (i.e.: 1 big bay leaf and 3 smaller periwinkle leaves); add as much mint (peppermint, spearmint) as you like; and steep for 6 to 10 minutes. This can be drunk hot or cold as often as you wish. This is fine for all types of tummy complaints since it contains bay leaf for gas and bloating, periwinkle for relaxing the intestinal cramping, and mint as a soother for the whole alimentary tract. Other good tummy soothers you can add are ginger, licorice, fennel and anise.]

This time home remedies were not enough and after a whole day of this regime I realized it was probably a closed Ileocecal valve, the valve that goes from the stomach to the intestines. Sometimes it can also be a mucus plug that stops the ‘action’; however I was not particularly full of mucus at the moment. So off to my favorite chiropractor and sure enough that was the problem. Luckily this is a quick fix with a practitioner that knows what s/he is doing!

Ah-h-h-h! Feeling good again! It’s so nice to be able to assess myself and have a good idea of what I can do safely to either confirm or rule out various possibilities! It helps with my Grandchildren as well. Just last week my youngest Grandchild was cranky, teething, and ‘off her feed’. I was able to explain to my daughter that chances are she had a ‘mucus plug’ that was stopping her digestion and she would feel much better after she threw up. Several hours later when she suddenly did throw up, settled down, took a nap, then ate with a hearty appetite, my daughter wasn’t scared or concerned. It went exactly how I described that it would for a mucus plug.

Use deductive reasoning first when faced with a health concern. Use your intuition and try low-level, non-invasive  and harmless alternatives before going to the emergency room. Ask a Grandmother! Use your own knowledge of your body before assuming the worst. And remember emotions, work, stress, poor eating habits and environmental toxins also play a large role in how we feel. Ask yourself helpful questions and use past experiences as good ways to assess something you are facing. One of my two doctor Uncles told me something very useful when I was a girl. He said to remember that Doctors could not keep up with every condition and disease as there was too much information! When you get sick, he went on, become the expert on what you have. Do the research yourself so that you get the care you need! Don’t depend on the Doctor to know everything! And that was back in the ’50’s!