Irony

So, after I start a blog about gut issues, JD (2nd son), gets sick with the stomach bug and I have to postpone his big brother's birthday party. *Sigh* JD's party got cancelled completely, since LJ and EK had the never-ending stomach bug something-or-other for a combined 2 months. I will NOT be excited if EK's party in December gets cancelled or postponed for the same thing. Do you think doctor's will sit up and take notice that maybe my home has the more-often-than-usual issues with guts if that happens?

Thankfully, that day I had already arranged to go out shopping (groceries, party shopping, not actual FUN shopping) and didn't have to deal with all the fun clean up.

Today we were back to normal, after we spent half the morning helping LJ adjust to the fact that the party was not today. But I digress.

We have strong G/I history. My dad had ulcerative colitis before he had surgery several years ago. DH & his dad have acid reflux. LJ (firstborn son) actually has acid reflux. It's odd to me that I am just now realizing I probably should have mentioned how bad his diarrhea was and his projectile vomiting to our pediatrician, but what did I know? I didn't realize till I had JD & EK that not all kids were that bad. It took this year & random vomiting in the middle of the night and no fever that I figured it out. Because sometimes it just looked like alot more like a bad version of spit up. (Hmmm...yet another reason the diet helped.) Me, I have minor gut issues, but definite allergies (which is related to the whole immune system issues the gut issues imply) and other random things that are also now all coming together. For now, I am probably the healthiest physically in my family. Mentally, well...yeah. That's a whole other blog. Maybe The Neuro Girl or Needstobelockedup Girl. You know you live a crazy life when being locked up just stops sounding so awful. But again, I digress.

The point of this post was supposed to be irony. You'll find the later I blog, the less organized my post may be. Hopefully next time I'll have more time to post on the kids' history & what has helped.

One of the key things about the gut is, it is closely linked with the immune system and the brain. So often, when you treat the gut, you see a domino effect with any other immune or brain issues. For example, I tend to feel like I live in a fog and could sleep all day. The neurologist I saw said I was borderline narcoleptic and had significant periodic leg movements (my DH says it feels like there's a hurricane in the bed). I am also borderline hypoglycemic (I'm borderline everything). So I was finding if I had Chick-Fil-A sweet tea or milkshakes or brownies, I was prone to running up curbs and into rocks while driving. Apparently this crash never shows up on tests thru 3 pregnancies. But I pretty much don't eat any of that unless I'm home and ready to take a nap. But when we went GFCF (gluten free casein free or wheat free/dairy free) for LJ, over time, I started just eating the similar diet they had. Now we hardly have bread in our house, and sweets are only GFCF (with the exception of my stash). But I learned when I ate LJ's brownies, I don't have the crash I have with my uber-favorite Duncan Hines fudgy brownies...and the less sugar and carbs I ate, the better I continued to feel. The less foggy my brain was throughout the day. Don't get me wrong, I'm still low energy, and 10 hours of sleep a night will never be enough, but it's alot better. And imagine, I can actually think for my poor children now. I'm sure they've been wondering, "Gee, Mommy, where've you been all these years?"