utenzi

I received a letter in the mail today from my doctor. It's good news for a change. While I had thought that my blood pressure was lower than what my doctor thought, which is why I insisted on the 24 hour monitor that I used this past Monday-Tuesday, I still was concerned. As it turns out, my BP was lower than either my doctor or I thought. According to the letter, my average over the 24 hour span was 127/76. That's definitely better than I was expecting and keeps me from having to take meds. Now if I can get something done about my IBS and high triglycerides things will be much better. I actually tried an experiment regarding the IBS this weekend. The last time I was symptom free was for a couple of months after my colonoscopy 2 years ago. I figure there was 3 things that happened at that time which were novel to this procedure and might have alievated my symptoms. First, I had to drink 4 liters (slightly over a gallon) of Tri-lyte to clear out my intestines. Second, I got pok...

How's this for a headline ? Common bowel problem linked to chilli pepper pain receptor Study increases understanding of irritable bowel syndrome It's of interest to me due to my suffering symptoms of IBS. And while I don't have unusual sensitivity to pain in general, I do have a serious sensitivity to strong spices, particularly capsaicin. 3-alarm chili will send me to the bathroom in minutes. It's amazing how fast that stuff works its "magic" on me. Here's the gist of the article if it's something that might interest you. The research is published in the June 11 issue of Gut . People with irritable bowel syndrome have a higher than usual number of chilli pepper pain receptors, according to a new study published tomorrow (Wednesday 11 June). The research, published in the journal Gut, could lead to new therapies for the estimated one in five UK adults who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a painful condition which is poorly understood. Symptoms of I...

A few weeks ago I started taking this dietary product called Align , marketed by Proctor and Gamble. I started taking the capsules on July 3 and posted about it at the time. You see, Align is supposed to help combat a number of annoying maladies such as diarrhea, constipation, gas and bloating. These are all symptoms of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) which unfortunately I'm afflicted with. So taking Align should help me, y'know? Unfortunately since I've started taking the Align I've had two of the my worst weeks of the past year. And you know what? Oddly enough that encourages me. I really wasn't expecting this stuff to have any effect at all. And while it might be coincidence that my symptoms have been really bad the past two weeks, I'm betting it's related to the Bifantis in Align . The reason I'm finding this encouraging is that there is an affect going on here . Sure, it's negative but I suspect that's just me adjusting to the new bact...

This has been quite the week. I've been having belly issues all week long--Chris suspects a stomach flu but I think it's just my IBS being worse than usual--and I hope that my suffering is finally at an end today. No, I'm not wishing for death. I just want to stay out of the bathroom most of the day. Since I've not been feeling well, and 'cause Chris has plans for half the weekend anyway (bridal shower and movie with best friend) I'm probably flying solo. I picked up a couple of movies and one book at the library today ( The Holiday , Night at the Museum , and James Lee Burke 's Pegasus Descending) to keep me occupied over the weekend. I've also got to return some pants that don't fit to the store, a trip to the landfill and plenty of yardwork to do. There's also a woodworking project that I've been ducking for over a year. Knowing me, I'll be surprised if I end up doing even half these tasks--but it's good to know that should I be m...

I received two items in the mail today that I can play with. One is a toy in the traditional sense whereas the other is more a metabolic toy. The metabolic toy is a test package of Align that an ad agency sent me. I'm supposed to use it and review what I think of it on my blog here. The package consists of a bottle of 28 capsules of Align, which are taken once a day, and contain 4 milligrams of Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 each and a manual and diary for its use. The odd thing is that according to the cover letter from Bridge Worldwide there's supposed to be a 2 month supply of tablets but there's only 28 pills. To the best of my mathmatical ability I can't figure how 28 once-a-day tablets will last for 8 weeks. Maybe this is where Jesus comes in with the fish and loaf of bread. I've had IBS symptoms since I was in my early 20s so it'd be great if Align would diminish them somewhat. I'm not overly optimistic since my IBS seems to occur almost as often in...

I had a comment on a post the other day from a person purportedly at an Ad Agency with an offer of a free IBS product from Proctor and Gamble. Of course the first thing you think with a comment like that is that it's Blog Spam. However in this case the comment seemed legit since the Email address wasn't hijacked and it was to a legitimate Ad Agency (Bridge Worldwide) with P&G as a client. Anyway, the offer was for a 2-month supply of Align, which is a daily probiotic supplement that helps build and maintain a strong and healthy digestive system. Is this a gimmick or a way to use blogs as an aid to marketing? I don't know but I Emailed the PR person back and I'll see what happens. In any case, it'd be a great way to try out Align and see if it helps with my symptoms. Who knows--maybe I'd even be able to eat ice cream without cramps and fast panicy runs to the bathroom. According to the website that P&G maintains for Align , a balance of good bacteria (...

I had high plans for this past weekend. My house is a cluttered mess and I was going to try to tackle it from top to bottom. Well, given my propensity to procrastinate, my real plan was to transfer all my current recycling items to the collection area in Carrboro Plaza and then to sort through my magazines and put together another load of recycling from them and excess cardboard that is laying about the house. Besides that, I needed to do laundry, wash dishes, and vacuum all over the place. How much do you think I got done? Remember that quote about the best laid plans of mice and men? I'm not sure which category I fall under but predictably the plan did fall through. I lazed about on Saturday and didn't do anything productive. The only thing I got done was sorting through the mail from the past 2 weeks that had collected and pay the bills in that pile. It was a chore that needed to get done but it wasn't much progress for an entire day. I should have at least cleaned the b...

I should never make decisions on a day when I wasn't able to get any sleep the night before. They tend to be hasty and not well thought out. But here goes... I think I'm going to switch to the "dark side" for a month using February First as the kickoff date. That it's the shortest month of the year is just good luck. Ha! The darkside in this decision is going without meat. Vegetarian. Eeek. God I need to get more sleep--I'm already regretting this. And since this has nothing to do with politics or being sensitive to the needs of other animals but rather is a test to see how sensitive my IBS ridden innards are to animal proteins--I'll probably jettison eggs as well and definitely cheese. God I need to sleep more. This is a hasty decision. The best aspect of this is that maybe I'll lose some weight. I'm 219 as of this morning and that's a good 40 pounds over what I should be. There's no way I'll drop back under 200 but going to 210 would ...