"Man with Crohn's, sit on toilet many moons."
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Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Remicade : Day 582 - You're So Vein....
Nothing exciting about this infusion, or the last 6 weeks since my last infusion. I have been doing pretty good actually. A little pain now and again, but that's par for the course. But I wanted to touch on something that I'm sure every Crohnie comes across and that's having crappy veins!
I hate having crappy veins. You know....when it comes times to have an IV and the nurse can't seem to find one. I've had heat applied, bright lights, 2 tourniquets at once and my personal favorite, the old smack, smack, smack. So now, what I do before my infusion is I heat up my hand. Not unusual you might ask?? When I say I heat it up, I mean before I even leave for my infusion, I run my hand under hot water for awhile, then dry it quick and put on one of my ski gloves. About 5 minutes before arriving, I take off my glove and stick it in front of my car dash heat to heat it up some more until I get in to the parking lot. As soon as I turn off the car, I put the glove back on and as soon as I sit down in the nice Lazy Boy, I take off the glove again and wrap it up in a heating blanket. By the time she comes with the IV, my veins are popping!! Today was so good, I didn't feel it go in. Awesome!!
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I hate having crappy veins. You know....when it comes times to have an IV and the nurse can't seem to find one. I've had heat applied, bright lights, 2 tourniquets at once and my personal favorite, the old smack, smack, smack. So now, what I do before my infusion is I heat up my hand. Not unusual you might ask?? When I say I heat it up, I mean before I even leave for my infusion, I run my hand under hot water for awhile, then dry it quick and put on one of my ski gloves. About 5 minutes before arriving, I take off my glove and stick it in front of my car dash heat to heat it up some more until I get in to the parking lot. As soon as I turn off the car, I put the glove back on and as soon as I sit down in the nice Lazy Boy, I take off the glove again and wrap it up in a heating blanket. By the time she comes with the IV, my veins are popping!! Today was so good, I didn't feel it go in. Awesome!!
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Saturday, February 22, 2014
Bloated?
I've been asked again about bloating and how can you stop it.
I don't think there is any real way of stopping it, in my opinion, unfortunately.
I think you can, as a Crohnie, limit the amount of times you get this way....but stopping it? uh-uh
The majority of the bloating comes from food and drink, but also from certain meds and, ironically, air. Gulping when you eat or drink, chewing gum, talking whilst you eat and even eating too fast can cause bloating.
For me, I always, and I mean always avoid gaseous foods like cabbage, cauliflower, onions, potatoes, asparagus, cucumbers, raisons, apples, cheese, milk, nuts, and fiber in general. It's the sugars and fiber in the foods and drinks that cause a lot of the problems. aspartame is very, very bad, no matter what you're told how good it is. If you want sugar, try honey.
Everyone is different, it's trial and error, you'll figure it out eventually.
I'm still figuring it out after more than 25 years......
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I don't think there is any real way of stopping it, in my opinion, unfortunately.
I think you can, as a Crohnie, limit the amount of times you get this way....but stopping it? uh-uh
The majority of the bloating comes from food and drink, but also from certain meds and, ironically, air. Gulping when you eat or drink, chewing gum, talking whilst you eat and even eating too fast can cause bloating.
For me, I always, and I mean always avoid gaseous foods like cabbage, cauliflower, onions, potatoes, asparagus, cucumbers, raisons, apples, cheese, milk, nuts, and fiber in general. It's the sugars and fiber in the foods and drinks that cause a lot of the problems. aspartame is very, very bad, no matter what you're told how good it is. If you want sugar, try honey.
Everyone is different, it's trial and error, you'll figure it out eventually.
I'm still figuring it out after more than 25 years......
.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Dinner And A Movie...???
Simple question this time of year isn't it?
This Friday is Valentine's Day and it's so easy to plan a great day or night with the love of your life.....if you didn't have Crohn's.
For me, it's dinner OR a movie, or movie first THEN dinner. I would love to, one time, be able to do 2 things:
1. PLAN to go out to dinner and go to a movie
2. SPUR of the moment dinner and a movie
The problem with number 1, is that with Crohn's, I can never PLAN to do, well....anything. Sorry, wait....that's wrong. I CAN plan to do things, but it's with the understanding that at any moment, the 'plan' can be cancelled.
The problem with number 2, I have to plan a spur of the moment, which of course doesn't make it spur of the moment anymore. If I want to just say, "Hey, let's go out to a movie", first I have to think, what have I eaten today, will I be going to the bathroom soon (depending on what I ate), will I be thinking the whole time while out, when will I be going to the bathroom (depending on what I ate that day).
Going back to number 1, for me, knowing we were going to dinner and a movie, I would only eat bread or toast with peanut butter and drink water or tea/coffee for the day leading up to leaving. At dinner, I would only order things I know would affect me less. Avoiding creams, all green leafy veggies, alcohol, fried food, heavy food, gaseous food, to name just a few, knowing that after eating, I still need to sit through a two or three hour movie. Not so easy....or fun.
Luckily I have a great, wonderful and loving wife that has understood me and my condition since day one. I know she would love to do more with me and the kids and I hate the fact I have to think about all this just to do something simple. I'll make it up to her one day.
So, when you say to your loved ones, let's just go do something today, like dinner and a movie, in the spur of the moment, think for a moment just how easy it is........for you, the non-IBD'r.
Because for me, the IBD'r, it goes from a simple statement, to a major, stressful, planned event.
Yes, it IS stressful and upsetting.
Happy Valentine's Day!!
.
This Friday is Valentine's Day and it's so easy to plan a great day or night with the love of your life.....if you didn't have Crohn's.
For me, it's dinner OR a movie, or movie first THEN dinner. I would love to, one time, be able to do 2 things:
1. PLAN to go out to dinner and go to a movie
2. SPUR of the moment dinner and a movie
The problem with number 1, is that with Crohn's, I can never PLAN to do, well....anything. Sorry, wait....that's wrong. I CAN plan to do things, but it's with the understanding that at any moment, the 'plan' can be cancelled.
The problem with number 2, I have to plan a spur of the moment, which of course doesn't make it spur of the moment anymore. If I want to just say, "Hey, let's go out to a movie", first I have to think, what have I eaten today, will I be going to the bathroom soon (depending on what I ate), will I be thinking the whole time while out, when will I be going to the bathroom (depending on what I ate that day).
Going back to number 1, for me, knowing we were going to dinner and a movie, I would only eat bread or toast with peanut butter and drink water or tea/coffee for the day leading up to leaving. At dinner, I would only order things I know would affect me less. Avoiding creams, all green leafy veggies, alcohol, fried food, heavy food, gaseous food, to name just a few, knowing that after eating, I still need to sit through a two or three hour movie. Not so easy....or fun.
Luckily I have a great, wonderful and loving wife that has understood me and my condition since day one. I know she would love to do more with me and the kids and I hate the fact I have to think about all this just to do something simple. I'll make it up to her one day.
So, when you say to your loved ones, let's just go do something today, like dinner and a movie, in the spur of the moment, think for a moment just how easy it is........for you, the non-IBD'r.
Because for me, the IBD'r, it goes from a simple statement, to a major, stressful, planned event.
Yes, it IS stressful and upsetting.
Happy Valentine's Day!!
.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
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