To Sand
#329943 - 05/19/08 06:37 AM
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Candy2
Reged: 04/09/08
Posts: 164
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There is always someone who is worse off than you are. I think it's important to remember that to aid in perspective - as Barbara50 rightly points out - but I certainly understand that it might not make you feel less miserable on a day to day basis. So it's natural to be sad and angry and frustrated. But that bitterness - that'll do you in every time.
So a few thoughts...
First of all, you do not *have* to watch what you eat. You can eat what you want, take meds to help with your symptoms, and suffer whatever consequences you cannot medicate away. Seriously. It's very important to remember that because it means you get to choose which path to take. You're not forced into anything. Eating what you want won't kill you. It won't even make you sick in any organic, debilitating, or life-threatening sense. So you can choose to eat in a way that makes you feel better or you can choose not to. It really is up to you.
First
I am very well aware that I could eat whatever I want and suffer the consequences. How stupid is that? Of course I won't do that and that is why I am on the IBS board.
Second, you're darn lucky to have that choice. A heck of a lot of people in the world are sick and can't do one single thing about it.
Second
I sympathize with those people who are sick in the world and can't help themselves, but focusing on them will not help me.
Third, the food restrictions you're looking at are really pretty minor. One thing that helped me a lot when I first started down this road was having a friend who was a Type 1 diabetic. For 20 years she had had to think about every bite that went in her mouth. Her example was inspiring. And beyond that, I knew that if I ate off-program, I risked having to run for the bathroom. If she ate off-program, she risked far, far more than that.
Third
Actually, I find the IBS food restrictions rather smothering and difficult and don't like them one bit. I am sorry if others have it worse.
Fourth, I don't believe any of us has the right to decide who "deserves" to be sick and who "deserves" to be well. I know I joke from time to time about wishing IBS on those who don't understand it but the simple truth is that I believe every single human being on the face of the earth deserves health. Period.
Fourth
You don't know the relatives and others in my life I was referring to when I made my original comments. They are extremely nasty and evil and have badly hurt me and others. They are healthy as a horse while I have done all their suffering for them. I have had so many illnesses I can't count them. If they died tomorrow I would dance in the street. I have a right to my feelings about who deserves what. The only people I have one iota of compassion for now are children with cancer or any illness or injury.
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Re: To Sand
#329958 - 05/19/08 11:23 AM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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Quote:
I am very well aware that I could eat whatever I want and suffer the consequences. How stupid is that? Of course I won't do that and that is why I am on the IBS board.
I don't think that is a stupid option. People make that choice all the time when they feel the cure is worse than the disease. I lived with a terribly bad hip for over a year because I thought the surgery was worse than the pain. When that was no longer the case, I had the surgery.
Similarly, if someone's IBS is something she can manage with meds to some extent and live with whatever symptoms are left over and if she finds the dietary guidelines laid out here too restrictive, I think it's perfectly rational for her to decide she'll eat what she wants and live with the consequences.
As for the rest of your post, I am sincerely sorry you have suffered so much and are so unhappy and that you find this approach so terribly difficult. I wish you all the best.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Candy,
I am not posting this as a negative retort to your original post. I am posting this to give you my opinion. I think you need to come to terms with your IBS. Once you have come to terms you need to realize that the EFI diet, Acacia, and all that goes with it really will work for you. You need to give it a chance, an honest to goodness chance to work for you. Constantly telling yourself over and over what you can no longer eat will drive you crazy and sounds like it already has. I have had IBS-D for over 10 years. I have been on the EFI diet since 10/07. I don't know what I would have done without this place. This diet, the Acacia, Peppermint caps and peppermint tea have been my only saving grace (along with sheer will-power! Sure, I miss eating fast food, fried foods, ice cream, etc but you know what....you get over it. Let yourself eat those things a few times and suffer a painful attack - that'll get you over it quick! The fear of an attack is enough to keep me away from them!!! I have a fiancee and a 12-year old daughter, we frequently go out to eat and I see them eating steaks, ribs, etc but I'm at the point now where it doesn't get me down anymore because I know what the consequences would be if I did eat that stuff! You just have to get to this point, you'll work through it and get past it. Please stop dwelling on what you can't eat and get creative with what you can eat! There are so many delicious recipes on the board here and so many easy modifications you can make everyday! Now that spring is here I love to grill. My family gets cheeseburgers - I get a turkey burger - honestly not bad on the grill!! Not to sound like a broken record, please give this way of eating a chance to work for you. I promise it will. Make it a point to search the recipe boards. If you have a favorite dish, do a search on it, chances are there's an IBS safe modification for it on the boards. Good luck to you.
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