Ninth monthly roundup of measured data and analysis.
Data
Since blogger is annoying in how it handles images, I’m going to upload an Excel (2003) spreadsheet. Here’s a link:
http://www.forefrontpb.com/phildiet/Diet%20Records.xls
The "Weekly Graphs" worksheet shows the weekly average of weight and the weekly average combined BM score and quantity. Also added average frequency.
The "Weight Chart Daily Graph" worksheet shows the daily morning weight.
The "BM Score Daily Graph" worksheet shows the daily combined BM score and quantity.
I'm keeping a food log and notes in a written notebook, which for the sake of putting off an annoying task, I will scan and upload when I'm done rather than every month.
Analysis
April was uneventful up until the weekend of the 17th and 18th. I was driving back from VA after a weekend of paintball and noticed a sign advertising 20oz Porterhouse steaks for $14. I demanded that the whole team pull off the highway and eat dinner there, so we did. It turned out to be a steak buffet (they have those!) and everything seemed to be great. I ate some steak, a porkchop, and a piece of meat from some stew thing.
Within a few hours I was burping like crazy and felt like the top of my stomach was bloated. The next day, Monday, everything I swallowed hurt like hell as it entered my stomach. I ignored it for Monday, but when things continued on Tuesday I capitulated and went to a GP. She referred me back to a gastroenterologist in the region.
I got my medical records from my previous gastro and went to my appointment. The new guy flipped through everything, raised an eyebrow when I told him I wasn’t taking any medications, and then dropped an offhand bombshell when he said, “Well there’s some debate as to whether Pentasa actually helps people with Crohn’s.” So what the fuck have I been doing for the past five years?
He seemed slightly bemused by my approach but was otherwise supportive and even mentioned a couple of probiotic supplements that he had heard worked well. Overall, I think I definitely came out ahead by switching gastros: closer to my house, more supportive, less rushed and actually appears to be willing to listen when I talk rather than wait for me to shut up.
Anyway, the pain subsided in a day or two and now I just burp all the time. This is, of course, annoying, and I will be getting an endoscopy in early May to rule out any serious problems. Meanwhile, I get to wonder how it is a diet which is usually a cure for this sort of problem appears to have given me massive indigestion. Hmm.
Nine down, three to go. Wow.
