July 24, 2009

Sleepless Nights

I've been a little absent from my blog for a while but with good reason. I'm exhausted from lack of sleep and struggling to get a grip on the new way in which I now need to eat. Its literally come down to rice cakes, broiled chicken and lots of water, or in other words anything that's dull and bland. Some may think that that would be a great, healthy diet but I'm a lover of French bread, red wine, exceptionally smelly cheeses, spicy foods, tomatoey dishes and none of those are listed on the "what GERD/Celiac sufferers can eat".

Lengthy medical tests have been done and to this day no-one is quite sure whether its GERD but that's what the doctors think it might be. GERD stands for gastro esophageal reflux disease, its mighty painful and I had no idea I had it. Really just thought it was sever heartburn brought on by stress, but this is much worse and there is no way sleep is an option when occurs. Right now every 3 or 4 days I eat something that then flares up the situation when I lie down to sleep. Antacids won't help at that point as the searing pain has already started. The options are: either sit up and sleep (which is not something I have mastered) or sit bolt upright on the sofa - reading or watching television, hoping that the pain will subside, usually around 4:45am.

I will get the hang of it all and am not going to become one of those irritating people who, when at dinner, needs to enlighten fellow diners as to what I can and can't eat. I will do this quietly and with conviction as supposedly with an adjusted (exceptionally boring) diet this will go away in 6 months to 1 year. I will be up till the wee hours every few days until I realize that even 1 stalk of green onion sauteed into a stew is enough to give me hours of pain.

A side note: alcohol is to be avoided but that I can not do. I will brave the agony.

7 comments:

soodie :: said...

what about Nexium? have they talked with you about that? apparently, the only thing that works for g.e.r.d., i am told. and can you brew a little peppermint sun tea and sip it warm? maddening, irritating and defeating, i feel for you.

Liberty London Girl said...

oh honey. What a gastronomic disaster. Wish i was there to cook for you . LLGxx

La Belette Rouge said...

I am not saying I have any idea what you are suffering but I did have a strange period were Tom Collins was my cocktail of choice and for reasons unclear to me I would have horrible esophageal pain the day after. I could barely swallow soup. I quickly found another cocktail. So, I am saying I can imagine how awful it must be to have this. Poor you!!!

I am sure we can find a new place to lunch that serves rice cakes and broiled chicken.

mothership said...

well, crap. That is just crap.
At least they have found something solid that can be identified, though. I am hoping there is some kind of cure to help. What is Nexium? I am off to google.
:((

Lola said...

So Lovely, I'm so sorry to learn of your problems - I do hope a cure is found soon to relieve all that pain.

xNora

Susan Champlin said...

So sorry about the GERD—and celiac, too? My sister has celiac, which is why I ask, but it sounds like GERD is severely more limiting, diet-wise, not to mention painful. Awful! Hope they were being conservative in their time estimates, and that you'll be feeling much better much sooner. Also just realized you listed my blog on your page—thank you so much! I'm honored!

sunday mornings said...

My Mother has GERD and it's been a curse all her life. Sometimes it would get so bad that she couldn't even sit/lie down and she would be standing in a corner, clutching her stomach and crying. They gave her a variety of antacids but none of them worked b/c for some reason, they made things worse. I think she's now switched over to traditional chinese medicine and that has helped tremendously. she has to take it before meals and just remember which foods she must avoid at all costs....which actually is more difficult than you'd think b/c she loves food and coincidentally "forgets"....