Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Ugh!!! I am totally grossed out!!!

Over the past year I have struggled with the allergies, the food restrictions due to gluten and corn, the itching, the lack of energy, the gastro-intestinal problems, and the muscle and joint issues that a normal healthy person should not have to deal with. The family practice doctor could not figure it out, the allergist could not figure it out, so I decided that it was time to visit a registered dietitian and figure out what my food intolerances were and how to deal with them.

I found out that I have intestinal parasites.

WORMS!!!

It seems that the onset may have been as long ago as the spring of 2003 when I did a triathlon in Florida. I remember having horrible gastro intestinal problems after that race that lasted for almost a year and a half. When I was training for IMAZ, I went on the Paleo Diet and a lot of the issues disappeared because I was not consuming dairy products and grains. It seems that the straw that broke the camel's back was when I had knee surgery in the fall of 2006 because I have a sensitivity to anesthesia and it somehow triggered something in my body and the pesky parasites have been having a rave in my intestines ever since and wreaking havoc on my adrenal glands and my spleen. I thought that I was loosing my mind at times trying to explain to doctors and my family what I was going through and many times I felt like people thought I was nuts so I just tended to keep my mouth shut and just suffered through the gas, bloating, nausea, headaches, hives, fatigue, and craving for sugar.

I am now taking stuff to get rid of my little friends who are no longer welcome to live in my intestines. I will be on two rounds of the parasite eradicator, 10 days on/ 5 days off. During that time I cannot have any sugar. That means no alcohol, no fruit, no dairy, no gels, no juice, no sports drinks, as well as no gluten. After my worms are gone, I will be able to reintroduce fruit back into the diet but it looks like dairy may be out for good because I have a high sensitivity to casein in dairy products which is what they are pushing in that Activa yogurt in the commercials.

Please keep me in your prayers that I don't kill someone as I detox and break my addiction to chocolate and that I will start feeling better as I purge the worms and parasites.

Oh, I came in 5th in my age group at the Rockets Run with an official time of 24:12. At least that is good news!

Later Gators,

Liz

10 comments:

LittleRachet said...

You poor thing!!!! *shivers* At least you now know the real cause and can get it taken care of!!! Good luck - I'll eat your share of sugar for you....

The Lazy Triathlete said...

UCK!!! Just get those pesky buggers out of your system.

TNTcoach Ken said...

Oh my God!!! No alcohol, I mean you have WORMS!!!!! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I always thought alcohol killed most of that stuff, drink more! Okay, on a serious tip, get them out of you so you'll be back to Super Liz....

Luke Valdez said...

That sounds pleasant =(. The ride on Saturday was great. They have done a decent job of cleaning up after IKE. I hope the recuiting picks up for you and I hope you feel better soon. No alcohol sucks.

Runner Leana said...

Oh no! At least you have finally found an answer, even if it is a gross one. Good luck getting those little buggers our of your system,and hope you feel better soon!

Anonymous said...

All of your symptoms sound frightening familiar and I have yet to find an explanation for my ailments. Reading your post is making me wonder if I might possibly have the same thing. How did you get diagnosed?

greyhound said...

Uhm, ... eww.

**note to self** Avoid Liz until rages are over.

Ryan said...

I had worms once...but those were ingested with too much tequila!



Best wishes.

Eric said...

Good luck with the parasites. Doesn't sound like fun AT ALL!!!

Spokane Al said...

Wow - that does not sound good. On the positive side I am glad that the doctors finally figured out the cause, so you can get fixed and will soon be back to 100 percent.

Take care.