20-something Weeks Later...

Hey everyone!

So it's been super-duper ages since I last posted a blog on here- for which I apologise...

I must admit one of the reasons I didn't blog for a while was due to the fact that everything was going so great health-wise, I didn't see the need to write about any specific! (Plus, being caught up with exam-season dawning on me, I've been at school for 2 hours every day after school and haven't had a chance to actually sit down and blog!)

So what's made me blog now? Well...

It has now been just over 20 weeks since I started back on the Chinese medication- even though we thought I would be done and in remission by March, like everything to do with my condition, there has been some hiccups!

So, yes, on Feb 1st, I visited Dr. Mazin at Avicenna and entered my supposed final stage of medicine...however not everything turned out as planned and the sudden change from one type of remedy to another so quickly, didn't seem to agree with the good-old family of ulcers, whom have taken up permanent accommodation in the left side of my colon. And they aren't paying for their stay to say the least! 

In fact, they were continuing to destroy their new-found premises and I was getting the stick!

So since the end of Feb I have been on two new types of herbs, which meant a big jump back from where I was. As you can imagine I was at a low point, once again. Oh, joy. 

Until 2 weeks ago I was doing good, was feeling normal. Although, I was acting too normal and made the bad Friday-night choice of ordering in a Chinese takeaway. Well, it's safe to say after finding a hair in my chow-mein and finding myself in a relapse less than 2 days later, I will not be phoning them again!

A week followed of painful tummy aches and all the other not-so-fantastic symptoms of my condition that I had gone so long without! I was straight back on the phone to Dr. Mazin who told me the amount of  Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) in the takeaway had most probably irritated my ulcers, causing the symptoms I was having. I was (and still am) really upset about how such an innocent takeaway that could've been avoided had managed to change everything.

I must say that leading up to this event I was also under a lot of stress from sixth form, so it was more than likely to have been supported by my IBS, also! It just wasn't a great week was it?! :( 

Dr. Mazin said that my medicine should be altered slightly and my doses increased, I was very upset as I had managed to get down to just one sachet of herbs a day, and he wanted me to take 3 sachets a day for the rest of the week! At first I was upset, then angry, then very low. But, after a weekend of taking 9 sachets of herbs and other herbal remedies, I found myself feeling 10 times better and my symptoms disappearing! Though not as perfect as before, I still noticed a drastic change in one weekend in comparison to the awfully painful and upsetting week I had just had.

As of today, my new altered herbs have arrived this morning, looking an awful light brown-poo colour, I am ready to embark in a new part of my recovery- who knows how long I'll be on these herbs and how the 'tenants' will react to them... I shall keep you posted on that.

After all this I do often think to myself, maybe this was just meant to happen to me. Like fate. I don't know if it's a morbid outlook on life or just a realistic one. Whilst in the bath earlier, I noticed my birthmark which sits on the left side of my tummy- I hadn't noticed it in a while. This time I saw it in a different way... It sits almost directly above where the doctors told me my ulcers are, and I thought, maybe this was just meant to happen to me.

Wow, I am actually beginning to get emotional whilst writing this bit, such a mess I am these days.

I believe everything happens for a reason, and maybe by getting this condition means I will be lucky enough to not get any other horrible-illnesses or anything for the rest of my life- though I don't want to jinx it! So, I will continue to battle this with the alternative medicine and though I get super low about it sometimes, I just need a few moments each time before I swallow another round of herbs, to tell myself that this wont last forever, because I fundamentally, refuse to let it. 

Thank you for reading.

Love Joelle xoxo