mariajupiter

I'm going to use my first blog to share with you all a personal journey with food intolerances. it wasn't till later in my journey that I realised how many people actually suffer and can relate to me when it comes to food. It's a special connection when two people discover they have the same intolerances or allergies. Like long lost half siblings.

This journey has moulded me into the person I am now and just recently I have been partially freed from this debilitating lifestyle.

Let's take this back to early 2009 when I first started having trouble with my bowels and with consuming Gluten, I thought it was the end of the world. I just didn't understand how people survived like this! I had gone from never having problems to this overnight! My life was over.

Well, by 2010 I was fainting in public as well as not being able to tolerate any Gluten, Dairy and Lactose. I had a shitload of testing done and it was confirmed that I had a lactose intolerance as well as a nut, corn (maize) and egg allergy and IBS constipation. And there I was 10 months earlier thinking how my life couldn't get any trickier or more complex...

I became obsessed with nutrition and with food. I studied intolerances, the genetics, where they stem from. I was requesting my own blood tests and DNA tests, legit obsessed.

I managed my diet perfectly for the next 2 years but all of a sudden it just didn't work anymore. Food was my enemy and there was no one that could help me. No matter what specialist or natural Chinese doctor I saw, no one could find an even balance for me. I was getting worse and worse and further tests came back with me having a fructose intolerance too, on top of everything.

It was not only about 6 months in that the FODMAP diet wasn't working and for the next 2.5 years I spent my time and money going between 2 gastroenterologists, 2 dieticians, 1 immunologists, 3 Chinese doctors, 12 GP's and 1 dermatologists. I also had a colonoscopy and a gastroscope that came back totally clear.

At this point my diet was a joke. Between 8-10am I would have one black coffee with 3 white sugars. Every three hours after that I would eat a green/yellow banana but I could only have four of them a day. In the evening I would eat either a kiwi fruit or a small mandarin. Every third day I would boil in water a 30g piece of steak. Hardcore laxatives every second day as I would be lucky if I went to the toilet once in that week.

My hair was falling out, I looked pregnant all the time, my weight would jump 3-4kgs up and down in just a week. My life made no sense, I was so scattered.

I didn't think anyone could want me, I mean why would you want to be with someone who's hair was falling out and who looked pregnant, broke out in eczema all the time and who cried when other people were eating pizza in front of them!?

Mentally, I was broken. I just wanted answers. I just needed to know why this was happening to me and why as the years went on I was getting worse and worse!

One day, I came across an article about how this woman had trouble with her intolerances due to endometriosis. I followed about ten different links and googled the shit out of endometriosis. At first I was confused, like how can you get food intolerances from problems with your reproductive system? But the more I read the more I knew I had found it, I knew it in my bones this was it.

I went to a GP for a referral to see Melbourne's leading endo surgeon. The cunt of a GP didn't want to give me the referral as he didn't believe that's what was wrong with me and then proceeded to charge me $115 for the visit. I had a delightful chat to the practice manager... She bulk billed me.

I found a GP who bulk billed and didn't care about me at all, which was great because he gave me any referral I wanted and blood work I requested.

After my super expensive consultation with the endo surgeon he practically confirmed I had endo, I apparently ticked nearly every box. So I booked my surgery and before I knew it (well it was a 2 month wait) I was on a hospital bed getting prepped!

He removed endo from both my hips, my cervix, in and out of my uterus, on my bowels and removed cysts from both my ovaries. A very complex surgery.

It's been 4 weeks since the surgery and I'm already tolerating most foods in a FODMAP diet.

There's two things that I learnt from this:

1. Always stick to what you believe, don't let anyone else tell you what's right and wrong for you. You know your body, you know what it's capable of, what it can take, how it should function.

2. Be patient, things happen for a reason. I was pushed and waited for so long for answers and because of that I've become a driven, persistent, confident person. I love myself even more than I ever thought I could and its aloud me expand and share that love with those close around me.

If anyone has food problems that needs someone to talk to, please know you can contact me. I know, I've been there and I can guarantee you there's a light at the end of that dark mother fucking tunnel.

xx Maria Laurie