OOO
I have been out of the office in November and December more than any other months this year due to vacation and sickness.
My trip to Southeast Asia was wonderful! It was an adventurous trip that kept me on my feet the entire time. I walked, ran, and biked the grimy streets, ate weird meats and foreign treats from food stalls, petted elephants and stray dogs of all sizes, indulged in massages, drank strong coffee, hiked to natural waterfalls, and beautiful human-made sights, met strangers from all over the world, met friendly, creepy, and rude locals who take advantage of tourists, slept in great hostels with windows and a highly rated hotel without windows, got a bacterial infection, and got a viral infection...
Photo highlights:
So the latter part of my trip wasn't pleasant as I ended up in the hospital barely able to move. My body was fighting some foreign invasion in my blood and/or organs - I knew it. Energy couldn't be expended as it made me short of breath.
Through google translate and the hodgepodge of Vietnamese my brother and I knew, we told the Vietnamese doctor that I was having uncontrollable diarrhea, pain in my stomach and all around my GI tract, and overall body fatigue. They drew my blood and ran the usual list of tests.
The doctor diagnosed me with a gut bacterial infection. She prescribed antigas, probiotics, and metronidazole, which is an antibiotic. I've been very careful about antibiotics ever since I was diagnosed with IBS as antibiotics are known to disrupt the gut's bacterial anatomy. I considered not taking the antibiotic as I started to get better before I had to take my first dose (the next morning with food).
After consideration, I felt like I had nothing to lose and that my gut was probably the worst it could ever be. I was having diarrhea/loose stool nearly every day. My outlook was poor. So why not.
I finished my 9 doses of antibiotic, probiotics, and antigas and returned home in one piece. After 1 day at home, I still wasn't feeling better - my sickness was getting worse. I visited a doctor in the US who asked for blood and stool samples. Blood tests showed I contracted Hepatitis A, which is a virus that is passed through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Great.
After 1 week of bed rest, my liver healed and I was almost back to normal. I was able to run a 5K with an average heart rate of 180 bpm (omg how did I not collapse). Another week of rest and I returned to my usual exercise regimes of Orangetheory, SoulCycle, and running.
As I returned to decent health, my bowel movements became regular... AND my poop has been normal!!!! I wish I could scream this from the top of my lungs right now, but I am sick again (with the flu and a horrible sore throat). BUT, that last few weeks of sickness has actually changed my gut for the better.
Unfortunately I don't have quantitative proof that I can easily showcase. But let me take you back to my poop scale.
Scale from best to worst:
😃 = regular bowel movements and healthy firm poop
😐 = bloating, soft poop, some poop floaties
😣 = bloating, very soft airy poop, can be diarrhea to some, on the verge of liquid diarrhea
😫 = uncontrollable bowel, liquid diarrhea
For months I felt I was at 😣. Even during the SE Asia trip, that continued. But as of the last 2-3 weeks, I can say I've been 😃 pretty consistently. Maybe 1-2 days at 😐, but the new normal is 😃!!!
This is unreal for me. I know I'm not 100% "cured" of IBS because it's not everyday at 😃. But since my new normal, I have been testing the boundaries of this new gut. Recently I've been allowing cheat meals with gluten. Two days ago I had:
- 1/4 slice of REGULAR toast
- 1 slice of REGULAR pizza
- 1/2 of a banana cheesecake (containing dairy AND gluten)
A month ago, that would've forced a toilet session ~1 hour after eating and I would've been feeling 😣. That night my tummy was between 😐 to 😃. It was as if nothing happened and I didn't eat cheat foods!!!
Feeling pretty 😃.
My trip to Southeast Asia was wonderful! It was an adventurous trip that kept me on my feet the entire time. I walked, ran, and biked the grimy streets, ate weird meats and foreign treats from food stalls, petted elephants and stray dogs of all sizes, indulged in massages, drank strong coffee, hiked to natural waterfalls, and beautiful human-made sights, met strangers from all over the world, met friendly, creepy, and rude locals who take advantage of tourists, slept in great hostels with windows and a highly rated hotel without windows, got a bacterial infection, and got a viral infection...
Photo highlights:
So the latter part of my trip wasn't pleasant as I ended up in the hospital barely able to move. My body was fighting some foreign invasion in my blood and/or organs - I knew it. Energy couldn't be expended as it made me short of breath.
Through google translate and the hodgepodge of Vietnamese my brother and I knew, we told the Vietnamese doctor that I was having uncontrollable diarrhea, pain in my stomach and all around my GI tract, and overall body fatigue. They drew my blood and ran the usual list of tests.
The doctor diagnosed me with a gut bacterial infection. She prescribed antigas, probiotics, and metronidazole, which is an antibiotic. I've been very careful about antibiotics ever since I was diagnosed with IBS as antibiotics are known to disrupt the gut's bacterial anatomy. I considered not taking the antibiotic as I started to get better before I had to take my first dose (the next morning with food).
After consideration, I felt like I had nothing to lose and that my gut was probably the worst it could ever be. I was having diarrhea/loose stool nearly every day. My outlook was poor. So why not.
I finished my 9 doses of antibiotic, probiotics, and antigas and returned home in one piece. After 1 day at home, I still wasn't feeling better - my sickness was getting worse. I visited a doctor in the US who asked for blood and stool samples. Blood tests showed I contracted Hepatitis A, which is a virus that is passed through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Great.
After 1 week of bed rest, my liver healed and I was almost back to normal. I was able to run a 5K with an average heart rate of 180 bpm (omg how did I not collapse). Another week of rest and I returned to my usual exercise regimes of Orangetheory, SoulCycle, and running.
As I returned to decent health, my bowel movements became regular... AND my poop has been normal!!!! I wish I could scream this from the top of my lungs right now, but I am sick again (with the flu and a horrible sore throat). BUT, that last few weeks of sickness has actually changed my gut for the better.
Unfortunately I don't have quantitative proof that I can easily showcase. But let me take you back to my poop scale.
Scale from best to worst:
😃 = regular bowel movements and healthy firm poop
😐 = bloating, soft poop, some poop floaties
😣 = bloating, very soft airy poop, can be diarrhea to some, on the verge of liquid diarrhea
😫 = uncontrollable bowel, liquid diarrhea
For months I felt I was at 😣. Even during the SE Asia trip, that continued. But as of the last 2-3 weeks, I can say I've been 😃 pretty consistently. Maybe 1-2 days at 😐, but the new normal is 😃!!!
This is unreal for me. I know I'm not 100% "cured" of IBS because it's not everyday at 😃. But since my new normal, I have been testing the boundaries of this new gut. Recently I've been allowing cheat meals with gluten. Two days ago I had:
- 1/4 slice of REGULAR toast
- 1 slice of REGULAR pizza
- 1/2 of a banana cheesecake (containing dairy AND gluten)
A month ago, that would've forced a toilet session ~1 hour after eating and I would've been feeling 😣. That night my tummy was between 😐 to 😃. It was as if nothing happened and I didn't eat cheat foods!!!
Feeling pretty 😃.
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