#also i'm trying to get a diagnosis for my GI issues right now and the lab lost 4 out of the 6 vials of shit i gave them for a stool sample

[weed-cat]

I HATE EBV!!!!!!!!!

[softlittleheartsandsparkles]

the ask I got was literally about how your gatekeeping GI issues, and how I should unfollow cause your toxic. But now seeing the context about how you didn't wanna share your GI stuff. (diagnosis and symptoms) I'm confused with this context. How is not wanting to share your health under pressure gatekeeping? I don't even understand how it's anti self dx if your just asking people not to ask you.

I don't know? I just think it's someone being immature. My health and what I want to share is up to me. I shouldn't be pressured to share symptoms or my diagnoses online & personally for me thats a big no when people do that. It's going against my boundaries, and I'm not related to any of you, so even this idea of people "needing to really know" is sorta silly. So I really only want to share when I'm willing. Not because someone(s) have repeatedly asked in hoping I'll share. I'm also not personally comfortable with people trying to bounce the idea of diagnoses they could have, off of me. Just like how I don't want people to try to diagnose me. I'm stressed out from my health, and the way it's going. I'm not capable of dealing with other peoples health issues right now. Let alone anon people freaking out. (again asks like "HELP!!!" and fanatic aren't appropriate and right now are actually just really hard.) Again I'm not "anti" or "pro" I'm indifferent. I'm not in either camp. I just personally don't see how a self dx gi issue is going to help anyone. Most GI issues need medical attention. Yet somehow mentioning that makes me a bad person? I just think, if you think there's something wrong, it's important to start getting the ball rolling, especially when it's GI /physical related. Different countries have issues with there medical system. It took me literally 6 months to even speak to my GI doctor over the phone, because he was booked up for 6 months. & I'm not a specialist, I can't help anyone. But I'm no capable of dealing with people vents/concerns right now. AS the only advice I can offer is: speak to your doctor.

[trustyourgutblog]

❁ Intro. Q&A with S&C ❁

❁ What is your favorite type of movement?

S: I struggled with movement for a long time. Exercise was categorized as a chore in my brain growing up. I had parents who LOVED running, yet running always made me feel like I was dying. I discovered yoga in late high school. Last year, I completely fell in love with a studio that incorporates HIIT, core, and heat to create a dynamic workout. I'm obsessed! It's my therapy, workout, community, and whole heart in one. I also love that yoga is a competition against yourself - constantly bettering your own practice, rather than focused on competition against others.

C: Growing up I was always active and involved in sports like basketball and track. I’ve ALWAYS hated the running aspect, but every now and then I’ll go for a jog outside if it’s nice out. Now that I get to choose my workouts, I enjoy a combination of lifting, yoga, and HIIT workouts. My workout split typically looks like 4 days of lifting and HIIT and 1-2 days of yoga. On rest days, I always start my mornings with a short yoga flow or light stretching. I also enjoy the hot yoga classes that S talked about above! Hot yoga is what brought us together :).

❁ What is your favorite way to de-stress?

S: Oh god. Anything alone. Seriously. I am extroverted until I hit my limit and once I hit that limit it is a hard crash. I recently moved to a really friendly neighborhood and have loved riding my bike to the library, curling up in my hammock, and reading a great book while listening to some instrumental tunes. 

C: So many different ways! As a social worker, in order to be effective, I have to be on top of my self-care at all times. Journaling, meditation, yoga, reading, walking, and playing with my dogs and cats are some of my favorite ways to de-stress. I also find that using ear seeds helps when I’m experiencing high levels of stress or anxiety. Stay tuned for more ear seed info. in later blog posts!

❁ What is your favorite self-care strategy?

S: I need to be organized. I like knowing what food I'm going to eat the next day, having everything written out and color-coded in my planner, etc. I do really well when everything is put in its place and prepped for the next day - to a fault. I tend to deal with my high maintenance personality with obsessive organization because it is the type of self-care that directly combats my ADHD brain and keeps me functioning.

C: In addition to the ways that I de-stress above, I find a sense of calm in my weekly routine. At the beginning of the week, I enjoy cooking and meal prepping lunches for work, cleaning, and journaling my goals and intentions for the week. I have a Panda Planner that I like to use to stay organized. I also feel my best when I’m taking care of myself (i.e. focusing on eating well, being active, and maintaining my beauty/skincare routine).

❁ What are your health passions?

S: I have been on and off vegan for 6 years. I decided to start it back up at the beginning of this year, and 99% of the time I follow veganism. That's a HUGE passion of mine. I also recently started cycle syncing and I can't shut up about it!! I'm so excited to see what benefits it will provide. I'm a RYT200 yoga teacher with certifications in trauma-informed, children's, and teen yoga - I'm particularly passionate about incorporating vulnerability and mental health aspects into my practice. Lastly, I struggle with physical health (Endometriosis diagnosis) and mental health (GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorder & ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder diagnosis), this has been a huge journey for me over the past two years. I am currently at a point where I manage these diagnoses really well naturally and it's important to me.

C: GUT HEALTH, GUT HEALTH, GUT HEALTH! That is what inspired the name for this blog! I find that my gut health impacts my skin, moods, weight, energy level, and my overall well-being. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and IBD in 2016 and have been focused on healing myself with a combination of Western Medicine-based medication, nutrition and journaling food sensitivities, vitamin supplements, movement, and strategies to improve my mental health. Don’t get me wrong - I’m very passionate about mental health in general as I’m a practicing therapist, however, I tend to get burnt out on focusing on mental health only as it is often difficult for my consumers to incorporate a holistic approach. I am also passionate about movement and working on my fitness, as Fergie would say. There’s something uplifting about accomplishing a new fitness goal whether it’s increasing my weights in lifting or holding a headstand in yoga (still working on that one lol).

❁ What led you to wholistic wellness?

S: I had parents who made a huge lifestyle change right after my freshman year of high school. As a family, we went vegan cold turkey (or is it cold tofurkey? pls laugh) and my Mom poured her heart and soul into researching natural alternatives. I have had my own battle with balancing traditional medicine with more holistic results. I very strongly believe in wholistic approaches - I'm not against medication by any means, but I believe it's so so important to treat the whole person and that there is no "one size fits all" approach.

C: Growing up, I didn’t think there was anything particularly “unhealthy” about my lifestyle, but reflecting back as an adult, I can definitely say that we were not a household that was focused on optimal nutrition. We drank gallons of milk and Sunny D and ate maybe a serving of canned vegetables per day. We were active, so no one in my family was overweight, but I think my parents were just raising us on foods that they grew up on (that and canning became all the rage in the 90’s). I would say that I became passionate about holistic approaches to my health shortly after I was diagnosed with Crohn’s and was trying to learn to manage my symptoms. I had a lot of inflammation in 2016 and was prescribed a low dosage of steroids until my doctor prescribed immunosuppressants to keep my immune system from attacking my colon. I began focusing on more holistic approaches when I noticed that medication alone wasn’t making me feel 100%. Sure, it stopped my active inflammation, however, I was still struggling with stomach cramping, diarrhea, and chronic fatigue. About 1 year after I was diagnosed, my husband and I moved to a larger area where I had access to more specialized medical providers. My new gastroenterologist (GI) referred me to a nutritionist who helped me to learn to identify my food sensitivities. She also referred me to a behavioral health psychologist who provided me with an outlet for my stress and anxiety. I began to learn that I was holding chronic tension in my stomach whenever I was stressed or anxious about something. That’s when I began to understand the importance of holistic health.

❁ What is your personal social media?

S: @sarahlhively on Instagram

C: @cassandruh_dee on Instagram

❁ What kind of posts can I expect to see on this blog?

S: I'm really excited to talk about managing mental health naturally (particularly anxiety), possible book recommendations, self-care, and healthy meal prepping while on a broke college student’s budget.

C: I look forward to sharing my personal experiences with navigating my chronic health issues, nutrition, FODMAPs, gut health, mental health, the gut-brain connection, fitness/movement, and self-care.

❁ Why social work?

S: It's nice to not have this question followed up by "you know you'd make much more money as _______. Is it too late to change your major?" But for real. I started college as a special education major, quickly realized I'd rather do pretty much anything other than write lesson plans, and switched to being a WGST major. I expected to be able to get a job doing advocacy work with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ & women issues. I soon realized the WGST track is for students who eventually want to do research and social work was more what I was looking for. I never looked back. The multiple directions a social work degree can be taken in, the continually changing cases, the advocacy, vulnerability, and seeking justice for people all capture my heart. 

C: I have always been passionate about having a career centered around helping people. I became interested in therapy after having a particularly negative experience with a therapist that my dad sent me to when I was getting caught in the middle of my parent’s divorce and I experienced some trauma. I originally pursued psychology, however, fell into social work when I figured out that there are so many different opportunities available for MSWs.  I truly love my job and feel grateful to be compensated (FYI times have changed and not all social workers make next to nothing - thank the universe) for serving the children and families on my caseload

[whatisshelties]

Down the dog supplement rabbit hole again.

Mud started having weird GI(?) issues back in December. They're honestly still not fully resolved, but he was at his worst late January, where he was waking up early in the morning, sounded like he was vomiting, but nothing came up. Finally one morning he puked up bile and a piece of apple. He's been to the vet twice now, with an initial diagnosis of bilious vomiting. I haven't been able to pinpoint what causes the episodes/flare ups, but one way we've been managing things and that seems to help, is he's now on a weight loss food (Eukanuba Fit Body) because I can offer him a larger volume of food per day than usual. He was eating 3 small meals with training between.

I bring this up because 1) I cut back a lot of supplements after we moved in case they were causing issues. We've gradually added some back. 2) I'm trying to slim him down a few lbs. I got a kitchen scale recently and man is it interesting to see the differences in foods when you measure a cup in grams.

One of the supplements I've dropped and haven't added back for him is fish oil/omega-3. I just can't bring myself to add more calories from fat right now. He needs every kcal from food we can get since I'm home and we're doing a lot of training.

I started looking at Antiol and it is pricey. Not quite Myos pricey, but up there. However, I contacted the company and supposedly 1 capsule is only 1.7 kcals!!! That's hardly anything. I just have to figure out what the priorities are, who is getting what, and what can be adjusted. For example, if we're on a super high quality/expensive marine lipid, we would us a less pricey glucosamine+ supplement. I've dropped back on probiotics a lot. For awhile I was giving them every day. Now we're doing it about 3 times a week or when there's digestive upset. Truly's also on a couple of daily medications, but I checked that and they're under $.50 a day.

Mud's food costs potentially went up too, since he's on Eukanuba at the moment. I've managed to get some nice discounts on the two bags I've purchased, but I don't know if I can keep that up. Also the supply issues with the brand have me hoping I can get him on something else next time I need to buy food. I had to settle for the large breed version this last time as that's what our local Petsmart had in stock (I had a nice coupon to use). The pieces are big, so really not really great for training. The medium breed is nice, but I've noticed it's in high demand and out of stock a lot. I honestly like how he's doing on the brand though, and will keep it on my list to rotate. I've been looking to try it for a while, but it's on the upper end of my preference budget wise (and the supply issues are a con.)