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Hi, everyone!
I’m creating this thread because I was wandering somewhere else in this forum and I found out that Ray Peat states that surgery isn’t the best treatment for appendicitis.
Now this topic is dear to me not because I would like to know what is the best treatment (I no longer have an appendix, thank you very much), but just to see if some things have happened to someone other than me regarding appendicitis.
My story goes more or less like this:
I ended up reading 180degreehealth because, even though I didn’t know, I had orthorexia and was very unhappy. I was also an undereater. I’m female, 22yo, mexican. I’m 5’6?” (169 cm) tall and I weigh 125 pounds. When I started eating the food and overcoming my eating disorder, I weighed 117 pounds.
I started Eating the Food, and a lot of it in November ’12 and, the following 3 months were glorious. I never managed to raise my temperature more than 36.5 C, but it didn’t really matter because I stopped having menstrual cramps, I had less bloating, less constipation, I felt good.
In February 2013 (in St. Valentine’s day, to be precise) I had this weird and really strong pain on my right lower side of my tummy, that eventually led me to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with appendicitis and that same night my poor appendix was extracted from me.
I used to be so well-nourished that I went like: yeah, whatever, a lot of people live good lives without their appendix, and so will I. I never thought it would become a problem.
(The good thing about the surgery was that my gums stopped bleeding as they had been since August 2012.)
Then I went on a prescribed bland diet, but since I still was in a mood for high-calorie foods, I suffered terribly without eating fat or red meat. (If someone could tell me if saturated fat and read meat are really irritating (?) to the stomach or gut, or if their exclusion from bland diets is just an extension of the bias against these foods, I’d really appreciate it).
I went on to eat more or less normal food, but then I felt good and a month after the surgery I drank wine and ate a chocolate cake and it was there where my monthly diarrhea started. (It hasn’t stopped. I have diarrhea AT LEAST once a month)
Since then, I’ve had multiple infections on my throat and my gut, my mom has given me antibiotics and my digestion sucks.
But the most annoying and worrying thing right now is that I have “colitis” (I don’t know if it’s IBS, I really don’t know what’s the difference).
The only thing I know is I’m really bloated almost all the time, and my colon hurts as if I had some kind of broken glass inside of it.
Like three months ago I took Nitazoxanide and I felt better, but it didn’t last. I think I have parasites that will never go away or something.
Please share some thoughts or suggestions, mostly if you’ve had an appendectomy and have later overcome digestive / immune issues, or if you’re experiencing something similar.
Any ideas on how to get back on track / feel better are really appreciated.
Oh, and BTW if someone could explain to me why Eating the Food wasn’t the cause of my appendicitis, I’d sleep better at night. I have that nagging thought every now and then and I hate it.
Thanks
So, some people theorize that the appendix houses intestinal bacteria to decolonize your intestines when they get out of balance. Here’s an article about it:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=your-appendix-could-save
When you have your appendix removed and then go on antibiotics it disrupts the microflora and there’s no appendix to set things right again. My husband had his appendix out about 9 years ago. He has some IBS type symptoms, though I think that happened more recently. But, he’s had other issues and enough antibiotic courses that his guts have gotten progressively more messed up. We’ve started drinking water kefir (a probiotic rich beverage) and it seems to help him. I know the 180D stance on probiotics is that they’re not really necessary, and while I don’t think they’re the magical cure some people make them out to be, you might find some probiotics to be beneficial. They’re certainly unlikely to be harmful, so it’s worth trying. If you don’t notice them helping, simply stop taking them.
I think the Nitazoxanide likely helped because it’s also used to treat diarrhea, not because you have immovable parasites.
As for the cause of your appendicitis, I doubt it’s from starting to eat more food. People get appendicitis all the time.
@Fab, sister, first of all, let me tell you that I’m sorry you’re going through this.
I can’t tell you if it was something about “Eat The Food” that provoked your appendicitis. I have never had appendicitis, but I did have a bad bout of IBS that lasted a couple of years. This was 20 years ago.
The one thing that I know that preceded and possibly was the cause of the IBS was a chronic case of constipation. I had been eating whole foods, and I honestly think, in my case, it was a surfeit of whole grains. There was also the possibility of bacterial infection also.
Here’s what I think helped:
- acupuncture and herbs. You may or may not have these available and, of course, ways of treating this are going to be sometimes different according to the practitioner. Downside was that I had to spend a lot of money over a course of time.
- massive amounts of probiotics
- mastic gum
Sister, give the probiotics and mastic gum a try. I would think they would at least help.
My opinion is that you did the right thing to go to the hospital. Who knows if antibiotics (as Peat suggests) would have helped? You had to make a decision at that moment and if you had just let it go, the consequences could have been much worse.
I am sure that if you persist in looking for a cure, that you will find it. My IBS was in some ways worse than yours. I had diarrahea constantly during that period. I couldn’t eat at all. You see my picture. I lost nearly 80 pounds during that period. I looked like a skeleton. Like a survivor of a concentration camp. I got better, and you will get better, too.
Hey Thomas,
Where did you find that Peat’s suggestion for appendicitis is antibiotics? Any other details Peat provides?
Would that even be an option at the hospital? My understanding is once you’re in the hospital with appendicitis, they take it out and that’s the only option provided.I remember seeing something on the news or on tv I think about antibiotics for appendicitis. That they were saying it could be a better option than surgery.
@AnnaB, honestly I don’t remember. I believe he said as much in one of his radio interviews, but I don’t remember.
Here is a thread devoted to the subject”. In the linked thread there are links to studies that supposedly support the claim.
Quite frankly this is the kind of shit that pisses me off about Peat World. They pull a random study out of their ass and then, as a result, some poor slob somewhere is going to take it to heart when he has appendicitis, eat some antibiotics, and possibly end up with a perforated appendix.
Anyway, something to consider, but don’t do this at home.
Meanwhile, I hope that we can come up with some more suggestions for our friend @Fab.
@YarnJess Thanks a lot! You have no idea how much what you wrote helped me calm down. I really appreciate it (and the link to the study).
And, @ThomasSeay THANK YOU very much for your suggestions and your words of hope. I really needed that.
I will definitely get some probiotics, and if they don’t seem to help, I might even try acupuncture and mastic gum.
This 180DH forum is full of treasure.
The 180DH forum does have some treasure, but we also have to accept that there is some trash. Any endeavor has a light and dark side. I think the most important takeaway is to have the mindset that if something is not working for you (like Eating the Food), it is important to step back and consider other options to get you where you want to go. I think Matt would agree that he doesn’t have all the answers and don’t pretend that all your answers can be found here or in any single source of information. Good Luck, Fab.
Thank you, Sir Lurksalot, you’re right. It’s important to keep that in mind.
I’d like just to say that ETF absolutely worked for me. It’s the best I’ve ever felt. The more I think and the more I read my journal of those months, the more I realize that the appendicitis was just an annoying coincidence, or even if it was just caused by something I did, that it was related to something else.
Or even if all that is a lie, trust me when I say that it’s better to let me believe that. A lot less cortisol for me.
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