New Naturopathic Goals

On Monday my mom and I drove to Slidell, LA to see a new doctor. *Sigh*. MORE doctors. I was less than happy at first because I have SO many doctors already, but as the appointment drew near I became more and more excited about talking with him. He just opened his practice a month ago... he is only open two days a week and the remaining days of the week he is an emergency room physician. His new practice focuses on treating medical conditions in natural ways, if possible. This was just exciting to me... an M.D. who is open to NOT immediately prescribing a pill for something! Refreshing.

After meeting him, I am smitten. What an awesome doctor! He spent a lot of time with me discussing my issues, my ideas, and possible tests and treatments. He even listened to my theory that many of my issues are resulting from my gut hormones being out of whack since removing my colon (did you know that the colon is also an endocrine organ and produces hormones?? Who knew?! I certainly didn't until recently and have been researching it ever since). He even thought it was a plausible theory... if nothing else it made me feel good cause no one else wanted to even discuss it with me :) He is very motivated to try and get my Endometriosis and Pancreatitis under control. There are a myriad of tests he wants to do and unfortunately they are expensive, and he doesn't take insurance. Bummer :( But I plan to do them as soon as I can. Until then, he has given me some things to look into and think about.

So here are some of the things we need to figure out and fix:
-Low Progesterone and Cortisol (consequent Endometriosis)
-Low Vitamin D
-Insomnia
-Possible hidden food allergies
-Possible hypothyroidism
-Possible adrenal fatigue
-Possible low digestive enzymes (possible reason for Pancreatitis)
-Low Vitamin B12

Plan for DOMINATION :)
-Switch to oral progesterone
-Take bio-identical cortisol twice a day
-Take 10,000 iu of Vitamin D a day
-Take a minimum of 10,000 units of Vitamin C a day
-Continue with Vit B12 shots once a week
-Take a comprehensive Vit B supplement
-After testing, get on a natural Thyroid medication
-Take 200-600 mcg of Chromium a day
-50 mg of Curcumin a day
-Take Melatonin for the insomnia
-Test my gut hormones and try to balance them based on results
-Test vitamin, mineral, and amino acid levels and supplement where needed

Whew! For those of you that know me you know I really can't swallow pills (I know I know, I'm 25 I should be able to swallow pills) so this will be a huge challenge for me. But I don't even care because I am so excited to be told what I need to take to balance my health!!! Now, I just need to make sure I am diligent and do everything I need to do :-/ I'm one of these people that am good at giving advice but bad at taking it. I've also learned that after a total colectomy you absorb more sodium and secrete more potassium. This makes a lot of sense because I am always SO BLOATED! and my potassium levels are always low when they get tested. So I'm going to be trying to cut sodium out of my diet and add extra bananas :) Another challenge because like most Americans I love my salt... especially salty french fries! But they need to be cut out anyway.

Anyone have any diet tips after colectomy?? Or tips for how to stick to a diet? I can use all the help I can get!!!