Stomach Blues
Last night while getting into bed, I had an overwhelming wish that I could snap my fingers and make my iron count sky-rocket. It is hard not to wonder what it would be like to have a ferritin of over 100.
Part of the frustration is that I have had a stomach ache that will be approaching two months next week. Not only that, but I stopped taking any iron about 5 days ago to see if I could get it to go away and it hasn’t. So… I took 2 of the gentle iron capsules last night (50mg) and I can’t say that I feel any worse this morning.
My hypothesis is that the iron “binge” that I’ve been on has further destroyed my intestinal villae and I’m having trouble digesting things again. I’m not sure what to do to make it go away right now.
This last month I’ve done a lot of reading about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and while it looks really interesting…. I have two main problems with applying it:
1) I don’t eat meat.
2) I run a lot.
I also think it is very strange that it allows some hard cheeses. They seem like they would be very hard on the system. At least I know that cheese is very hard on mine and can only be tolerated in small doses. It also seems like soluble fiber would be a good thing, like it is for most people with IBS. But the SCD people want to limit many of those sources including potatoes and sweet potatoes. Perhaps they are going for a lower glycemic index, but I haven’t read that.
I am thinking another food elimination diet might be in order, perhaps I’m being triggered by something else.
Welcome to the RBF! Sorry to hear about your stomach problems. I’ve had to stop having coffee a few hours before a run because I’ve noticed some rather /unpleasant/ side effects.
I have extremely low iron also, but I will not taker iron pills due to their toxic side effects (and since my body can’t process anything correctly at the moment!). Have you noticed a correlation between high iron foods and stomach upset? My stomach and intestines have been killing me and seems to overreact to everything I eat except grass fed beef, bison, collards, and kale..? I thought eating higher iron foods would help my body.
Thanks for the help if you have any iron insight, you have a great blog here!
No- I haven’t necessarly noticed a correlation between high iron foods and upset stomach. Probably because my stomach has been upset constantly for a couple months- since I started the iron. I do know I can’t eat spinach raw…yikes! It just tears me up!
Do you drink coffee?
I need to give it up I think. It can’t be helping