Originally Posted by
franklin_m
Fight it. Fight it in the morning, fight it during the day, fight it at night. Fight it hard, each and every moment. You’re stronger than this. Each of the side effects is beatable. Relish in what you can do, and then fight to do more and more every day.
You’ve got this.
Not to worry Franklin, I am. I'm a Wolverine (Michigan, the state and school). Once I latch on to something I rarely let go. My surgeon (Navy) at Bethesda calls me a hero. But he's my hero. Saved my ass on two occasions. Can't let his hard work go to waste. And I have a good wife and family behind me. It's all good!
4 years ago when the radiation finally killed my legs, the Neurologists at Bethesda, NIH and Johns Hopkins all shook their heads and said I'd probably never walk again. I give them credit though. They spent 7 months trying various things. One ran a million dollars. Today I walk with a cane and ankle braces. And I really don't need the cane that much anymore. Thanks to a Physical Therapist who took me on. Yeah, I was motivated, she's cute, blond and 28.
But now I drive, ride my Harley and pretty much get around normally. I can even shoot my 44 mag again without tipping over.
To control the bathroom runs I have to really monitor what, when and how much I eat. My system doesn't process water as well as it use to. So basically too much food, either all at once or over the course of a day, can over load my system and throw it into a panic. And a dozen or more bathroom trips. And it doesn't take a lot of food to do it. A Big Mac (or similar) at the wrong time can really mess things up for me. I have a chemistry set of pro-biotics, fiber supplements, various meds and the ever present water glass/bottle. I have to avoid hard foods like nuts and popcorn. And carbonated drinks are down to one every other day. Main rule, if I don't "Feel" hungry, I don't eat.
A lot of this hasn't been so much what to do or take but WHEN to do it. I use to take fiber first thing in the morning but that wasn't doing much. So I recently changed that to lunch time and afternoon. Seems to be helping more at those times. Pro-biotic is the very first thing in the morning when I wake up. And any time I make minor changes, I need to go a month or more to make sure it is or isn't doing what I'm after. Slow process and some of it is still something of a SWAG. But little by little things get better.
I'm reminded of the old joke where the body parts are discussing who should be in charge. The brain, stomach, legs, etc all had their reasons why they should control the body. But I'm here to tell you, it takes an A..hole to run the show. Have no doubts about it!