Seriously?

[Crohniac]

Hi all. I went to see a Rheumatologist yesterday and I still don't have a firm answer to what has been going wrong with me, but we are much closer than before. He believes I might have fibromyalgia, but he is also testing me to rule out psioratic arthritis and thyroid problems (again). My thyroid HAS gotten bigger over the past months so I am not far from believing it to be that. Either way I got a good nights sleep last night. I am taking a sleep aid as well as an anti depressant and I'm told that it is supposed to work. Wish me luck I guess!!

Also, does anyone have any tips on giving up caffeine??? I quit smoking and quit drinking - I don't know how I will quit caffeine !!!!!! :eek2:

 

[Jeff D.]

I have been trying the same thing. But for me it's my mom who makes me give in. She buys a Dr. Pepper and of course I have to drink it. But normally when I try to give it up I drink a lot of water and decaffinated tea. It helps a lot as well as exercise.

Good luck with everything.

 

[DanSJVDavis]

I have the same problem with caffeine. I can give up pretty much every other source, but my coffee. I've not found a decaf yet that tastes as good as regular coffee, due to the processes they use to strip away the caffeine, which strips a bit of the flavor away as well. I've even tried some of the more expensive whole bean decaf's out there to no avail.

Alton Brown of Good Eats explains why in his coffee episode, where he states that the decaf process costs the companies a decent chunk of change so as a result, to keep the coffee cost on par with regular coffee they have to use a lower quality bean. Add the process of stripping the caffeine, which strips some of the flavor as well and you end up with a coffee with both inferior flavor and body than regular coffee.

So I agree with him on this one; until they come up with a better way of taking out the caffeine that doesn't kill the flavor of the coffee or make it cost prohibitively too much, I'm sticking with my regular coffee. And I only really drink 3 cups a day (a far cry from my 6+ I used to drink) and no other caffeine sources except maybe decaf iced tea (which still has a miniscule amount of caffeine in it, as does decaf coffee).

 

[D Bergy]

I would research Lyme disease as a possibility at www.lyment.org. Compare your symptoms to people on the forum. Fibromyalgia is a pretty vague diagnosis if that is the conclusion the doctor comes to.

A dose of antibiotics, either pharmaceutical or natural will produce a Herxheimer reaction if this is indeed Lyme.

Just a concerned Cronie. Take care of yourself.

D Bergy

 

[Sojourn]

I don't know how I would quit caffeine either. In the afternoon, I either have to take a nap or drink a couple of cups of coffee or tea.

I wish I could give you some advice on your other challenges but I'm completely unfamiliar with most of what you mentioned. But sleep is important and maybe that will help everything if you can start sleeping well every night.

 

[Crohniac]

D Bergy- Could you explain to me what a Herxheimer Reaction is? You have peaked my interest...

 

[Crohniac]

OK, I just researched it myself....sounds fun!!! Not!!:tongue:

 

[D Bergy]

No it is not much fun, but it is the most reliable test for the Lyme spirochete that I am aware of. This is not what the doctor would tell you, but this disease is poorly understood and I go by what works and not what is approved.

I hope you figure it all out. A good diagnosis is most difficult to get sometimes.

Best Regards

D Bergy

 

[Shoeless]

I have not been able to fully give up caffine.To tough if there was an easy way I would do it. But I just Love my Diet Mt. Dew too much

 

[old hat]

I would research Lyme disease as a possibility at www.lyment.org. D Bergy

That link takes me to some sort of ad site.

 

[Kev]

I was a total caffeine-a-holic. Growing up in the country, travelling quite a distance to school. making my own lunches due to my mom's health issues, I started drinking coffee at a fairly early age.. like 12. dozen cups or more a day was my routine until I became ill. As for flavour, I've never found a cafe, restaurant, or coffee shop that can make coffee like I do... so, cutting back on caffiene was a real challange for me. The good news? A restaurant manager acquaintance told me of a high quality, low cost decaf... tried it and loved it. however, it didn't quite taste the same as my usual. so I conditioned myself to the change. How? I tapered off the 'real' stuff slowly.. by mixing slowly decreasing amts of 'real' coffee with the 'decaf'.. like 4:1, then 3:2.. etc, etc.. Weaned myself off the real stuff... fortunately, my 'decaf' still tastes better than Starbuck, T.H. or any of the other coffee shop stuff that I may occasionally try while on the road working a case.
I would toss out the following adviso... totally anecdotal.. Vaguely recall reading that decaf is not caffeine free.. heard is was equiv to about 50%... not miniscule..
could be wrong on that, but I have cut back to 4 or less cups of decaf coffee a day.
Even less if I'm severely symptomatic... as for tea, which is harder to get right than coffee, I experimented with various decaf blends till I found one that matches the local water supply... good tea is so variable, it really all boils down to what the water is like.. and the same anecdotal proviso holds, it isn't caffee free either.

 

[DanSJVDavis]

Vaguely recall reading that decaf is not caffeine free.. heard is was equiv to about 50%... not miniscule..

The process must have come a long way in a short time. Normal coffee caffeine content is around 80-130 mg for an 8 oz cup while decaf is around 3-4 mg by comparison.

I've got a Tetley decaf tea that registers in at 4 mg of caffeine per cup.

As an aside, Rooibos tea is naturally caffeine free and tastes pretty good and supposed to be pretty good for you too.

 

[D Bergy]

Sorry, the site should have been www.lymenet.org

I fat fingered it.

D Bergy

 

[old hat]

Be careful looking for Lyme Disease information on the internet. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15626946&dopt=Citation
Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2004 Dec;23(12):1105-8.

Inaccurate information about lyme disease on the internet.

Cooper JD, Feder HM.

University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA.

OBJECTIVE: Patients and families searching the Internet about Lyme disease may find conflicting information. Our purpose was to review the accuracy of information on Lyme disease easily available on the Internet. METHODS: We used 15 search engines to find general information about Lyme disease. We found 251 Lyme disease websites, which we reviewed. Of these 251 websites, 19 gave general Lyme disease information and were analyzed. We evaluated the accuracy of information concerning 8 Lyme disease topics. RESULTS: Ten of the 19 websites gave accurate information and 9 of the 19 websites provided inaccurate information. There were 8 websites with the word "Lyme" in the domain name, and 7 of the 8 sites gave inaccurate information. There were 2 ".gov" websites, and both gave accurate information. CONCLUSIONS: Patients and families searching the Internet for medical information about Lyme disease may encounter inaccurate information.

 

[old hat]

Here is one good website with solid, reliable information.

The American Lyme Disease Foundation
http://www.aldf.com/index.shtml

 

[Kev]

Wellll, perhaps not so 'short' a time.. Info came from a medical book given as a gift by my grandmother.. ( A WW I nurse who wanted a doctor in the family, which didn't turn out to be yours truly).. now more than 40 years out of date. Time flies, don't it?

 

[DanSJVDavis]

Time flies, don't it?

Why yes, yes it does. Seems like just yesterday I was watching Popeye and Woody Woodpecker over a bowl of Kix...wait...that was yesterday...man, I need to grow up.

:ybatty: :mario2:

 

[Kev]

Which raises the question.. "What were woody and popeye doing over the bowl of kix? Don't tell me they have crohns too? And, have you ever tried popeyes bedtime snack? olive oil on spinach?"

 

[DanSJVDavis]

have you ever tried popeyes bedtime snack? olive oil on spinach?

heh! You sure that's not the other way around?

What were woody and popeye doing over the bowl of kix

You don't wanna know, but it did put me off my breakfast.

Might be headed into Lounge territory fore too long. heh!