How Does Everyone Else Deal With Work And Symptoms

[Diana76]

I'm a nurse and can't run to the bathroom every 5 mins. Some days are better than others but being dx in April I am still new to this. Sometimes the abd pain, nausea and fatigue makes it rough to get out of bed. The brain fog is better but I don't feel good all the time yet. Any suggestions of how to deal?

[ravenwoodglass]

It can be really hard, and at times impossible to work with symptoms. Are you still having a lot of issues with D? If it is something that is frequent then you may be getting cross contaminated somewhere. Most of us benefit from dropping dairy for a bit when we first go gluten free. Many can add it back in after the intestines heal a bit. So if you haven't dropped dairy you may want to do so. Try to eat as much whole food as you can as that will cut down on the risk of CC and accidental glutening. If you haven't already do make sure to get a new dedicated toaster, new strainer and replace any scratched nonstick cookware and any wooden utensils and cutting boards.

As far as meds if I have to leave the house I will take Immodium but only as a last resort as I want everything out of my system asap. For stomach pain plain Pepto Bismal liquid seems to help a great deal. If you are not already taking some sublingual B12 you may want to get some. It will help a bit with the brain fog. I find Royal Jelly from bees to be helpful in giving me more energy.

I hope your feeling a bit better soon. It can take some time to heal and we do seem to have ups and downs for a bit at first.

[Marilyn R]

I'm a nurse and can't run to the bathroom every 5 mins. Some days are better than others but being dx in April I am still new to this. Sometimes the abd pain, nausea and fatigue makes it rough to get out of bed. The brain fog is better but I don't feel good all the time yet. Any suggestions of how to deal?

How long have you been gluten-free? You really shouldn't be having D unless you're getting CC or have other food intolerances as Ravenwood suggested.

You aren't eating in the hospital cafeteria, are you? If you're eating food from the salad bar, it may look like the safest thing to eat, but that food still isn't safe due to CC. And you really can't trust anything on the hot bar unless it's an uncut potato. (Don't eat the skin).

You have to carry your own lunch. (Yep, it's a pain, one more thing to do.) The best thing I've found is to buy romaine lettuce hearts, chop them, wash and run them though the spinner, and stick them in a big plastic bag. Then I add some kind of protein (canned safe tuna, left over grilled chicken or other protein (even if it's just safe nuts), some olives, chopped carrots for carbs. I pack a little bottle of pure olive oil and a baggie with half of a lime. I like limes better than lemons because there aren't any seeds. Squeeze the lime over the salad, add the olive oil and you have a good meal with protein and carbs. Leftover veggies are good in the salad too, like green beans or sliced cold potatos. And capers are gluten-free, so you can add them add have salad nicoise.

Sliced fruit can be surprisingly good in there, like fresh sliced strawberries with leftover chicken. It's sweet and tart because of the lime juice.

Maybe if you talk to the cafeteria manager you can find more options, but I go to three hospitals regularly and none of them can offer me gluten-free options. Good luck, hope you feel better.

The only thing I feel is safe at our hospital cafeteria is the sunflower seeds (they're in a shake out plastic cannister with a small lid) and the fruit, and I'm cautious about the fruit.

HOpe that helps.

[sb2178]

I'm a nurse and can't run to the bathroom every 5 mins. Some days are better than others but being dx in April I am still new to this. Sometimes the abd pain, nausea and fatigue makes it rough to get out of bed. The brain fog is better but I don't feel good all the time yet. Any suggestions of how to deal?

The other thing is to set up the medical leave with HR. Make it official so that you can designate it as a health condition where you are unable to work. You can take it a bit at a time-- it does NOT need to be a solid three months. Then, if you have a few days when you're not functioning you can call out sick without worrying about your job (paycheck, on the other hand...). It's a burden on your floor/colleagues, but if you're not functioning well, you may be a burden even when there. Healing is vital, and you may need more down time to deal with it.

I second looking for contamination-- is your kitchen shared?-- and eliminating food from outside sources and dairy. It's been a while, and GI symptoms are often (but not always) substantially better within a month or two. A strict elimination diet is a pain, but often the easiest way to settle your GI system down and figure it out. Google it, check it out with colleagues, or PM if you want to hear what I did.