Better Yet?

Inspirational song: Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Bob Dylan)

As soothing as strong painkillers are when they are really needed, when I am on them, I find myself very impatient for the moment I don't need them anymore. I had hoped to be completely done with them by today, but I've had to take two over the course of the day, and there's a good chance I'll need one before bed. I hope it is my last for this flare-up. I've come to live a much slower life over the last couple years, but the lethargy of narcotics makes me feel like I am wasting my life entirely. I spent too much time asleep today. I was up at a reasonable hour, but by noon I needed a long, long nap. I did make the observation today that this time around is way better, if for nothing else, I am not sharing a hospital room with a crabby roommate who couldn't walk all the way to the bathroom, so she had a potty chair set up next to the curtain, about three feet away from my face. Compared to that, this is a hundred percent win.

In my confinement on the couch, I spent some time searching for the end of the internet. I watched a series of videos from Australian TV, that made me even more impatient for this round of antibiotics to be over. I never liked killing off the good intestinal bacteria along with the bad, and this two-part (plus extras) report on intestinal flora reinforced that for me. Researchers are learning so much more about our microbiome and its health implications than we ever expected there was to know. Actually, let me walk that back. I had an idea that we needed to have a good relationship with beneficial bacteria for a healthy immune system. I used antibiotics only as a last resort, I refuse hand sanitizer out of habit, and I totally let my kids play in dirt when they were little. I've had plenty of people tell me to take probiotic supplements, but I always felt there needed to be more than just a pill. Sounds like research is backing me up on that. I'd already gone gluten free out of necessity. Before I got sick again, I was starting to ease off dairy, too. Now, after the ten days of antibiotic hell are over, I will really have a clean slate. It will be up to me exactly what gut bacteria I reintroduce. I'm kind of looking forward to the challenge of getting it right. When it comes to food, I like the good stuff. I'm totally up for a diet of mostly vegetables, fruit, beans, and peas. I need to read up on animal proteins, and how to get the quantities right to keep the flora balanced. I enjoy a good science experiment, especially when I am the lab rat. Call me weird, and I freely admit that I am, but this sounds like fun right now.

If you're curious what Aussie video I'm talking about, here is the link. I encourage you to watch. There were some new findings and chemistry lessons that were interesting.

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/gut_reaction_part_1/default.htm