Or, Inflammatory Bowel Disease. It's an umbrella term for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. I was diagnosed with Crohn's back in July. Everything points to it, except for a test called the IBD blood test. That pointed strongly towards UC. My gastroenterologist still feels it's Crohn's, but is being cautious about it. Which is understandable. She also said that one test has been shown to not be entirely accurate, too.
I'm still trying to get my head around it being a 'disease' and I'll have to deal with it for the rest of my life. At least it's not like cancer. But, there is no cure for Crohn's, either. Crohn's is an autoimmune disease as well, and I never thought I'd have one. It can be fatal through complications, and if people don't get the proper treatment early enough. Also, the idea that my body is essentially eating/attacking itself, then plumping up with inflammation in my guts can be scary.
I'm kind of in a stage of denial. (Not sure if this is exactly it...) I'll make sure to watch my symptoms, take my meds, etc., everything I'm supposed to do in other words. But, I have this weird detached feeling about it. Like it's happening to someone else, and I'm just curious about the results. (Found the colonoscopy pics beautiful, even though they were showing me ulcers...) It doesn't feel like it's really happening to me. I ignored it for a couple of months. But, I'm also glad there was evidence something was going on. That summer was horrendous, what with all those tests, symptoms, the fear of not knowing a thing, doctor's visits, colonoscopy/endoscopy, etc. It felt like it was never going to end.
Also, the treatments may create more symptoms and make things worse. It all depends if the benefits outweigh the risks. I started with an anti-inflammatory med called balsalazide. Had to take 9 huge pills of it a day. It probably helped me a lot at first. I've gone down to 6 pills a day. I don't think I've had too many side effects from that, but it's usually used as kind of a supplement with something else. I started taking azathioprine in August. It's an immunosuppressant and mild chemo drug. (The 'chemo' part really scares me!) I'm now at such a level that I have to especially be careful around sick people, hospitals, cuts, etc. Going from like an overactive immune system, to one that's being suppressed so much, is taking some getting used to. I've been sick 2 or 3 times since we've upped the dose. That was around mid-September. It's rare for me to be sick. Normally, I might be sick maybe once every couple of years. So, this really is different for me. I remember my gastro telling me that the longer I'm on it, the greater risk I'll have of getting lymphoma. So, that's another scary thing added to the mix.
I'm kind of angry at it, too. My test results were improving until the last blood draw. Suddenly my sed rate (it tests for inflammation, and is a good indicator of remission) went up. It's the first time it's gone up since they started monitoring it. It was getting so close to normal! I hope it's not worse the next time it's tested, which will probably be towards the end of the month. Although, my symptoms seem to be getting worse again. At least, that's kind of evidence of it, too. Anyways, I might periodically bring up thoughts on this in the future, as well.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Thoughts on Kashrut
Kashrut are the Jewish dietary (or kosher) laws. Treif are things that aren't kosher or that go against the dietary laws. They're considered 'unclean'. One of the big ones that many people have heard about is that pork products aren't kosher (or are treif). There are many more laws to it, though. Many can't keep fully kosher, so they might do a 'kosher-style' instead. Ever since I was 14, I've had a kosher-style diet. No pork or shellfish. I hope to get the chance in the future to keep totally kosher.
The 'laws' don't just apply to what you can and can't eat. It's also on how to properly clean things like fruit and vegetables, keep things separated, cleaning your kitchen utensils, etc. All fruit and vegetables are kosher, but you need to check for bugs and dirt. Those aren't kosher. So, there's a special way to inspect and clean them.
People tend to think that a kosher diet is healthy. It's not necessarily. If you follow it fully, that's not the reason you do it. It's a religious reason. Some people don't understand that concept though...As I've noticed with talking to people who don't know what kosher really means. They eventually say stuff like: "No, really, why do you do it? It's got to be a health reason." The only reason it might be considered healthier is everything is scrutinized. Inspected from the time they start making the product, until it's packaged. (That means every ingredient was thoroughly looked at beforehand, too.) Some hechshers or kosher stamps on products have stricter regulations than others, but they all should follow the basic laws. That being said, the products are more likely to be safe this way. They have stricter guidelines than what the USDA uses. So, if you think safer=healthier, then yeah it might fit that. But, when I think healthy, I think more nutritious. Like more vitamins, minerals, lower calories, low in fats, whole grains, etc. As an example, you can still get baked goods that essentially have no nutritional value...So, nutritionally it's not any better.
Kosher food is broken up into 3 categories: Dairy (milchig), Meat (fleishig), and Parve. Parve is any other food besides meat and dairy. Like, fruit and vegetables, grains, juices, pasta, other drinks, etc. Fish and eggs are apparently considered parve. In kashrut, you can't mix dairy and meat. The reason behind this is a line from Exodus: You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. If you're really strict (and can afford to do so, or your house already has it) you have to have 2 separate stoves. So there's no contamination while cooking. Also, separate utensils, cookware, dishes, sinks, etc. designated as either dairy or meat. (If you don't have separate stoves, there are ways to go about that, too. But, it's easier with them.) There's a certain amount of time you're supposed to wait between having a dairy meal and a meat one. After a meat one, it varies, but many say about 6 hours. (For some communities, like Dutch Jews they only wait an hour.) After a dairy one, it's much less time. In fact, some say you just need to wash your mouth out, or chew some bread to get the residue off your teeth. Some wait about an hour. You can have parve with anything.
What I still don't get, is why you can't have poultry and dairy. Birds aren't mammals. So, you wouldn't be eating them in their mother's 'milk'. I've heard the main explanation as it'd look too close to having things like beef and cheese. Well, what about those Boca burgers with cheese? They're supposedly ok. But, I think they look more like the real thing, so that argument doesn't really hold up to me. Just the idea that it may look like something it isn't. (Heck, then wouldn't most Passover foods be treif this way?) Plus, why is it ok to have eggs and poultry together if I follow the original logic with meat and dairy? Fish is ok with dairy too, considering it's parve...These are the areas of it I haven't found definitive answers for. The rest of the laws make sense to me.
There are more during the holiday of Pesach or Passover. Depending on what your family background is, they could be more strict about it than others. There have been fights between ethnic groups of Jews because of this. They're not huge fights, but more like the sides get irritated with each other. I'm Ashkenazic, which are Jews who originally came from Germany and eastern Europe. They have some of the strictest laws on Passover food. Sephardic Jews originally come from Spain and the Mediterranean. They follow the main laws for it, and don't add more restrictions to it. They tend to think the added restrictions that Ashkenazim (plural form) have for it, are 'stupid'. So, you can see already the tension between them. It's mainly just during Passover. They also have different customs and traditions for the holiday, and the rest of the year. Same with other groups of Jews. We come from all over the world. These 2 seem to be the biggest groups, though.
The 'laws' don't just apply to what you can and can't eat. It's also on how to properly clean things like fruit and vegetables, keep things separated, cleaning your kitchen utensils, etc. All fruit and vegetables are kosher, but you need to check for bugs and dirt. Those aren't kosher. So, there's a special way to inspect and clean them.
People tend to think that a kosher diet is healthy. It's not necessarily. If you follow it fully, that's not the reason you do it. It's a religious reason. Some people don't understand that concept though...As I've noticed with talking to people who don't know what kosher really means. They eventually say stuff like: "No, really, why do you do it? It's got to be a health reason." The only reason it might be considered healthier is everything is scrutinized. Inspected from the time they start making the product, until it's packaged. (That means every ingredient was thoroughly looked at beforehand, too.) Some hechshers or kosher stamps on products have stricter regulations than others, but they all should follow the basic laws. That being said, the products are more likely to be safe this way. They have stricter guidelines than what the USDA uses. So, if you think safer=healthier, then yeah it might fit that. But, when I think healthy, I think more nutritious. Like more vitamins, minerals, lower calories, low in fats, whole grains, etc. As an example, you can still get baked goods that essentially have no nutritional value...So, nutritionally it's not any better.
Kosher food is broken up into 3 categories: Dairy (milchig), Meat (fleishig), and Parve. Parve is any other food besides meat and dairy. Like, fruit and vegetables, grains, juices, pasta, other drinks, etc. Fish and eggs are apparently considered parve. In kashrut, you can't mix dairy and meat. The reason behind this is a line from Exodus: You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. If you're really strict (and can afford to do so, or your house already has it) you have to have 2 separate stoves. So there's no contamination while cooking. Also, separate utensils, cookware, dishes, sinks, etc. designated as either dairy or meat. (If you don't have separate stoves, there are ways to go about that, too. But, it's easier with them.) There's a certain amount of time you're supposed to wait between having a dairy meal and a meat one. After a meat one, it varies, but many say about 6 hours. (For some communities, like Dutch Jews they only wait an hour.) After a dairy one, it's much less time. In fact, some say you just need to wash your mouth out, or chew some bread to get the residue off your teeth. Some wait about an hour. You can have parve with anything.
What I still don't get, is why you can't have poultry and dairy. Birds aren't mammals. So, you wouldn't be eating them in their mother's 'milk'. I've heard the main explanation as it'd look too close to having things like beef and cheese. Well, what about those Boca burgers with cheese? They're supposedly ok. But, I think they look more like the real thing, so that argument doesn't really hold up to me. Just the idea that it may look like something it isn't. (Heck, then wouldn't most Passover foods be treif this way?) Plus, why is it ok to have eggs and poultry together if I follow the original logic with meat and dairy? Fish is ok with dairy too, considering it's parve...These are the areas of it I haven't found definitive answers for. The rest of the laws make sense to me.
There are more during the holiday of Pesach or Passover. Depending on what your family background is, they could be more strict about it than others. There have been fights between ethnic groups of Jews because of this. They're not huge fights, but more like the sides get irritated with each other. I'm Ashkenazic, which are Jews who originally came from Germany and eastern Europe. They have some of the strictest laws on Passover food. Sephardic Jews originally come from Spain and the Mediterranean. They follow the main laws for it, and don't add more restrictions to it. They tend to think the added restrictions that Ashkenazim (plural form) have for it, are 'stupid'. So, you can see already the tension between them. It's mainly just during Passover. They also have different customs and traditions for the holiday, and the rest of the year. Same with other groups of Jews. We come from all over the world. These 2 seem to be the biggest groups, though.
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