It’s No Yolk!

‘Living with Crohn’s is exhausting’ – what a vast understatement!
Dis-ease mislabelled from the start, a narrowing of the gut,
ineffective with sticky coatings, inflamed when foods forced through,
scarred by repeated damage, growing less flexible with age.

All focus on mental outcome rather than dietary cause,
yet ‘Oh that’s terrible!’ was the best help that they could offer.

Emotional rollercoaster, hypoglycaemic despair,
needed to find more quiet space to sort out physical health.

Stomach burning, feeling queasy, unable to keep a smile,
abdominal gas, griping pain, tears flowing unbidden.

When struggling only can absorb sugar that’s held in the mouth,
life-saving Swizzels Love Hearts have vital magnesium too,
Red Bull or Aldi’s Red Thunder hold key vitamin B12.

‘Just avoid foods that upset you’, their sole dietary guidance.

Steep learning curve of nutrition, unreliable data,
outdated, or false reasoning, and contradictory advice.
Always opinions, conjecture, never just give the raw facts,
hard to process when tired, or ill after eating wrong foods.
Need precise records, if ever find time and capacity.

Five to ten days of misery, whenever eat harmful produce,
until replace gut lining, restore nutrients to the brain.

When Crohn’s was recognised, improved without gluten, fruit or veg,
felt full, no intestinal pain for the first time could recall.

Suddenly upset, and it’s all too much, sugar-low collapse,
tired of abdominal troubles, restrictions ever increase.
Feel gutted can’t just eat normal food, or share a proper meal,
probably never eat out again, nor holiday away.

Sleepless nights alert for trouble, always one ear on the door,
endless visits to the loo, or the kitchen for more supplies.

No sticky fare or thickeners, ‘chewy is gluey’ and no good,
resistant starch and fibre build up causing bloating and wind.
Foods which are processed slowly block digestion of what’s needed,
those that are dehydrating swell up and are hard to absorb.
Too much fat just sits there breeding bacteria and toxins,
poisoning the body, the difficulties go on and on…

Would love to have more variety, crave new textures and tastes,
endless experiments and heartache, each trial bringing more risks.
Hard knowing what’s wrong or needed, discerning culprits or friends,
body has ever-shifting feedback, compensation systems.
Tougher with ingredient changes and food brand shortages,
long and painful consequences when the decisions are wrong.

Dry sore mouth, ulcerated gums and swollen saliva ducts,
painful cracked skin, split hands and heels, feel raw both inside and out.

Manage to find some respite, when free of digestive problems,
sense energy flowing back, like a veil lifting, clear and calm.
Able to relax, draw breath, take stock, not run to just stand still,
tension melts from the muscles, and find welcome moments of peace.

Mood swings without warning, feeling hemmed in and yearn for more light,
so tired now, old and decrepit, not up to much anymore.
Wasting energy on studies, exhausted in a brain fog,
try to sort out vitamins, minerals, headaches to look up too!

Aching bones, crumbling teeth, as structure robbed for deficiencies,
nutrients lost in diarrhoea, bile salt and gastric dumping.

Years of measuring and recording, research and calculation,
biology books, medical books, need lots of quiet space.
Eliminate foods, one by one, as identify problems,
first no tolerance to gluten, then fibre, starch and now fat.
Allergic to essential oil, lose lactose, casein, pectin…

Left with sugars, fluids, plus multi-vitamin supplements,
lean meat and fish, if low in purines, thank the heavens for eggs!
Whites full of amino acids, even tried the chalky shells!
Avoid fatty yolks, including buns, and careful of meringues,
though they’re just egg white and sugar, the dry powders desiccate.

Sudden onset of headaches, needle bone pain through the body,
muscle aches, fluid retention, unable to quench the thirst.

Precious trouble-free moments, dare to think things may be sorted,
manage to get out on the hills again, breathe in the fresh air.
Believe latest changes might finally be the right answer,
can simply look forward to living a full life once again.

Switchback one minute to the next, all hopes dashed in an instant,
scuppering any thoughts of plans, need to stay flexible, prepared.

Ice-cold and tired, semiconscious, chronic hypothermia,
fill hot water bottles at night, wear heat packs during the day.

Can’t digest some foods fast enough, extract the goodness they hold,
graze in frequent small portions to alternate layers in the tube,
sequencing and timing are just as important as the mass.

Focus less on logs of numbers, if need more then just have some,
no single magic formula, simply follow gut feeling.
Permutations never ending, goalposts always on the move,
living with Crohn’s is exhausting – and I’m not the one with Crohn’s!


For Graeme x