I am having A LOT of tummy troubles...on and off basically my whole60 but some days are worse than others. I've been reading up on FODMAPS and am eating Whole30 compliant within the FODMAPS food lists today. Also, using a light for Seasonal Affective disorder on these grey rainy days to see if that energizes me. I've had 2 or 3 crummy, grumpy days in a row. Grrr!
GOOD ON YOU for trying the SADD lamp! KEEP IT UP, it takes a long time to see the effects, and they come on so gradually you can't hardly tell.
I have some halogen work lights that I like to use - they are 500 watts each and also put out some radiant heat that feels good. I'm considering permanent-mounting pairs of 500 watt halogen lamps on opposite walls of my garage just to help me feel better when I'm working on projects, but I absolutely hate what those would do to my electric bill, so I'm still pondering. There's a new 1400 lumen LED floodlamp that would be much, much better but I don't know if it would give the same magnitude of effect I get from a halogen work light.
Are you eating much broccoli or asparagus? Some of the FODMAP-friendly vegetables can still cause intestinal troubles. I LOVE broccoli and asparagus, but if I overdo it, I get pretty miserable and even bad itching in very specific spots (legs, around the calf area). Example article:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/349377-stomach-cramps-after-eating-broccoli/ Do you have any odd itches or any other "feeling" associated with your troubles? I've had troubles with some really strange things. I've already mentioned I have to be careful with dairy, but sometimes multivitamins will bother me, herb-type stuff like Echinacea or Milk Thistle will get a reaction out of me, even too many TUMS (calcium antacids) will mess me over.
A couple things that tend to help:
- Water. Doing my pack of dried lime and a little stevia in a liter of water lets me drink as much as four liters in a day without getting that waterlogged feeling
- Exercise helps, especially anything that works abdominal muscles like walking, biking or yard work.
- Here's an odd one: Alka-Seltzer seems to help me, a LOT. Indeed, almost anything carbonated seems to really help my digestion. Enough so that I'm considering keeping a 5 gallon keg of simple carbonated water on tap.
- I'm still using the Orthophosphoric Acid:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S822KK It SEEMS to help but I can't honestly tell you it's making AWESOME improvements for me. I'm definitely not getting worse from it and it seems to help, but it seems to work best on an empty stomach, so I take a 12 oz glass with 30 drops in it first thing in the morning and wait 30 minutes to eat.
- I've had to finally just quit the Atkins-branded foods. These were a nice "emergency backup food". I have a plan for some other foods going forward that I'll make and freeze, like this:
http://www.ruled.me/jalapeno-popper-egg-cups/