It's time for one of my occasional psychosomatic illnesses. This time it's heart disease. I've been feeling a tightness in my chest, going down my left arm. Yesterday I had an ECG and a blood pressure test. I was fine. "It's not cardiac," said the nurse, softly into my ear in a crowded waiting room.
So it must be digestion related. Because I've read that angina can have similar symptoms to indigestion, it stands to reason that the reverse must be true.
Time to look at my diet, I suppose. As if I'm not always looking at my fucking diet. I have a lot of sympathy for the girl who can only eat chips. It took them years to find out she has gastro-oesophagul reflux disease and that chips are all she can comfortably digest. It goes against the rules, you see. Chips are supposed to be bad for the digestion.
Well bollocks to the rulebook. I can't eat potatoes full stop. Or "healthy" porridge. Or "healthy" omega 3 fatty fish. But I can eat hot, spicy foods and drink alcohol 'til the cows come home. That's against the rules, too.
One thing I've learned about the digestive system is that it doesn't respond to reason. We're all different. It's just that some of us are unfortunately more different than others.
Layering up
15 hours ago
One man in three prefers beer and chips diet.
ReplyDeleteRule Britannia.
They never warned us about acid splashbacks in the sixties...
ReplyDeleteCurry with lager is the national dish now, so I think it's only patriotic to tuck in.
ReplyDeleteMJ - Maybe the chip girl should try a few pints with her dinner. It might suit her and if she chooses Guinness it'd be as good as meat and two veg anyway.
ReplyDeleteMurph - Gastro oesophagul reflux began in 1963. Between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles' first LP.
Doris - A nice dhansak accompanied by a few big bottles of Cobra. Don't eat too much but drink plenty.
ReplyDeleteI can converse about any disease, but I end up feeling faint when the subject of heart disease is spoken about - I reckon that's the way I'm going to go.
ReplyDeleteSo I take it you're going to carry on eating what the rulebook says we shouldn't?
Food is for enjoying as well as sustenance. What's the point in leading a long and healthy life eating rabbit food for the entire duration of your existence?
Drink, fart and be merry!
I've got to eat mostly low fat foods because of my problem. But some of the healthy foods like salad and yoghurt mess me up. Just as I was getting into rhubarb yoghurts, too!
ReplyDeleteOh Geoff - such a shame about the rhubarb yoghurt - perhaps it was pre - biotic instead of pro - biotic or perhaps you're anti - biotic.
ReplyDeleteDoes ranitidine help?
I think I'm anti-biotic.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy with my omeprazole and all the other drugs. But some things still don't agree with me.
"It's not cardiac." Those words alone are worth a few pints and a nice hot curry if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteDon't know so much about health issues, and I totally don't believe in homeopathy, but get this. A friend of mine used me as a guinea pig patient to pass her homeopathy exams - I told her I thought it was a load of bollocks, but she insisted on trying it out on me. Well, guess what - she cured me of an allergy I have suffered from for the last 15 years. You could knock me down with a feather!
ReplyDeleteThings change with health Geoff - hopefully for the better soon.
Malc - Sounds good to me.
ReplyDeleteCubby - Thank you.
I've started having heartburn again. Which is crackers as I stopped getting it when I lost weight. It seemed I'd only fooled it temporarily.
ReplyDeleteLike your counter-intuitive digestive system, no matter how ill I am, I can always eat choccy and keep it down!
I've always ate low fat and never been overweight. And look at the mess I'm in!
ReplyDelete