Living Well with PI-IBS/IBS
Now that we're back from our blissful ten-day trip to Seattle/cruise to Alaska, I've received a load of questions about how my medical dietary needs were met during the trip. As many of you already know, living low-FODMAP can be hard, even when you are able to control your own kitchen, so going on this …
Continue reading "Vacation Time: Living Low-FODMAP on an Alaskan Cruise"
One of the final, major steps in some forms of PTSD recovery is In Vivo Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET). In this form of treatment, the PTSD survivor returns to the original (or a very similar) trauma site to face his or her fears associated with the trauma location. To give you a little background in …
Continue reading "So Lucky For It: My Prolonged Exposure Therapy Experience in Alaska"
The journal I used throughout my PTSD treatment has a quote by Henri Matisse on the cover: "There are always flowers for those who want to see them." I chose this notebook because, during that time of my life, I was bombarded by fear, anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks, and nightmares - not to mention the …
Continue reading "Finding the Flowers: When You Don’t Get What You Want"
On a sunny afternoon in August 2008, I walked into Dean Hall at approximately 2:54 p.m. and experienced one of the most significant moments of my life. Did I know it at the time, you ask? Nope. Not a clue. During that moment, I laid eyes on Erin Brown for the first time. Almost eleven …
I've never been what you would call a "still" person. A go-getter, absolutely. Intense at times, yes. But "still"...if you've known me longer than a year or two, probably not so much. I finished my four-year bachelor's degree a semester early, Magna Cum Laude, while working 30-hours per week and planning/executing a wedding and starting …
It occurred to me a few days ago that I haven't written one of my easiest and most-used recipes: the simplest low-FODMAP chicken noodle soup you'll ever make, or "Feel Better Soup" as I like to call it. To give you a little background, I was in a near-constant state of flare with my PI-IBS …
Continue reading "“Feel Better Soup”…and Other Ways to Get Through a Flare Successfully"
A few days ago, I saw a beautiful sculpture on social media. It was a huge tree trunk, carved in the middle to reveal the tree's "younger self" inside. It was a striking representation of growth. Just like all great art is supposed to do, this piece got me thinking: What did that tree go …
A few weeks ago, I had a dream. I was watching a horror movie with Erin. On the television, a young couple was hiding in a closet...terrified by the monster that was currently in the house looking for them. The woman was the one we could see due to the camera angle, and she was …
Prior to 2018, I rarely read anything outside of fiction and the Bible. Self-help books, biographies, historical accounts - they just weren't in my realm of interest. But then I was faced with something I've never faced before. And another thing. And another... And I decided to start reading a little nonfiction. I've gone through …
Last year, I wrote a blog post called "Looking Back and Moving Forward: A Spin On New Year's Resolutions". It was published on my "for fun" blog and was written prior to the "Cruise of Doom" in February 2018, prior to http://www.ibstakesguts.com, prior to low-FODMAP dieting...basically, it was prior to the gal I am now. …
Continue reading "Looking Back and Moving Forward: Another Year"
IBS Takes Guts 