Picking things up from where I last left them

It's been a while since I've had a blog. My last one was very purposeful, documenting the ups and downs of the life of a shirt-term volunteer development worker in Ghana, Africa. It's still all there at http://www.melinghana.blog.com.


It was a great way to filter through my emotions and thought processes, so, as I enter a short period of time between the end of the winter semester and the beginning of the summer semester, I find myself back in blog-land.

What inspired setting up a new blog was a very revealing visit to my naturopathic doctor. As you can imagine, coming back from Africa can cause one to want to get their body thoroughly checked out for any residual bugs, parasites, imbalances, etc, and this is what I did. After having an emotional break-down that lasted several months starting in October 2007, one that my relationship almost paid the price for, I decided it was time to pick myself up and get things checked out.

I really appreciate my naturopath. During my emotional upheaval (described briefly above), during which I had an appointment with her, she looked at my mental and emotional condition in conjunction with the physical. My weight gain is probably linked metaphysically with having all of these new burdens in my life (both good and bad). I come back from Ghana, which is very different from Montreal, move in with my boyfriend, automatically fill in the role as a step-mother, then go to school full time and work part time while fulfilling my commitment to the organization that I went to Africa with (Engineers Without Borders, Canada, www.ewb.ca).









The relief I felt just by having a whole body check-out was immense, and, I was going to pay a little over $300 (Canadian) to have my poo analyzed by Metametrix clinical laboratory. Their methodology was to do a DNA analysis, GC/CM, Microscopic, Colorimetric, Automated Chemistry, ELISA to get my gastrointestinal profile.

Lo and behold, they found a parasite. A protozoan Trichuris sp. ... whipworm. Eeewwwww, but fascinatingly cool. I can hear my parasitology teacher talking very matter-of-factly about the life cycle, symptoms, and what kills it, but for the time being, I checked it out through a google search. The bury into your large intestines and in severe cases, can cause anemia and bloody poo. My case is light, I guess, but it would help explain some things! (which I will kindly not detail for you).

Also in my poo-test results was that I am not digesting my fats very well, a danger for my liver and gall bladder, which is scary because my mom had her gall bladder removed, and I want to keep mine. Damn potato-chip weakness! The test also showed that I have a gluten sensitivity. I don't eat all that much gluten, so, for it to show up as an almost-big-deal on this fancy test makes it a big deal. I, of course, googled gluten sensitivity and found a blog called "gluten free girl" etc., and realized that I was reading a blog, and I though "oh, what fun" so here I am, rekindling my public thought processes for random people who I do not know and potentially never meet, and I like it alot :-) so enjoy!

Mel