I'm an AVEENO ambassador. I received free product and compensation for this activity. Any opinions expressed are my own.
I’ve been selected as an AVEENO ambassador for the 4th year in a row. I couldn’t be happier. I love representing a brand that does more than just make great products. I was asked to take the #AveenoDailyChallenge. I’m going to be using AVEENO Daily Moisturizing lotion for 3 weeks. I was also asked to choose another healthy challenge. There were lots of ideas an options but I chose to take the challenge of drinking 8 glasses of water a day for 3 weeks. I’ll also be featured on Aveeno’s facebook page, along with other bloggers who are taking the challenge.
We all know we should be drinking more water but for me, this challenge is a little more personal. I’ve been trying to find the guts to write about this as the subject is a little sensitive for me. I was raised to be a lady and not talk about such things. But I know others are dealing with what I’m dealing with. Just a warning, there is “bathroom talk” here so if you’d rather not read about it, go ahead and check out one of my other posts or enter a giveaway while you’re here. I won’t be offended. Here it goes..
After the birth of my 3rd son, I started noticing changes in my body. I started having what I liked to call “bad belly days”. I would get bloated, crampy, gassy, just down right uncomfortable. It was manageable at first but I knew that the amount I was experiencing it, something was wrong. I dealt with it and doctored myself for sometime with minimal improvement. Really I was just making it through. After about a year or so of this, it started to become more frequent and a little more inconvenient. So I finally decided to go to a gastroenterologist. They did a colonoscopy and told me I had mild colitis. I didn’t feel like it was mild anything. It was effecting my every day life. They tried me on some pills but all they did was make me feel even more bloated and uncomfortable. So I was kind of frustrated and started looking for answer myself. In the mean time, my issues got worse to where I was having…..let’s just say…frequent bathroom visits. So I started taking immodium on a daily basis to make it through work and the kids activities. I started talking to close friends and trusted coworkers. I found out my one friend’s husband has had similar issues for years. Still no diagnoses. He had been to the specialists in our town and in Pittsburgh. The labeled him with IBS but his issues were so bad he had to go on disability.
I had lots of suggestions, “maybe you’re gluten intolerant” , “Maybe you’re lactose intolerant”, “Try staying away from acidic foods” etc. Nothing really helped. My doctor put me through all kinds of tests. I did not have Celiac’s disease, I did not have any obstructions, no ulcers, etc. So again I was frustrated. Nothing seemed to help. I was to the point that I had to avoid going places if I didn’t think there was going to be a bathroom. I know some of my coworkers think I’m flaky because I’d be talking to them or working with them with a patient and have to run into the bathroom in a hurry. It wasn’t really something I wanted to talk about. I’d rather they think I’m flaky then to have to talk to them about my “issues”. Then right around Christmas this past year my symptoms got really bad. To the point that I would double over in pain from cramps and I started bleeding. I went to the ER the one time. They told me they did find blood but all test were normal: my H&H (blood levels) were fine so they said even though I was losing blood my body was replacing it fast enough. So I went to another specialist after that ER visit. He did yet another test. But this one yielded results. I finally had a diagnoses, Ulcerative Colitis.
I was relieved to finally have a diagnoses and a treatment plan. I started 2 different medications and they’re starting to help some. I’m hoping to see more results with time though. I’ve been reading everything I can about ways to help myself. Avoiding things like soda and coffee which is hard because I love them. Drinking more water (this is where the challenge comes into play) and seeking support and suggestions from other that are or have experienced the same thing. Ulcerative Colitis is chronic so it is something I have to learn how to manage. One coworker told me her friend has it and she swears by drinking a gallon of lemon water a day and says it’s really helped her. I could totally do that.
So there’s several reasons for this post:
1. One to let you know I’m taking the #AveenoDailyChallenge
2. To ask you to hold me accountable for the challenge maybe even encouragement. Leave comments here, on facebook, twitter, wherever to see if I’m drinking my water.
3. To finally take some weight off my shoulders and share my personal experience and perhaps let someone else out there know that they’re not alone.
I’d love it if you could stop by my featured picture on AVEENO’s facebook page and throw me a like or comment to get me even more motivated:
As an AVEENO ambassador I received free product and compensation for this post.
Regardless I only post about legitimate companies and trusted sites.
