Gutbliss: A 10-Day Plan to Ban Bloat, Flush Toxins, and Dump Your Digestive Baggage by Chutkan M.D. Dr. Robynne

Author:Chutkan, M.D., Dr. Robynne [Chutkan, M.D., Dr. Robynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

Leslie: Conquering “Crummy Diet Syndrome”

Leslie had terrible eating habits. She was a picky eater as a child, and her parents’ response had been to let her eat whatever she wanted and avoid what she didn’t. She was now in her twenties, and her palate was firmly set. Her food journal looked something like this: a bagel with cream cheese or an English muffin with jelly for breakfast, McDonald’s chicken nuggets and fries for lunch, and pasta with butter for dinner, plus Gatorade or soda. Nothing else. No fruits or vegetables ever—she didn’t like the taste or the texture. She was in her sixth year of college after spending a few semesters at home on the couch. She complained of frequent debilitating pain, constant bloating, and occasional vomiting.

Leslie had what I call crummy diet syndrome, which can be a lot more challenging to treat than other causes of IBS. She also had a vested interest in being sick, and that can be even harder to manage than IBS and crummy diet syndrome combined. At this point Leslie’s GI problems had become her lifeboat: her rationale for why she couldn’t get up early enough to make it to class, finish college, get a summer job, cook a meal, or clean her room. And she was clinging to it for dear life.

I’m not trying to make light of Leslie’s situation, or anyone in a similar predicament. It’s an absolutely paralyzing position to be in, and it’s not that difficult to see how it can develop. When my eight-year-old has a sore throat and fever, she gets to stay home, sleep in, hang out in her pajamas all day, eat Popsicles, and watch movies with my husband or me. We’re constantly rubbing her little head, cuddling her, and saying how sorry we are that she’s under the weather. She normally likes school, but third grade can have a hard time competing with this kind of attention. If her recovery seems a little slow, sometimes I have to change up the strategy. Green veggie juices take the place of Popsicles, and workbooks replace movie watching. There may even be some medicinal room cleaning, which usually has a remarkable therapeutic effect. My daughter’s go-slow recovery isn’t malingering; it’s human nature. And lots of coddling and sympathy when kids are sick isn’t bad parenting. But it can leave some kids yearning for that feeling of suspended responsibility and being taken care of that can seductively follow them into adulthood. It may contribute to a persona that focuses on illness rather than health, where a diagnosis can become a crutch for avoiding life’s challenges and responsibilities.

Sometimes patients may feel they have to exaggerate and embellish because otherwise they won’t be taken seriously, especially with conditions like IBS, since, as mentioned, there’s already a tendency on the part of the medical community to assume it’s all in your head. Maybe Leslie really did have a rare, undiagnosed disorder that was responsible for her symptoms rather than just poor eating habits.

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