Gut Brain Glow Up

Carrying on with the current christmas theme, another less talked about aspect for this time of year is seeing family or distant friends that you tend to, not avoid, but just not see for your own personal wellbeing. Yes everyone talks about the chaos that can be Christmas day, with some family gatherings feeling more like an episode of EastEnders; but what I'm referring to is the pre or post Christmas day visits that I'm sure most people must have. These visits come out of the feeling that 'its that time of year' and the pang of guilt that comes along with it. Now, you may avoid or not see these people for a very good reason and if it weren't for certain ties or loyalties and 'keeping the peace' you may have cut them off a long time ago, but Christmas has a way of bringing them and the associated guilt of not seeing them to the forefront.  I had my version of this last week, but luckily it went ok aside from a couple of comments and feeling as though I were ...

Christmas feels like its racing towards us at an alarming rate! It only feels like 2 seconds since we were basking in a heatwave and now it's rainy, damp and cold with the Christmas decorations up. It's certainly a time of year that can bring up a lot for people, it is also a bit like marmite; you either love it or hate it. For me, Christmas is something that I find myself getting initially excited about but then this turns to dread, anxiety and numbness the closer we get. I've felt this every year for the last 15 years or so and I cant really explain it. As a kid it was super exciting and Christmas was always enjoyable, but at some point this all changed. I don't think I can pinpoint a particular moment for this but I can definitely think of a certain Christmas that was a big turning point. I don't want to go into the details of it, but I  just remember it as being very stressful, with underlying tension and was finished off with a couple of bereavements in the fam...

My last post was all about my anxiety regarding having a laparoscopy, well thankfully that's all done with now and went smoothly! However it seems not all of my anxieties were unfounded over thinking.  Firstly I'll give you the findings; despite not expecting to find anything, we did. Nothing of large concern but it seems I am now a member of the endometriosis club (yay?)! They only found a small amount, so it's easy to conclude that this isn't causing my issues, though it is good to know about and so can now help manage it going forward. The other finding is probably more pertinent to my gut brain issues, this being a very overfull cecum (first part of the large intestine) with it actually lying lower in my body than it should be and entering my pelvic area. I don't know what this means yet, but perhaps it is part of what is causing my pain? Only time will tell!  So which of my anxieties came true? Well, my worries about an overreaction to the procedure were valid ...