I’m Peachy Keen

WARNING: This post will talk about bowel movements….so if you’re sensitive to that, please come back another day. But, since it’s a normal body function and is an important issue dealing with health, I hope you’ll read on.

For a very long time I’ve been tolerating a pain that is located under my left rib cage. It’s gradually grown worse, actually bringing me to tears. We (my doc and I) have decided that it is most likely a hiatal hernia. The pain has grown much worse in the past year and I’ve turned to acupuncture to deal with it. It was at one acupuncture visit, when the needle was inserted my stomach leapt and the pain was instantly gone…thus my assumption that it was a hiatal hernia.

I visited my acupuncturist (happens to be my docs sister) and after chatting and looking and poking, she concluded that in Chinese medicine, I have “heat”. However, a hiatal hernia is a prolapse and is associated with dampness. Her diagnosis of heat was by looking at my tongue, listening to my symptoms including my emotional state and by touch.

My tongue is pointed with a lot of redness. That is indicative of heat. I’m usually warm, but not experiencing hot flashes. Lately I’ve felt very hyper and excitable. I’m having difficulty with my asthma symptoms again (after 10 yrs) and I suspect gluten is the cause. (After withdrawing gluten from my diet again (3 wks now) I am finally finding relief from the asthma which seemed to be triggered from a chronic nasal drip…thus my suspicions are probably correct.) My menses have stopped and I’m having minimal to no menopausal symptoms. I have no depression other than normal ups and downs of living in relationship with people. My energy levels are normal. My sleep is good. No headaches. No aches and pains other than from shoveling 80″ of snow this season! (and thank God I didn’t have to do it all at once.) Over all I feel great except for that intense pain in my upper abdomen. Which seems to be helped by wearing lose clothing and not binding myself up.

In an attempt to treat the prolapse, my acupuncturist touched the area that causes me extreme pain and found that my large intestine in pushing up under my stomach/small intestines into the location under my left ribcage.  She suggested that I was possibly constipated which I’m not (in my opinion). But in our American understanding of constipation, we think that a bowel movement every 3 days is normal. That however, constitutes constipation. Technically, constipation is anything less than having a bowel movement 3X a day.  A healthy bowel function should be after each meal.

Yes, most Americans are constipated. So, technically I am too, since my bowels move once a day, but not 3x. She gave me some Turkey Rhubarb which is a good bowel cleanser and told me to only take it if I was feeling constipated. I decided to take it to see if any of my symptoms improved.

Sometimes we get into a funk when we “THINK” a certain thing is a certain thing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it repeated over and over again on these “Real Food” blogs that women are suffering from “adrenal fatigue”. It’s truly the catch phrase of the young moms today. Granted, I believe that young moms today are being stretched beyond what God intended. They have their children in every activity created for little tikes. They are cooking from scratch and working a job outside the home. They are stretched beyond reason. Some of it self inflicted and some is the need of the day. And to boot, they write a blog and push, push, push themselves to be #1. Hey, I’m happy all 3 of you are reading this today!

I only refer to that because I think we can get it into our minds that we are suffering from something that we aren’t. It’s possible that I do not have a hiatal hernia. It’s possible and embarrassing that I’m merely constipated. Can you believe I said that out loud??!!!

My point is that we need to think outside the box and truly listen to our bodies. Suppose this unbearable pain goes away simply by having 3 bowel movements a day? Wouldn’t that be great? Yeah. I think so. Suppose I gain more energy? Suppose something else bothering me, like the asthma goes away? And suppose my weight started to go down? I think I would be so happy that it was mere constipation. I do think that it is a bit more though. Gluten.

So, the question of the day is….are you constipated? And might it have something to do with how you feel? We all know the answer is YES! Yes, the workings of our large intestines has everything to do with how we feel. As I work on that issue and work toward a more perfect internal combustion….I’ll also be addressing the issue of heat. You’ll see below how it is connected to the Digestive functions and can cause acute tenderness over the stomach. Possibly my troubles are in the Transverse Colon area that turns by the spleen to go down. I’m really feeling hopeful today that my troubles may be simple to deal with.

Could gluten be the cause of these troubles? Possibly. This pain has been an issue for me for a very long time. When I eliminate gluten from my diet, the pain disappears. Even though I’ve been eating gluten bread that is sprouted/soaked/sourdough, these issues remain, plus in the past year the asthma issues have risen. That really stinks. But it’s becoming more and more evident to me that gluten is not my friend. It’s what pushed me to do genetic testing for Celiacs 10 yrs ago. No gluten, no pain. It’s a pretty easy fix if you ask me. I am not Celiac, but I am gluten intolerant. And now I know that even by soaking/sprouting wheat, it doesn’t change anything for ME. And that’s who I’m treating. I’m not trying to treat you, so you’re fix may be completely different.

I was reading on Matthew Wood’s Sunnyfield Herbal Farm about the 10 herbs he wouldn’t be without and why. One happened to be Peach! And the cooling aspect of Peach seems to fit exactly what I need right now. As my acupuncturist worked to pull heat from my body, I could feel her hands warm up amazingly to a hot state. I was shocked. When she was finished, I was chilled and needed to wrap in a blanket.

I have several cases of sugar free “put-up” canned peaches that I’m planning to add to my diet today…well, not the whole case today. This summer I hope to find some local peach trees and harvest some blossoms and leaves for remedy tinctures as prescribed by Matthew Wood and bring some closure to this issue.

Maybe I’ll kill two birds with one stone….eliminate gluten and improve my bowel function and that will improve the pain under my ribcage and eliminate my asthma and deal with the heat issues in my body according to Chinese Medicine….looks like a win win to me. It’s amazing how we are so intricately designed and put together by Creator God. There is no body function that does not affect the entire person.

Prunus persica, Amygdalus persica. Peach.

• Peach is a native of Persia and central Asia, but is widely cultivated in mild temperate climates throughout the world. It is an old European folk remedy. Upon its arrival in the New World it was eagerly adopted by the Indian people as a food and medicine. It was also used by the settlers, including the herbalist Samuel Thomson. Peach kernal, leaf, and twig contain fruit acids and cyanogens which are strongly cooling. Cyanide turns down the Kreb’s cycle in the mitochondria to prevent energy production – which is why it is toxic in large doses. Source

Specific Indications of Peach by Matthew Wood Source

Constitution, Complexion, and Characteristic Symptoms
– Fair skinned persons with tendencies to sunburn, irritation from mild heat, allergies,
auto-immune overactivity; heat and irritation of the skin and mucosa.

Mind, Senses, Nerves, Emotions, Personality
– Nervousness, restlessness, insomnia; jangled nerves from bad news; overexcited children;
overstimulation; pain.
– Insomnia (tea of the leaves or twigs before bed, but be prepared to go to sleep immediately
because its effect is immediate) (Susan Kramer).

Head
– Earache (pit).
– “Tongue elongated and pointed with red edges” (Frederick Peterson, 1905, 49);
tongue elongated, pointed, carmine, and dry (Matthew Wood).  Lips cherry red.

Respiration
– Upper respiratory allergies and irritation; eyes, nose, throat.
– Cough with irritation and dryness of the throat and bronchial tubes; whooping cough,
chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis.

Digestion
– Irritation of the stomach and upper gastrointestinal tract.
– Acute tenderness over the stomach; vomiting of nervous origin; especially during pregnancy;
cannot bear the sight or smell of food, even water.
– Nervous, restless babies with inclination to vomit from the least taste or smell of food;
even a teaspoonful of water may be vomited up.
– Debilitating diarrhea and dysentery; cholera infantum, cholera morbus; colic.
– Gastritis, dyspepsia, diarrhea, dysentery; chronic.
– Dyspepsia, gastralgia, and nausea.
– Worms, with symptoms of heat and irritation.

Kidney and Bladder
– Edema, probably caused by heat, irritation, and dryness of the kidneys.
– Irritable bladder with extreme tenderness over the part; retention of urine, blood in the
urine, irritation.

Female
– Leucorrhea.
– Vomiting of pregnancy and reflex irritation.
– Menopause.

Fever
– Fever with heat and dryness.

Skin
– Skin clammy, retaining water, during hot weather.

Other
– Has an affinity to the vata (ectomorphic) constitution; though not restricted to it.
– Loss of color in hair, loss of hair (with sage).
– Hives, rashes, allergic skin reactions (external).
– Pain (“beat up a handful of the fresh leves, put them in a bag, and steam for fifeen minutes
and apply”) (Ralph Russell, 1911, 327).

I’m participating in Fight Back Fridays over at Food Renegade. See how others are taking back their lives with food!