Living with an ulcer

I've been told in the past that I probably have an ulcer, and my trip to the doctor's office on Tuesday seems to have confirmed it. They may do a scope if I continue to have stomach problems. I can pretty much guarantee that over using NSAIDs is the cause of my ulcer. If I had known when I was younger that they would cause stomach pain later in life, I wouldn't have popped them like they were candy. We won't get into that though.

The doctor gave me a prescription, and told me to cut out caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods & tomato based foods. I think the caffeine is the reason that I'm constantly in pain lately. I ran out of decaf tea at work, and have been drinking caffeinated tea. My body is telling me to stop. But did I listen? Heck no! I drank a ton of coffee in Chicago, ate spicy food, and ate tomato based food. My stomach responded by making it feel like an alien was trying to escape.

I'm trying to be a good girl now. I bought some new herbal tea for work, which should definitely help. I'm trying to cut back on the spicy foods, and haven't touched anything tomato based in a few days. This is going to be difficult, since I bleed salsa. I love to use a combination of salsa and Greek yogurt to dip veggies in. The no tomato based foods rule is also going to be tricky. My daughter's favorite food right now is spaghetti. I have to figure out a way to still eat spaghetti, without the spaghetti sauce. Her second favorite food is pizza. Yeah, this is going to be tough.

Thanks to my efforts so far, the extreme pain is gone. It has been replaced by a dull achy pain, and feeling like there's a bowling ball in my stomach. I guess that's a little bit better. Hopefully the medication & watching what I eat will get rid of that also. With any luck, I will be able to resume eating my favorite foods, in moderation. Especially since I often crave spicy foods.

As I've looked through my fridge and cupboards this morning, I'm completely lost when it comes to what I should eat for lunch. Buffalo "chicken" patty? Spicy Black Bean Burger? Thai Spiced Tuna? Southwestern Vegetable Soup? Yeah... there's nothing in there that isn't spicy. I may have to go get lunch today. Wish me luck!