A few weeks ago, I wrote about the food conundrum that caregivers sometimes go through with their loved ones, where the meal planning and food recommendations can get complicated due primarily to two things: confusing and overwhelming dietary guidelines from the medical community, and resistance from the person receiving care.
While we're still working on being better when it comes to meal-planning, we have had what I believe to be a breakthrough of sorts on a related front, with what appears to be the answer quite literally being right in front of our faces, and we didn't even know it.
SEE ALSO -->> Caregiver's Diary Part 25: Stepping Out of the Caregiver Comfort Zone
For several months now, Mom has been experiencing some unexplained digestive issues that have had her going to the bathroom more than normal.
Concerned, I brought this up to her medical oncologist at the last visit, which was in mid-March. When I explained the symptoms and told him the dietary changes we'd tried to make hadn't seemed to make much of a difference, he wasn't overly concerned and suggested maybe we should explore if she had certain food intolerances like dairy and whatnot.
If the food intolerance research didn't net us any results, he suggested a prescription for Mom to try in case she wanted to, that was similar to Metamucil, but stronger, of course.
We didn't end up doing much research on food intolerances, because we'd pretty much been down that road already and concluded that the only one she likely had was a mild lactose intolerance, which is when she started using Lactaid products.
Though we picked up the prescription the doctor called in, mom didn't take it because we couldn't get the timing of it to work in sync with the other two she takes. It was one of those "take this four hours after the last prescription medicine you have taken" type meds, and it was just inconvenient to her schedule since the other two had to be taken an hour apart as well (and considering the dosage on the new med was twice a day).
So, we tried Metamucil for a short time. While we saw some benefit, Mom thought it might be helping her "too much," so we stopped that.
Still determined to find something that worked for her that wasn't medicinal, I did some Googling and found out more about the benefits of fiber for your gut and overall digestive health.
We've kept good fiber sources around the house for a while now, but we were inconsistent with it, having a banana and berries one day, a salad another day, and then going days at a time without significant fiber sources in our meals.
But this time around has been different. We stocked up on some blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and bananas and have been consistently eating them every day, trying not to overwhelm our systems with too much fiber, but enough to get more used to it.
We've been doing this for roughly three weeks now - also incorporating fiber-rich salads into the mix, time-permitting, and both mom and I have noticed a difference. The bathroom trips have decreased, and she's no longer complaining about having to go more than normal.
It's also helped me. I've been sleeping better for the first time in a long time, and while it's still not a sleep worth writing home about, it's been a definite improvement for my overall health.
Over the weekend, I was going through some of Mom's old paperwork from her doctor appointments to see if there was anything I could put in the shredding box, and came across her colonoscopy report from early 2024.
What was the dietary recommendation listed on it? A high fiber diet.
How did I miss this? I guess we were so relieved to get a good report that we missed some of the fine print on it.
In any event, I think (hope) we're on the right track now, and that the inadequate amount of fiber was the only thing causing the digestive issues, rather than something more concerning. Mom has her CT scans next month, as well as labwork during her regularly scheduled visit with her medical oncologist, and obviously, we're praying for good numbers and encouraging scan results.
RELATED: To read my previous Caregiver's Diary entries, please click here.
