Category: Recipes

(Not so) fun times with Endometriosis. (Part Three – the first few days post op.)

Here is the next instalment of my series on Endometriosis. In Part One, I discussed my recent surgery, and in Part Two, I wrote about some things I did pre-surgery that helped things go as well as they could. This one is about the initial post operative experience.

As I briefly mentioned in Part One, I woke up from my anaesthetic in a fair bit of pain. The staff were lovely, and were quite determined to get me down to no pain. Now this is something most FibroWarriors are unfamiliar with.

I am fairly lucky as far as my Fibromyalgia pain goes. If I’m good with my diet, supplements and self care, I generally function at a constant 2 or 3 out of 10. I know there are a lot of FibroWarriors that are having to deal with constant pain levels much higher than that. But the idea of getting my pain to zero, is kind of laughable. I am not good at lying to people at the best of times, but coming out of an anaesthetic meant that it was virtually impossible. So when they are asking me what level my pain was, I responded honestly. The difference is, that while I would have been happy for them to just get my pain down to a 2 or 3, they wanted it at one or zero.

I’ll be honest, they did not succeed, but the anaesthetic wore off enough for me to convince them that my pain was low enough to stop giving me drugs.

Tips for while you are still at the hospital

I don’t really have a lot of tips for post operative stuff while still at the hospital. Of course there are the things that should be common sense and basic human decency. Follow the nurses’ instructions, be polite even if you are in pain. Use your manners, and remember that ALL of the hospital staff are people doing their jobs. There is never an excuse to be rude or abusive, especially towards the very people who are trying to help you.

They will expect you to eat and drink (and keep it down), dress yourself (at least to the level that you normally can) and go to the toilet before they will discharge you. This isn’t them being difficult, it helps them to assess if you are okay to be discharged. If you can’t do any of those things, it might indicate that you need to be monitored for longer than normal. It might just mean you need a few more hours, or it could be an indicator of something more serious. Don’t kick up a stink if they want to keep you, they are recommending the best thing for your health.

Don’t be afraid to ask the nurses for help. If you need an ice-pack or a heat-pack , or your pain levels have gone up, or you feel nauseated, talk to them. They would much prefer to get you a vomit bag and you end up not needing it, versus you trying to fight through it and vomiting on the bed/chair/floor. Just be polite and make requests rather than demands.

Being discharged

Check that you understand the discharge instructions, ask questions if you need to.

Check if you need to collect any medications from the pharmacy. I was lucky that it was pretty quiet when I was being discharged, and one of the lovely nurses took my prescription down to the hospital pharmacy to be filled, so that it would be ready for the Knight to collect once he arrived.

If it is not already recorded on your discharge information, ask the nurses to write down what medication/s you have had and at what time/s. This will help you take your next dose at the appropriate time.

If you have a long drive home, use the bathroom – a full bladder is not a fun thing to have so soon after surgery.

Travelling home

I strongly recommend a cushion or a piece of foam for the car seat. Also a small soft pillow that you can place between the seat-belt and your abdomen. Make sure it is small enough to not interfere with safety, but enough to provide a bit of cushioning.

If you are prone to travel sickness, make sure you have a bucket or a bag just in case. If you do vomit – call the hospital for guidance.

At home

Check what time you are able to take the next pain relief medication. Write it down and set an alarm. Does it need to be with food? If so, have something ready like a piece of fruit or some yogurt or one of those tasty high fibre treats you made when following my pre-op advice!

For the next 48 hours (at the very least!) take your pain relief when the next scheduled dose is due. Don’t muck about with post surgical pain. There is a valid reason why your body is giving you pain signals, it’s to make you be still so you can heal. But we, as intelligent humans are able to make the decision to be still without having pain, so take the medication!

Post surgical pain is much easier to keep down if you take the doses as prescribed, rather than waiting for it to completely wear off then trying to get it back under control. If you wait until the pain is high again, you will often need to take more medications and at a higher dose than you would have otherwise.

Avoiding constipation

You will likely be prescribed some sort of opioid medication. One very common side-effect of opioids is constipation.

Trust me, constipation post pelvic surgery is something you want to avoid.

Here are some tips for helping reduce the chance of developing constipation:

  • Eat high fibre foods. Lots of vegetables, whole grains (if you tolerate them) and fruit.
  • Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water or herbal tea, and keep caffeine to a minimum.
  • Add supplements that draw water into your stools – things like chia seeds and psyillum husks. See below for a recipe for a chia seed pudding that the knight has nicknamed “Pooping porridge”. It’s really quite tasty despite it’s name!
  • Use a foot stool or “squatty potty” to place your feet on when you sit on the toilet – raising your knees above your pelvis helps to put everything in the right position so you can pass stool with minimal straining.
  • Gentle massage of your abdomen and pelvic area – do this very gently and always in a clockwise motion to encourage things to move in the right direction. Not only will this help the movement of your bowels, it will help your body to get rid of the excess gas from the surgery that will have been left behind.
  • If these things don’t work, talk to your pharmacist or doctor about stool softeners and laxatives or consider using a microlax enema. They aren’t much fun, but the longer the stool sits in your lower bowel, the more water will be drawn out of it, and the harder it will be to pass – so don’t leave it too long!
Pooping Porridge
  • 1 apple
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup coconut cream
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds (Australian metric tbsp = 20ml)
  • 1 tsp psyillum husks
  • spices to taste – I like cinnamon and cloves or vanilla
  1. Chop apple into small pieces and stew for 15 mins in a small saucepan in the water (you could also use pre-made stewed apple).
  2. Add coconut cream and gently warm
  3. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Allow it to sit for a while for the chia seeds and psyillum husks to absorb the water. Adjust to your preference – add more water if it is too thick, more chia seeds if too thin.
  4. Serve with some nuts or extra fruit, or just eat it as is – enjoy!

Try it with different fruits such as mango, pear or berries.

In my next post, I’ll talk about movement, exercise, referred pains and trying to get back to normal.

Go back to Part 1, or Part 2, or forward to Part 4 and my recently added addendum.

Metabolic Balance – Phase two (Plus bonus recipe!)

A couple of weeks ago I started my latest dietary program called Metabolic Balance. I was a little apprehensive about it as I mentioned in my first post about it here.

I successfully navigated Phase One without dying. Although by the third morning I did think that was a possibility. If anyone doesn’t believe that food can affect mood, then I challenge you to just eat vegetables and ZERO fat or protein (yes I know that many vegetables contain protein, but I mean eggs, dairy, meat, legumes, nuts, seeds, etc.) See how you feel by day 3. Then have some protein.

For me, it was like night and day. Within 30 mins I was feeling brighter, my headache had receded to a manageable level and I no longer felt nauseated. By the end of that day, I was even feeling happy.

The next two weeks I settled into Phase Two – the strict conversion phase. Phase Two is where the Metabolic Balance Rules come in. There’s eight of them but they aren’t too difficult to follow most of the time.

I also had my personalised meal plan. My plan includes a lot of things I very much like, and a few that I don’t. There’s a fair amount of variety, which allows me to be creative.

One of the things I am grateful for – something I became more conscious of after starting my gratitude practice – is my ability to cook. My parents encouraged me when I was young to bake and cook. By the time I was 7, I could make a chocolate cake from my kids cookbook (Mum or Dad would put it in the oven and take it out) and by the time I was 11 or 12, I could do simple dinners. I made a god awful mess when I did it, but it’s a skill I am grateful to have. (I do make less mess now, not that the Knight thinks so!)

That skill has allowed me to be quite confident in coming up with creative ways to prepare the ingredients in my plan.

One of the meals I am particularly proud of (and have made more than once!) is a butternut pumpkin (squash if you’re American) and blackberry tart. Sounds a bit weird – but it’s super tasty! You could add a bit of maple syrup or honey if you wanted it sweeter, but I’m not allowed them, and I found it sweet enough as is. I’m sure you could substitute other berries, but I would go for sweet ones like blueberries or strawberries.

I hadn’t actually planned on this becoming  a recipe post, but sometimes you get unexpected bonuses in life!

Butternut Pumpkin and Blackberry Tart

Ingredients:

  • 40g nuts and/or seeds
  • 2 tsp coconut oil (I omitted this in the first 2 weeks, but it’s better with it)
  • cinnamon to taste
  • 80g butternut pumpkin
  • 100g frozen blackberries (can use fresh, but reduce cooking time)
  • 1/2 tsp spice mix (I recommend my turmeric drink mix)

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Grind the nuts and seeds in a coffee/spice grinder. You could also use commercial nut meal if you don’t have a way to grind nuts.
  3. Add 1 tsp of the  coconut oil and cinnamon and enough water to make a soft sticky dough.
  4. Line a small flan or pie dish with baking paper and press the dough into the bottom and up the sides. This is not a dough that will roll out – you’ll have to get your hands dirty.
  5. Bake in the oven for 8 mins. I didn’t bother with weights as the ‘pastry’ won’t rise.
  6. While the base is in the oven, boil the pumpkin until it can be easily mashed with a fork (if you cut it very small, this will take less time). Drain the water, but reserve some in case your pumpkin mash is too thick.
  7. Mash the pumpkin with the spice mix and the rest of the coconut oil, add some of the reserved liquid if required to make the mash quite runny. You don’t want soup, but it needs to be sloppy.
  8. Place blackberries in the tart base, spoon pumpkin mash over the top and give it a gentle squashing. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon.
  9. Bake for another 10 mins.

Tip: You can pre-boil the pumpkin use it cold, just add a few minutes to the cooking time.

Serve on its own, or with a blob of cream or yogurt.

Enjoy!

Easy, Tasty, Apple Crumble (GAPS, Paleo, Gluten Free)

I’ve been on the GAPS diet for about a year now. And there’s been a few things that I have been missing. I don’t eat dessert very often, but I do like a little sweet treat every now and then. So now that I can have fruit again, I came up with this tasty offering.

It’s everything a good dessert should be – warm, sweet, tasty, a little bit soft and a little bit crunchy. Best of all it’s simple to make and virtually impossible to screw up!

Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

  • 4 apples – granny smith if you want them to hold their shape, any other variety if you don’t care
  • 1/4 cup sultanas (optional)
  • Juice of one small lemon
  • 1 tsp mixed spices – I like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom
  • 1/2 cup nuts – I like a combination of hazelnuts, pecans, and walnuts
  • 1/4 cup coconut flakes (shredded or desiccated will do)
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil (melted if its cold)

Method:

  1. Core and chop apples. Peel them if you want to (I don’t).
  2. Mix apples, sultanas, lemon juice and spices directly in a casserole dish and spread it out fairly evenly.
  3.  Roughly chop the nuts  I use a mortar and pestle, but you could just chop them or pop them in a clean tea towel and bash them with a rolling-pin. Add coconut flakes and coconut oil and mix well. Add some more cinnamon if you like.
  4. Sprinkle the coconut mixture over the top of the apples
  5. Bake in a 180 °C (350°F) oven for 40 mins.

Serve with yogurt, ice cream or coconut cream(if you can have them) or just enjoy as is!

Tip: if you are making this ahead of time, stew the apple mixture in a saucepan first, then you can bake it at a higher temperature for less time!

Mango & Coconut Pudding (GAPS friendly, Gluten free, Dairy free)

I’m going to be honest here. I’m not having a great fortnight (for anyone from the USA – a fortnight is 2 weeks). I’m more sore than normal, I’ve had more headaches than normal and I’m tired. The thing is, when a FibroWarrior (or anyone with a chronic illness) says they are tired, it’s more than just needing a nap or a cup of coffee.

“I’m tired” really means I’m exhausted. Just the effort of holding my head up in order to watch TV or crochet is draining. I’ve got to decide if drinking that delicious cup of Crio Bru is really worth the fact that I’m going to have to get up in order to go to the toilet later. Getting in and out of the bath is a massive effort and going downstairs and back up again? think rock climbing with a hangover. The FibroTroll is really having fun at the moment.

I had to make my knight work from home one day this week as I was really struggling to do anything. I needed help getting food, having a bath, getting in and out of my hyperbaric oxygen chamber – almost everything really.

What makes it worse is due to my current dietary restrictions, I can’t even  have a pity party and eat a packet of chips and a bar of chocolate. So imagine how pleased I was to discover that there was still some GAPS friendly mango pudding in the freezer!

I mentioned this pudding in my last post and promised the recipe, so I had to make it again (just to test of course!) and luckily there was still some in the freezer when I needed a treat to cheer me up.

Here is the promised recipe:

Mango and coconut pudding. (Makes 4 large or 8 small servings)
  • 2 ripe mangoes – about 400-450g of mango flesh
  • 1 (400g) tin coconut cream
  • 2 tbsp honey (or to taste)
  • 3 egg yolks – beaten lightly
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp grass-fed gelatine

Now, I’m lucky enough to have a Tefal Cuisine Companion, so for me it is super easy to make this (I’m sure it will work in a thermomix too, but I haven’t tried), but I will include directions for those who don’t have any sort of thermal blender.

  1. Peel mangoes and remove skin, blend until smooth (if you don’t have a blender, then chop it really finely, you might get some chunks of mango in your dessert, but it won’t affect the flavour). (CC- ultrablade, speed 10, 20 sec, scrape down half way through if needed). Skip this step if you want there to be chunky bits of mango in your pudding.
  2. Blend a small amount of the coconut cream with the gelatine – this will help avoid clumps, then place all ingredients into a saucepan. Mix well and cook over a low heat for 8 mins stirring regularly. Make sure the gelatine is completely dissolved. (CC – add remaining ingredients to mango in the bowl,  dessert setting, speed 6, 8 mins, stopper out.)
  3. Transfer mixture into ramekins or pretty dessert bowls or whatever you like. Allow to set in the fridge.
  4. Serve with extra slices of mango and toasted coconut, or just eat as is. It freezes and defrosts perfectly, so you can save some for later if you manage not to eat it all at once!

Mango & Coconut pudding – Tasty golden deliciousness!

This recipe also works beautifully with peaches and cinnamon – double the amount of peaches, as they are usually much smaller than mangoes. I imagine that it will work well with other fruits like berries – if you try it please let me know!

Turmeric drinks for fibromyalgia

Turmeric lattes, Golden Lattes, Turmeric tea. Whatever you want to call them, turmeric drinks are all the rage right now. When we first discovered turmeric root in a community supported agriculture box, (thanks Food Connect), my darling Knight decided that turmeric was some kind of magical umami spice and tried to add it to everything he cooked. While I don’t mind turmeric in curry, I baulk a little when it’s added to bolognese  sauce. However, it does have some fantastic anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce pain. So I decided to try turmeric drinks.

I found that while it won’t touch a headache that’s already settled in, having a turmeric drink 1-3 times daily has significantly reduced the amount of pain relief tablets I need to take. This equates to pre-paying the FibroTroll’s toll somewhat, so I count it as a win!

The active component to turmeric that has all of these wonderful benefits is called curcumin. If you combine it with black pepper, some heat and some fat, it improves the bio-availability (which means your body absorbs it better). I personally think that combination on it’s own is not amazing in flavour, so I add in some other spices.

  • Black pepper – as well as improving bio-availability of other compounds, black pepper has anti-inflammatory properties of its own.
  • Cinnamon – because it tastes amazing and is anti-inflammatory, and may give relief to suffers of arthritis. Make sure it’s the Ceylon variety as it is the one with the most benefits.
  • Cloves – possibly my favourite spice, I just love the taste and smell! It also has anti-inflammatory properties and has been reported to assist in bone preservation and may have aphrodisiac properties – winning!
  • Cardamom – Also has anti-inflammatory properties and is reportedly antispasmodic and may have antimicrobial effects.
  • Ginger – Good for nausea, reducing inflammation and boosting the immune system.

Now because I’m having these every day, it gets very tiresome to mix up a little of every spice into a cup each time. So I make up a mix and it lives in the cupboard with our coffee and tea. Here’s the recipe for my FibroTroll fighting Turmeric Drink blend. Please note I use Australian metric standard measuring spoons – this means 1 tablespoon = 4 teaspoons. If using American tablespoons which = 3 teaspoons, then use 4 tablespoons of turmeric powder and leave the rest the same.

Recipe for my FibroTroll fighting Turmeric Drink

(makes approx. ½ cup)

Ingredients:
  • 3 TABLESPOONS Ground turmeric
  • 3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
  • 3 teaspoons Ground Cloves
  • 3 teaspoons Ground Cardamom
  • 2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
  • 1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper (As fine as you can)
Method:

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly with a dry spoon. Transfer to an airtight container and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight.

Then, simply take a teaspoon of this mix, pop it in a cup, add boiling water, some honey, and a generous blob of coconut cream and give it a good stir. It will leave sediment at the bottom, and this is full of awesomeness, so if you can handle it, swirl up the last bit of drink with the sediment and drink it all up!

If you are new to it, start with a ¼ teaspoon per cup and slowly increase. You could also add some to a cup of your milk of choice and gently simmer. The honey is completely optional, I just think it tastes amazing.
If you suffer from chronic pain, then it’s probably worth a try, if nothing else it gives you a tasty warm drink that is an awesome alternative to coffee if you are trying to cut down on caffeine. Be careful though – it will stain if you spill it on light fabrics!

If you don’t like or don’t have one or more of the extra spices, swap them out for something else. Use more of the spices you do like, or substitute in some powdered vanilla, nutmeg or allspice or just leave them out.

If you are on any medication, check with your health care professional regarding possible interactions. I shouldn’t have to say this but – if you are allergic to any of the ingredients – DON’T CONSUME THEM!

UPDATE: 24 Jan 2019

If you would like to read more about the benefits of turmeric and cucurmin, I found this article very informative. Lyfe botanicals has quite a few articles on the benefits of turmeric and curcumin including this one on the benefits of turmeric for Fibromyalgia. Cognitune also have turmeric in capsules, so if you can’t quite stomach a turmeric drink, then it might be worth having a look at their supplements. I haven’t tried them, but in this heat we are having in Australia at the moment, I am tempted!

Cheers!