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Health / Horrible pain, agonizing muscle spasms...
« on: March 16, 2011, 03:56:12 am »
This thread isn't to discuss my health problems as I'm in great shape. My roommate's health, however, is a different story. I'd like to tell about his problems and his diet, and perhaps get feedback from the group that I can pass on.
His problems started a few years ago when he was training for a triathlon. At first he experienced a subtle pain in the joint that connects his right leg to his pelvis. Over time it got worse and worse, to the point that now the pain is so severe that he's rendered largely immobile. He tells me the pain comes as shooting pains from his joint down his leg, and he also suffers from sudden and severe muscle spasms that grip his gluteus maximus/minimus and most muscles around his right hip and thigh and sometimes in his lower back. He can't sit, stand or lay down without feeling pain, and the painkillers he gets by prescription from the (Western) doctor are barely able to moderate the pain. I often wake late at night hearing him wailing in his room next to mine, but he insists there's nothing I can do and the doctors he's seen (several types) have no idea what's wrong. All they do is keep giving him stronger medicine, including steroids, valium, and Percocet.
Besides his joint problems, he also has a serious digestive disorder that causes him to have perpetually soft/loose stools. When he needs to do #2 (solid waste) the need arises suddenly, and its quite, er... loud. You can hear him go from anywhere in the apartment. It also sounds like it's quite painful, given the sounds he makes when he goes. He's starting to realize, now that he lives with me (I guess he's mostly lived alone in the past), that going to the bathroom isn't supposed to be like that.
He eats mostly oatmeal (fantasizes about starting a business where he mixes up and sells 'gourmet' oatmeal recipes). Aside from oatmeal he eats other grains, nuts (raw and roasted/toasted), some fruit (usually bananas), and usually one egg each day. He occasionally eats meat, and he always fries eggs or meat in olive oil. He probably gets 80-90% of his calories from carbs based on my observations, the rest from protein and fat. He agreed to try to avoid gluten-containing grains for a while to see if that helps his digestive problem, but with his ongoing joint problem I don't know whether he's following through on this. He spends a lot of time at the hospital and at another friend's house who lives closer to his doctor(s), so I haven't seen him eat much around the house lately and don't know what he gets when he eats at other places.
Ideas?
His problems started a few years ago when he was training for a triathlon. At first he experienced a subtle pain in the joint that connects his right leg to his pelvis. Over time it got worse and worse, to the point that now the pain is so severe that he's rendered largely immobile. He tells me the pain comes as shooting pains from his joint down his leg, and he also suffers from sudden and severe muscle spasms that grip his gluteus maximus/minimus and most muscles around his right hip and thigh and sometimes in his lower back. He can't sit, stand or lay down without feeling pain, and the painkillers he gets by prescription from the (Western) doctor are barely able to moderate the pain. I often wake late at night hearing him wailing in his room next to mine, but he insists there's nothing I can do and the doctors he's seen (several types) have no idea what's wrong. All they do is keep giving him stronger medicine, including steroids, valium, and Percocet.
Besides his joint problems, he also has a serious digestive disorder that causes him to have perpetually soft/loose stools. When he needs to do #2 (solid waste) the need arises suddenly, and its quite, er... loud. You can hear him go from anywhere in the apartment. It also sounds like it's quite painful, given the sounds he makes when he goes. He's starting to realize, now that he lives with me (I guess he's mostly lived alone in the past), that going to the bathroom isn't supposed to be like that.
He eats mostly oatmeal (fantasizes about starting a business where he mixes up and sells 'gourmet' oatmeal recipes). Aside from oatmeal he eats other grains, nuts (raw and roasted/toasted), some fruit (usually bananas), and usually one egg each day. He occasionally eats meat, and he always fries eggs or meat in olive oil. He probably gets 80-90% of his calories from carbs based on my observations, the rest from protein and fat. He agreed to try to avoid gluten-containing grains for a while to see if that helps his digestive problem, but with his ongoing joint problem I don't know whether he's following through on this. He spends a lot of time at the hospital and at another friend's house who lives closer to his doctor(s), so I haven't seen him eat much around the house lately and don't know what he gets when he eats at other places.
Ideas?