Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Lovebug Probiotics and Stage IV Cancer

Phew! It's been a while. I've been really self absorbed with the whole stage IV colon cancer diagnosis. For those who do not know, stage IV used to be called "terminal cancer." Because, you know, that's not scary at all. Now it's known as "Incurable but Treatable." And prognoses are much better than they once were.

Still, I'm 37. And I call bullshit. Get your aim better, cancer, and target the assholes in the world who abuse animals and children instead, okay?

So, yeah, stage IV. I've been in chemo treatment for eight months. And let me tell you...chemo has some nasty side effects. Much better than when my grandmother was going through it in the 70s, but still not so fun.

I'm also a newly diagnosed diabetic. So diabetes plus chemo is a side effect hell. I need the chemo, but it's delivered in dextrose. That's sugar. So guess whose sugars skyrocket? And I'm on an antibiotic to assist with the Vectibix, acne-like chemo rash that was so incredibly painful til I was on the antibiotic that I cringed when there was a breeze. And those skyrocketing sugars and antibiotics led to feminine itchies and yeast infections.

Glorious glorious day.

So I did a little research. And decided I had to go on a probiotic. I spoke with my primary care physician who told me not to wait. I saw a post on instagram from Lovebug Probiotics and said, "I can't wait to order. Chemo has messed me up so badly." They said, "Sorry to hear that, send me your address and I'll send you a sample."



And THEN I got another email reminding me that hey...I know that CEO! Turns out she is an old friend from high school! And she sent me one of each to try, not for a blog post. I don't think she even knows I have a blog. But just as an old friend trying to help out a friend in need.

Holy crap. So.

Today, I'm here to tell you about YEAST IS A BEAST from Lovebug Probiotics. Why? Because that's the one I'm taking.

So with the chemo I'm on, everyone tends to get diarrhea. Not me. I get horrible constipation. Like, I am going to pass out from the pain and strain constipation. Did I mention how bad this is? I'm missing a large chunk of colon thanks to my sigmoid colectomy to remove the plum sized tumor I had, infected lymph nodes, and some of the healthy tissue, too. Strain is no good for me. I'm on stool softeners. I took laxatives. It just wasn't working. And every chemo session it was getting worse and worse.

Plus the feminine itchies. Damn those itchies that just will NOT go away. So, enter YEAST IS A BEAST.

Two weeks later: I'm able to poop without strain. My new normal isn't normal, but this is fabulous. Itchies? Gone.

The best part? I haven't changed my diet at all, but my blood glucose levels? They're leveling out and LOWERING. The past five days have been amazing and I've done nothing different in my diet other than these probiotics.

Before I got sick, I probably would have pooh-poohed (hah...see what I did there?) probiotics. "Meh, just another way for someone to make money." I would've ignored the science. I would've been an idiot.

I'm so glad that I researched it. I'm so glad that my friend gifted me the above. I'm going to slide right into the next one with cold season  coming up and me being immuno-compromised, but I'm also gonna make sure to keep a good, constant supply of Yeast is a Beast and the Here's the Skinny for myself and get my mother on it.

Thanks, Lovebug Probiotics, and thanks to you, too, Curry. My gut thanks you immensely!

If you're interested in getting in on these amazing probiotics that are formulated to get through your stomach and to where you need it most, click on any of the links that say Lovebug Probiotics or on the picture above. It'll whisk you to their website!


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