The morning after my first post-Crohn’s-diagnosis wedding.
The bridegroom has Colitis, so we munched on gluten-free chicken sandwiches while all the other guests enjoyed lamb roast. Well, all except for the vegans, who tucked into their kale bake.
Cons: it was a bit odd at first, being sober at such an occasion. I noticed I was a bit stiff in the late evening, after an afternoon of my bony arse resting on church pews and dining chairs. Toasting the bride and groom with lemonade, next time I’m pushing the boat out and going for Elderflower pressé.
Pros: I dad-dance equally well sober, and have no hangover this morning. I call that a score draw.
Life really doesn’t stop when you give up the sauce, it just gets a bit less extreme. I work with an older diabetic who says much the same.
The band were a bit Mumford – feat. banjo & upright bass – and kicked off with this, which got the dancefloor heaving. Warning: contains YouTube.
Outkast – Hey Ya
Life off the sauce is quite interesting. I gave up drinking about 8 weeks ago and I’m not missing it at all – I’ve had a few nights out on the soda water and it’s been rather nice.
I suppose the real test would be things like weddings but most of my mates are married already. Saying that, a bunch of us are off to Wales to see the Manics do Everything Must Go next weekend and that might feel different!
Good for you, Steve – and I hope the Crohn’s is keeping manageable.
Yeah, I couldn’t be dragged to see the Manics sober either. (Sorry – open goal.)
Arf
Ta, Bob.
Thanks to WonderDietitian I’m able to maintain a healthy, albeit slim, build without nutritional supplements. Lots of white rice, white pasta and white bread, but no more vomit-a-like ‘health’ drinks.
I started on Azathioprine (an immunosuppressant) a month ago. They should suppress the Crohn’s after several months, but they hammer the liver. I should be on three a day but my liver can only tolerate one. And, as their function suggests, I have to keep well clear of coughs, colds and chickenpox.
I haven’t woken up feeling ill for months. Life is good.
Don’t even read any of NiallB’s posts, then, that 100 day cough plus azathioprine is at least the 100 year cough
Would that count as catching a computer virus?
Congratulations. Great choice to kick off the evening.
Good no you Steve. I’m on the second marriage and never looked back.
2 things about staying off the sauce – you get tired earlier and your mates start talking shite sooner.
I should point out, I was a guest. Bride was a much younger ballet dancer cousin, which explained the quantity of slim attractive 20-something dancers.
Note to compilers of “the best jolly country-pop party album in the world!”
Taylor Swift: good.
Acoustic cover of Lorde’s ‘Royals’: good.
Johnny Cash’s cover of NIN’s ‘Hurt’: bad.
that’s an anti climax !!
Luckily, I think it was only me who noticed what music was playing in the background during the champagne reception.
JC’s Hurt bad?! You blighter, it’s wonderful, unless you talk young folk lingo, after immersing in that company, where it is so bad it’s sick. Um, Daddio.
I accept might flatten the mood a little at a wedding, mind…..
You have my sympathies. I was diagnosed with Crohns or Colitis (still not sure which) 18 years ago. After all sorts of different medication, appalling pain and one near death experience (due to medication side affects) I am doing better.
For a year I have been injecting myself with Humira combined with a weekly 15mg of Methotrexate. Can now pretty much eat and drink whatever I like and have stayed in remission almost completely. Everyone is different but this seems to have worked for me.
Good man! Can i hire you to speak to folk poisoned on the old drugs, frightened of the needle?
Thanks. Not someone who really enjoys injecting oneself, but 10 seconds of minor pain once a week is a small price to pay and you get used to it.
@fentonsteve. You have my sympathies with that diagnosis. I have the less serious but sometimes miserable colitis, and know that neither my love of alcohol or spicy food are doing me any favours any more. I sometimes wonder if I could give up either but sometimes just know my willpower collapses quicker than and England football teams attack on a major competition.
Was it the pure and simple realisation that you “had” to give up the sauce with your condition and its related drug treatment, or did you find it “kind of” ok?
I had one course of steroids, which didn’t really work, and a chat with the consultant which went something like:
“So, boss, when can I have a couple of pints and a curry?”
“You’re 45 now, I’d wait about 50 years. Otherwise you’re going to shorten your life”.
I suffer with beer – I’m OK with gluten, so it is the yeast, I think – I had a fridge full and gave them all away. I am allowed champagne or brandy, but I tried and both made me ill.
Never was a big drinker: one pint, definitely; two pints, sometimes; three pints, rarely. It took me a few weeks to stop missing it. I just put one foot in front of the other: every extra day got a little easier to go without. I don’t miss it at all now. The kids prefer me sober – I have more patience with them.
Finding out that the meds hammer my liver came much later.
Food is just fuel to me now. I’d rather eat pasta and rice every day and not be ill. Simple choice really, I prefer feeling healthy. Crying on the toilet in the morning because I feel too ill to go to work (again) is not a place I wish to return.
If you want to pack in either, or both, just do it. You’ll feel much better surprisingly quickly. And every day gets easier than the day before.