Poop... Eww, right?
Did you know that poop is useful sometimes? Some animal poop is used as manure to fertilize plants the we eventually eat, and some people have made machines that can harness the methane in human poop and convert it to energy! Cool right?
We all have poopy times in our lives, but they don't always have to be so... poopy.
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I am dedicating this post to my nephew, Chappy, who I love so much.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in High School. I got so sick.... I lost 27 unnecessary pounds- going from 120 to 93. At one point I wondered if I was bulimic because I was throwing up so much. (Just so you know I decided that I wasn't bulimic because I never WANTED to throw up- and to this day I have a very strong constitution because of it). I remember my sister, Karen, telling me I looked like a corpse. When I was a senior I honestly worried that I wouldn't graduate High School because I couldn't keep up with the work load. During that time I felt like I would never be "normal and healthy" again. I was seriously afraid I would be sick and infirm for the rest of my life.
This is both the darkest and brightest time in my life. This is when I gained an unwavering testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When I was in horrendous pain and I didn't have medication, or the medication wasn't working, I would sit and sing hymns to myself and the pain literally went away! I received so many blessings of healing that truly helped me to heal- physically- for the times when I NEEDED respite from the pain. Then the pain came back and I was able to deal with it again. I walked hand in hand with the Lord, and he proved to me that I will never be alone. That is the most precious blessing I have ever received.
As many of you know, I still have Crohn's disease but I am not sick like I once was. I got better, and now I have one or two flare ups per year. Totally manageable. I still have to watch my diet, but I can do it. I am married, I have a baby. I have the life I worried I would never be able to have, because even though I was afraid, I chose to have hope. too.
My husband, Joe, has OCD. I'm not talking about the kind of OCD where you "like" to have a clean house, or you "must" fold your laundry a certain way. His mind MADE him perform certain ritualistic tasks, like touching a specific spot so many times, and making noises or walking a certain way. If he didn't do it perfectly he would have to do it again until he got it right. It got so bad that he sometimes cried himself to sleep because he couldn't satisfy his OCD.
In middle school he started taking Prozac to counter his symptoms. Prozac artificially increases dopamine production, which is a neurotransmitter in the brain that makes you happy. Because he was getting dopamine from the drug, his brain said, "Hey I don't have to produce any more dopamine, because I'm getting it from a different source." It worked for a week or a month and then stopped working, because his body adjusted to the medication. Then they bumped his dosage up, and it would work again or a week or a month and the cycle would start all over again. This happened several times until he was on the maximum legal dosage for Prozac, and his OCD was just as bad as it was before he ever started taking it. It was no longer useful to be taking the medication. The problem was when he accidentally missed a day now and then, and eventually when he stopped taking Prozac all together his OCD was 10 times worse than it was normally. It was horrible. But his body eventually adjusted back to normal.
Joe still has OCD and I still have Crohn's disease, but we work through it and we have a really good life. Never stop hoping. Never stop trusting the Lord and his purposes. He loves you more than anyone else. He will help you.
Wow! You have had a lot to deal with in your short lives. Bless you. You will be exalted for the way you have persevered in faith.
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