Sometimes you have to listen to your gut.
Reid Kimball
Documentary filmmaker and game design consultant. http://crohnsend.com/ http://game.rbkdesign.com/
Homepage: http://crohnsend.com/
Posts by Reid Kimball
About Low-dose Naltrexone
Apr 6th
Low-dose Naltrexone is the use of Naltrexone in low doses to block endorphin receptors for a few hours, usually while sleeping. This causes a chain reaction in which the body produces extra endorphins to make up for the block.
This extra production of endorphins appears to be important in improving immune function and stimulating repair of the mucosa layer in the intestines [1].
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Health Industry Akin to the Inquisition
Apr 4th
“The medical establishment today reminds me of the Catholic Church in the days of the Inquisition, rigid, all-knowing, and yet with compassion for no one. Yes, there are still good and even great individual physicians, but their hands are ligatured by politics.”
-Donna Beales
Health Update – March 2012
Mar 31st
My last update was December 29th, 2011. I am long overdue in letting you all know how I am doing.
Since then, my bowel movements have been up and down, like a roller coaster. One week I’d have 1 to 3 movements of diarrhea then the next I would have solid bowel movements (BMs). I have found that eating homemade fermented yogurt, as usual is what helps me a lot.
I also experimented with Low-dose Naltrexone a little. I think it helped me enjoy all the bad food during Christmas, but eventually it was too much for the LDN to help. That’s when the roller coaster of symptoms started. Soon after the start of the symptoms, I ran out of LDN.
Then a month later I had a research study to participate in that required I eat food according to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. After I finished sending my last stool sample to the study, I got back on LDN. For the month of March I did fantastically well.
Though, on March 28th I had a couple bouts of diarrhea and then the next day I was back to normal and have been since.
I’ve been very happy with the LDN. I have not had any changes in my sleep either positive or negative that I have noticed. My skin however, is really clear, something to celebrate on its own for me as I have struggled with acne since a teen. I believe my acne and crohn’s are related to intestinal permeability.
When I had the D on the 28th, I didn’t panic at all. I had looked at my data and found that I was steadily making improvements over the long term. When I look at the long term improvements, a setback on a given day doesn’t bother me. It will have to be weeks of daily setbacks to change the direction my health is headed in before I start to worry. It’s important to see the long term trends and not the daily roller coaster ride.
Fart Facts Infographic
Mar 18th
IBD Talk 02.12.2012
Feb 12th
A doctor prescribing an NSAID for an IBD patient needs to have their head examined by someone other than their own ass.
A doctor prescribing an NSAID for an IBD patient needs to have their head examined by someone other than their own ass.
SOURCE: Wikipedia.org
IBD Talk are posts featuring the random online writings of director Reid B. Kimball as he talks to others about inflammatory bowel disease and the use of effective, alternative natural treatments for them.
Announcing Film Production Goal
Jan 20th
Like many of you, I am eagerly awaiting when my documentary will be done. I can’t wait until I can share it with the world!
So many of you have given me much needed support in terms of time, money, and information. The real pay off will be when you get to see the finished film!
It’s taken me about two years to develop the film. A huge challenge for me has been figuring how to structure all the interviews and other footage I gathered into a story arc. Neal Miller is a local film producer and he came up with a great story arc for my documentary.
I believe that with this story arc, I have done most of the filming I need and have decided to give myself one more year of development on the film.
It is my goal to have the film finished before the end of 2012!
Here’s hoping I do just that.
It Feels Like Tetris
Jan 13th
Among my video game design colleagues is an Italian word we use often called “fiero”. It describes the sudden rush of happiness we feel when we triumph over adversity.
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GITracked Looking for Testers
Jan 11th
Tracking data about my GI symptoms and overall health is one of the most effective tools in improving my health. Though, half the battle is finding the time and easy to use interface to input the data I want to capture. The other half is analyzing that data to create meaningful insights and practical steps to act on.
Ari Goldsmith, a strong supporter of WANTED: Crohn’s End, developed software to allow you to track your GI symptoms using your cell phone and text messaging (SMS). He is looking for any and all feedback on how to improve his software, called GITracked. Get it? GI tract turned into tracked because you track your data!
Go ahead, test it out and let Ari know what you think of it.
Health Update
Dec 29th
I have been taking Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for a couple weeks. The LDN is showing to be of benefit, but is not a magic bullet. I was able to willingly cheat a lot over Christmas break without any serious draw backs. No diarrhea and my acne did not flare much, I think it’s the LDN.
I was super surprised and happy I was able to eat my mother’s apple pie, pizza, a few bites of a Cannoli, some sort of lemon sugar powdered pound cake-like cookie, and sugar powdered truffles. Typically, if I get diarrhea from eating poorly, it happens within 24hrs, but that didn’t happen this time.
While traveling and getting home Tues Dec. 27th I ate too many amazing Specific Carbohydrate Diet legal “Date Brownies”. I’ve had 2 days of diarrhea, Wed & Thurs (today). But I will stop eating those treats and get back to normal in a day or so.