Dear readers,
things started to improve very slowly. I basically had to teach my stomach how to digest food again. In fact, I suppose I actually lost more weight during those critical weeks than anytime before. Nevertheless, thanks to the fact that I had no psychosomatic episodes anymore, I managed to cope better with my critical physical condition.
Indeed, after a first difficult period, in January 2021 things started going better. However, the healing process has been really very slow since then and it will take a long time before the symptoms go away completely. In fact, I believe some of them will accompany me for the years to come. The nutritionist had also clearly said to me: "Don't think that you will ever be able to go back to the diet and regime you had before". Just to give you an example, last time I felt full and satiated was before everything started, more than a year ago. Since then, whenever I have a meal, the only thing I feel in case I should eat too much (hardly ever happens now) is a slight feeling in my throat or at the back of my mouth. Before, I used to feel a full stomach after a meal, but that feeling hasn't fully come back to me yet. For a long time I just felt a slight circle around my waist, as if the food would deposit itself there. Also, acid has become a constant part of my life. As they say, if you can't beat them join them, so I am trying to get used to all this. However, things are really improving and I hope that by the end of the year most symptoms will have disappeared.
What does my life look like now? Well, in terms of daily routine, even much better than before: I do all the things I used to do before, plus others as well. Indeed, I try to carry on with all the new activities I started in 2020: colouring, language exchanges in Spanish and French, playing games on my Xbox, and for the moment also piano classes! The course will end in July and I won`t continue in September, but I`ll definitely take single private classes now and again in the next years.
What about my thoughts? Well, I am again the person I used to be: my mind is active 24/7, as usual, and whatever thoughts I have, they don't have any influence on my psychological state, my physical state or my digestion. Andrew Pecchia is back!
As for my diet, food and eating habits, everything has changed: first of all, I take quite a long time for every meal. Before March 2020, I used to eat quite a lot in a very short time but since then a meal lasts at least an hour. I also only eat what I cook and prepare at home. I stick to my diet and have not had any takeaway food or eaten out for a long time. I don't think I want to change that. Maybe I`m still afraid of any symptoms coming back, but for now, better safe than sorry.
Well, I've now reached the end of this long story, but of course it's far from over: as I have already mentioned, although things have improved a lot, some signs and symptoms persist and I think that some of them will be with me for a long time. In the next months, I may want to publish one or two articles about what I have learned from the nutritionist and from the expert on alternative medicine.
In the next two posts, I will write about lessons learned and thank all the people who have helped me through these difficult times.
