Another story of another belly

Hi everyone! Just figured I'd pop by and introduce myself, as I really do intend to be an active member of the forum...hopefully!
So I've been diagnosed with Crohn's and ulcerative colitis in 2005, after a year of blaming it on endometriosis, what a pain that was.
Luckily I found an amazing doc who diagnosed and followed me through it all since then, I adore him and hope he never retires. I think we can all say it's amazing to have a doctor that remembers tiny details of your non-intestinal life, and with whom you can have edifying conversation about politics and poop.
So far I've been lucky enough to tame the belly beast with meds, diet, a few pred treatments, and at this moment, my Crohn's is sadly active.
Otherwise, I'm a stay at home mom to two amazing little buggers, baby Bea is 4 months, and her big bro Theo's hit the big 3, both my pride and joy, and a source of tons of funnies. And of course, there's the lovely bf, who is incredibly patient to put up with us! lol Seriously, though, by trade, I'm a military historian, but would much rather spend time at home watching my kids grow up as there's always gonna be a yesterday to learn about...I'm that person that has too many interests, and I sure hope to find like minded people that'll "get it" without being grossed out or at a loss as to why I can't eat certain foods.
What else? That rounds it up. Hopefully I'll wind up getting to know more of you guys!!

Hi and welcome. Sorry to hear the crohns is active but thrilled to hear about all the great things in your life.
I've got to know a lot of great people here.

I think I need to start using the term "belly beast" from now on. Welcome to the forum, and I hope you find yourself at home here!

I'm sorry to hear that your Crohn's is active! Is it all right to ask what medication you're on to treat it, currently?

Also being a military historian sounds really fascinating! My personal area of interest in history is East Germany.

hey guys! Thanks for answering back, I've been quite...taken, let's just say, with cuddling my teething sweetie, who's lost her usual spunk for life!!
Yeah, I forgot to mention, lucky me, I'm at the moment on max dose of Asacol and just starting Entocort, since I'm pretty bent on nursing baby as long as possible.
In the past I was on loooong pred treatment, and Purinethol for many years, until I found out I was pregnant the first time round.
Fingers crossed that it'll work out and allow me to feed baby as long as possible without switching to the heavier stuff...
East German history theOcean? Goodness me, I love the stuff, although I must admit I need to know more about it, as it is pretty pertinent to someone who specialized in 20th century warfare...but hush hush, no one needs to know!

Even if you do have to switch to heavier stuff, biologics seem like they're actually okay to be on while breastfeeding, at least!

Yep, East German history! My family is from Germany, originally, and one of my relatives was from Prussia, and a few others were trapped behind the wall for awhile. So it's something that fascinates me and that I love to read and hear about, partially because of personal connection. But yes, 20th century warfare would definitely be relevant to that. Do you have a favourite area you like to study?

I am a bit of a breastfeeding militant...I'm quite involved in my local support group and I'm also very lucky that I got to nurse my big little guy a year. Actually my doc believes it may have delayed the flareup, as the hormones provided some protection! I need to read about that too!

As much as it may seem like a really weird thing to say I'd love to get to talk to someone about living with the wall...Getting an uncensored, first hand account would just be terrifyingly insightful! I focused more on Canadian infantry during the 20th century but it really requires a bigger picture understanding of international relations, which is what drew me to the field despite never being able to join the Forces myself. Doubt you could show up at chow and ask for a no-residue plate lol
But really I'm quite drawn to the Cold War recently, but honestly it takes so little to get my attention to a subject!!

No, I totally get it because I'm the same way! It's actually pretty alarming, to be honest. When I was in Germany a few years ago, my mother and I were traveling Eastern Germany and so we ended up running into a lot of people that talked about it. It's... a bit scary when you remember how recently it happened. I remember in one case we had a young cab driver who talked about being there, and touring around with family friends and they would show us all the dilapidated buildings that, after the wall came down, no one bothered to fix. A lot of Eastern Germany that was affected by it is still kind of a mess outside of Berlin. Otherwise, from when it was still up... I ended up reading up a fair bit on the Stasi, and it's really terrifying some of the things that went on within the wall.

Also continue to find the fact that Frederick the Great's father was such a military nut that he actually walled Berlin to keep his soldiers in wildly ironic, given what happened later. Did you ever read about some of the crazy stuff he did?

We also went there with my grandfather once, who was forcibly drafted into the German army when he was 16. We were in Potsdam on a tour, and he started pointing out places he was as a soldier, hiding, and all these locations he still remembered from it. Our tour guide even took interest in it, haha.

Cold war is definitely where some of my interests are since East German history overlaps with that!

Hi and welcome! I'm a stay at home mama too, and I breastfed my daughter for over a year. My diagnosis is vague-ish, and all the docs were pretty squirrelly about meds when I was breastfeeding. Are you familiar with Hale's and LactMed? They are great resources for figuring out if meds are okay to take while breastfeeding, especially since many drs aren't necessarily up to date on what meds are ok to take while nursing.

Plaidknitter, thank you!! I had no idea about those ressources, and I'm really happy to be able to mention them to my doc. I'm already blessed to have a doctor that fully endorses breastfeeding, to the point of crediting it for me being so stable so long, and I'm sure he'll share those if he doesn't use them regularly... So duly noted and shared m'dear! and isn't being a stay at home mam easier on swollen days, with full access to pajamas and quiet crafting with the kids!?

theOcean, gee thanks! now I'm all digging up texts and old books to see if I can read up on it. Compulsively, even!
But in the grand scheme of things, everything surrounding the Wall is a great big reminder of the folly of man. We can look at the Holocaust and feel removed from its absolute madness and think it's just to horrid to be true, we can also feel removed from genocide in Africa and the Middle East because it's physically far, and to an extent because it tends to happen in countries that are in the 2nd-3rd world. But what happened there is such a stark reminder of how quickly things can escalate through segragation, and the traces are so vivid even today...
And I know little of Frederick, since I only did the bare minimum of any other history that wouldn't get me into the Royal Military College, until my plans changed! But I do gather he was an interesting feller...

Mellybean said:

theOcean, gee thanks! now I'm all digging up texts and old books to see if I can read up on it. Compulsively, even!
But in the grand scheme of things, everything surrounding the Wall is a great big reminder of the folly of man. We can look at the Holocaust and feel removed from its absolute madness and think it's just to horrid to be true, we can also feel removed from genocide in Africa and the Middle East because it's physically far, and to an extent because it tends to happen in countries that are in the 2nd-3rd world. But what happened there is such a stark reminder of how quickly things can escalate through segragation, and the traces are so vivid even today...
And I know little of Frederick, since I only did the bare minimum of any other history that wouldn't get me into the Royal Military College, until my plans changed! But I do gather he was an interesting feller...

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Haha, success! And it's so true... it's so odd to hear accounts of it from people who grew up hearing of the wall and East Germany, too, and how they thought it would be up forever -- and yet here we are. Now Checkpoint Charlie is merely a place where you can go to buy old pieces of the wall. In Berlin they do at least have a nice "monument" to it -- there's a trail following the route it stretched, and small pieces of it still erect on government property to remember.

And aw! He definitely was. There's some "interesting" stories about abuse done to his poor son, but mostly the stories I like to remember are some of the more eccentric ones. He loved his military, true to his title as the Soldier King. He apparently kidnapped and/or took the tallest men from other European countries and formed the Lange Kerle -- essentially translating to "the tall guys". On days he was sick he would have them march throughout Berlin, including through his bedroom!

Oh my! I had heard the marching bit, but forgot it was the bedroom too. you have given me much to read about, which will come in handy for the coming weeks of "hey I might as well rest and read a good book!"...perfect timing too since I'm close to being done with my latest litterary junk food lol
And that's that! I have to visit Germany, among a million other places, mostly historically relevent.
Helps to dream, although I have a tremendous fear of flying...but that's a secret!!

Glad to be of service! It's been a long time since I've found someone I could chatter about history to.

Germany is definitely a great place to visit, and you'd probably especially appreciate the German Military History Museum that they have in Dresden. I visited it when I was there before it went under construction and it was incredible.

And aw! I'm sure you can conquer your fear one day!!