Biked to Dr. Kingston's and back. I stopped taking the NSAIDs last night because I thought that it might be upsetting my stomach. Better to have back pain than die of a bleeding ulcer, I figure. Predictably, I felt like garbage all day today: foot was hurting, lower back was stiff as a board, neck hurt, and I even got a headache later in the day. I ended up going home from work early and laying down in bed. It's disheartening to know that virtually all moments of feeling good over the last couple weeks were sheerly from anti-inflammatory medication, and hence just an illusion. I view NSAIDs basically as poison. Thousands of people die from proper NSAID use every year. It can ruin your liver and also cause stomach bleeding. But the alternative to is to hurt, and no one likes to hurt. So when you're in the situation, it's easy to see how people choose to risk (or ignore) health and life in order not to hurt. It's a Catch-22. Perhaps I'm being dramatic, but tell that to the folks who have had stomach ulcers, liver problems, or worse. So the twinges I was feeling in my gut definitely scared me; perhaps I just read to much. In any case, I've loaded up on a few natural anti-inflammatories: fish oil, probiotics, and another custom compound. If it can at least take the edge off, I'll be happy about it. I may give the No Starch Diet another try in a few weeks, but this time will go into better-prepared.
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