Lazy Germophobe

  I’m typing this with a plastic glove on my hand. It’s not going great. I tried cotton gloves, but they don’t work with the trackpad. I wear those cotton gloves overnight after applying A&D Ointment in hopes that my dry and damaged skin will bounce back somewhat while I’m asleep. But last night I got cute and tried shea butter. It’s natural , I thought. It’ll work even better! Nope. My skin was drier this morning than if I had used Jergens.    It’s going to be a long day.    I said I was going to write about my anxiety and OCD, but I haven’t yet. I’d love to say I don’t have the time, but the truth is, it’s mental and emotional energy that I’m lacking.    Plus, it’s embarrassing.    But I still want to. Not sure where to start, so for now, I’ll briefly explain my “brand” of these conditions. Because they do come in different flavors.    I have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). My version looks like this:    Catastr...

I have lived with irritable bowel syndrome for decades. I was recently trying to figure out why I waited so long to address it. For many years, I only had an ob-gyn, no GP. Maybe that’s why. Also the symptoms seemed like something you just have to suffer through, gas and bloating being the worst. I guess it didn’t seem serious enough. I self-treated for YEARS using every nutritional supplement on the market. I did colon cleanses. I went to a naturopath for acupuncture; she gave me wicked strong herbs for SIBO , which I may or may not have actually had. Finally, I saw an actual GI specialist. After running tests to rule out any sinister causes (hello, my first colonoscopy), he officially diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome and handed me a sheet of paper listing the basics of a restrictive diet called “ low-FODMAP .” FODMAP is an acronym that stands for “fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols”—classes of starch found in many commo...