On April 6th, I slogged through the first day of the workweek feeling far more tired than usual…and didn’t know why.
I went to a bar that evening with a few friends from Spy Briefing and Agora Financial.
We talked about living in Thailand…gossiped about past company editors and the nutty things they wrote…and attempted some dart games (nobody’s wounds were mortal).
Figuring the worst of my fatigue was over, I had a turkey dinner and a beer…
Then…judging from the feeling in my gut…realized it was going to be a rough night.
I excused myself…walked home…visited the bathroom a couple times…and then crawled onto my bed in the fetal position, wracked with dull abdominal pain.
After a couple hours of tossing and turning, the aching abated and I slept.
The next day, I decided to give my stomach a break and fast for at least 24 hours. “Probably a bug,” I figured. The day without food was easy – hardly any appetite – and I flew to Orlando on Wednesday morning, which was an easy excuse to extend my fast.
Jasmine and I were attending the Ingredient Marketplace expo, searching for more powerful ingredients to help boost your health. We grabbed some lunch soon after we arrived. I practically inhaled a hefty sandwich and felt…okay.
But not great.
“Oh well, it takes a few days to recover 100%” I figured.
Hmmm…
During the expo, I discovered…much to my dismay…that things were not getting better. In fact, it seemed every single time I ate a meal, my gut would cry out in pain starting roughly 30 minutes after, and continued to do so for a couple hours.
My appetite wasn’t affected. Nor did I ever feel nauseous. Just pain.
Ginger ale didn’t help much, although I noted there’s a big difference between fresh ginger and the sugar-laden drinks I gulped down.
But still…what was going on? Maybe my body needed a couple more days to beat the bug?
Once I got home, I began doing something most doctors absolutely despise:
My own research. And experimentation.
Here are some of the results (get your deerstalker hat on, because we’re going to find out how good a detective you are):
- I felt pain in my intestinal region about half an hour after I finished a meal, which lasted for a couple hours. Some fatigue too…but mostly because pain sucks. It wasn’t localized to any side either.
- Liquids like water, coffee, and even alcohol felt fine to my gut.
- I never had any nausea or loss of appetite, other than the psychological fear of eating.
- Over-The-Counter digestive soothers didn’t help.
Can you guess what I had?
Think for a moment, because I’m about to give a major hint, which resulted from a breakthrough one day at work:
As I walked home that evening, I stopped at a local organic food shop and bought a loaf of cinnamon and raisin bread.
The next day, I ate the entire loaf…and felt fine.
Right then, I knew exactly what was going wrong.
And how to fix it.
So what’s the answer?
…Tune in Wednesday.
Until then,
Nate Rifkin
Underground Health Researcher
P.S. I’ll talk more about my method for figuring out health problems. It can be applied to many situations and, as Jasmine LeMaster said in a Spy Briefing Today interview, nobody cares more about your health than yourself. So being able to take charge of yours is one of the best things you can do.
