Just a quick update...

Today breakfast and lunch will be leftover casserole from yesterday, so I won't post pictures or anything until dinner which will probably be pretty early. I've been eating a lot of calories the last couple of days, but have lost a little weight which is always good. I can stand to lose quite a bit!

My LS at this particular moment is good. No undue pain or flareups. If I never wanted to have sex again I could live with it like this, but I am not willing to give up "normal" sex. I want my life back dammit, I'm still sort of a newlywed... :(

I also want to add a list of the vitamins and supplements I am taking.
While following the Low-Oxalate diet, most people also supplement with Calcium Citrate. I was recommended to do this also and to take a magnesium supplement. So, currently I am taking:

• a multiple vitamin packet, which includes an iron-free multiple vitamin, Evening Primrose oil, a cranberry supplement, and calcium. It also includes vitamin C, but I was told to not take any Vitamin C supplements as it may encourage your body to transform protein into oxalates.

• I am also taking a Garlic supplement. Garlic is a source of Inulin, which helps support Oxalobacter Formigenes which is apparently a naturally occuring bacteria whose purpose seems to be to help the body process oxalates. Interesting note: Many people with autoimmune dysfunction have very low levels of this bacteria according to a study I read. I figure that the garlic certainly can't hurt anything. (That being said, whoever decided to flavor them with vanilla was crazy! All you get is a nice vanilla-garlic aftertaste, instead of simply a garlic aftertaste--now really, do you think that is better?)

• I take Calcium Citrate (600mg) about 20 minutes before each meal. There is some dispute as to when the Calcium Citrate should be taken. The Vulvodynia site recommends taking it on an empty stomach when your oxalates peak during the course of a day and suggest that 9am, 2pm, and 11pm are the most helpful times to take it. Some people have had better luck taking it before each meal. Since I have this sleep problem lately, I have just resorted to taking it before each meal, since I haven't been able to stay up until 11pm, and as a result my stomach is never empty at 9am or 2pm since my eating schedule is all awry...Perhaps in a few days this will sort itself out and I will be able to take it at those recommended times.

• I take a Magnesium supplement (500 mg) each evening before bed.