Appointment Review- What I'm Currently Doing for My Health

Annie Kroll
2 days ago
4 min read

Now that I am close to my baseline in terms of leaving the house, driving, eating full meals, and managing a full schedule, I want to share the current appointments I have and why I am attending them. I will continue to update on which ones help me and which ones were less effective in my healing. Some of these appointments are new, while I've been going to others for years.

1: Functional Medicine

Every week, I have a Zoom meeting to go over a supplement protocol for my gut health, brain inflammation, and overall health. I have also used peptides, exosomes, and cell factors. All of the methodologies are backed by science and are overseen by someone who has a great understanding of the whole human body. I also regularly am able to ask questions and change my plan based on any symptoms. This plan is also supported by my primary care physician.

2: Physical Therapy

I attend physical therapy weekly right now because I have lost a significant amount of strength from my hospitalization. I am now able to walk up to 7k steps a day, but my average is closer to 1k-2k steps a day unless I am going somewhere like the mall or a long walk. My physical therapy is a blend of pain management with services like cupping, massage, and other modalities and exercises. I have now graduated to strengthening my core in addition to walking and doing a couple of squats. Once I am closer to a maintenance protocol, I will go back to once every other week, but I am not there yet.

3: Reflexology

Reflexology is a service in which different points on the feet are believed to correspond to various parts of the body. I am using reflexology largely for my Crohn's/Colitis diagnosis. Reflexology is believed to build on itself, so it is best to group sessions together. I had one session and then bought a package, so I will be going once a week for a month, and will report back on what I notice. So far, after my first session, I noticed that it is relaxing and noticed a slight difference in pain.

4: Therapy

I attend talk therapy once a week to manage my mental health. I used to go every other week, but I increased to once a week to have a space to work through a new diagnosis, breakup, and other conflicts in my life. I am a big fan of therapy because I think it is important to be able to work through emotions in an emotionally healthy way. They say stress can be a large contributing factor for a Crohn's flare, and I have anxiety. Therapy helps give me a space to work through my feelings to improve my mental health and keep my physical health in check. This is the only appointment I am not providing a link for because if you are interested in finding a therapist, it is best to find one that fits your specific needs and insurance, if you use insurance.

5: Fascia Release

The body holds onto tension through fascia in the muscles. At this appointment, pressure is applied to different muscles for 2-5 minutes to release the fascia. It is not usually relaxing in the moment, but afterwards it helps with pain and flexibility, although I am never truly flexible. I learned about this method at my retreat, and have had one appointment. I might end up buying a package of 5, I will see if I decide to do it.

6: Breath Work

I am doing a weekly breath work program for 3 months to help combine mental health with managing physical pain. With stress being a factor for Crohn's/Colitis, and maybe even HSP, I am trying to find ways to manage that. I have never been able to mediate, even though I was advised to. Hopefully, this program will help me bridge the gap between mental health and physical health. I also learned about this at my retreat, and will have started sessions by the time this blog comes out. I will update my thoughts on this program after the sessions are done to see if it helped.

7: Nutrition

While the functional medicine coach I work with also does nutrition, this protocol is research-backed and specifically designed for IBD patients. I meet once a month on a Zoom-like computer program and get supplement and diet recommendations. He also is diagnosed with IBD and used his protocol to drastically improve his own life and, as he says, outlive the doctors that told him he was going to die. While the diet is semi-strict, I went from not being able to leave my house to having close to normal symptoms and might not need to go on a biologic. I want to avoid the biologic if I can for a few reasons, unless you are my GI doctor, because I am slightly afraid of their office's reaction. I am also enjoying how much money I am personally saving by not eating out. While eating healthy is expensive, I personally only have to pay for food if I eat out socially, so this does save me money since I mostly eat at home now.

8: Bonus- Weekly Game Night

I have a weekly game night at my house, which is kind of like an appointment, but it's fun and with friends. I have to be social for my mental health, because if I feel isolated, I start to feel depressed. I think I am good at building community, but it can be hard to go into new places alone. I went alone to my retreat and was very proud of myself for that. However, I am still looking for new hobbies and other things to fill my time with. I am trying to schedule Zoom meetings every other week with my friends from my master's program to help with that, and am looking for other fun things. If you have any recommendations for classes or other community-building hobbies, leave some recommendations in the comments!

Thank you for reading about my current list of appointments now that I am out of the hospital and on my way to recovery. If you have any questions or comments, please comment on the blog, reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook, or email me at Anniekrollblog@gmail.com. I hope to see you next week!