Caffeinated Tea

Had a cup of green tea today. First caffeinated tea I've had in three weeks. The reason for that is my stomach has been bothering me for half a year - tightness in upper abdomin, sometimes aching. Had a pretty large hernia and chronic constipation too which is unusual for me. So I'd been seeing what they call here a gastric surgeon about those problems. After some tests, he said I had an irritated stomach wall with a small ulcer. He did not prescribe medicine, just told me to eat lots of fibre which I already did - and he knew I'd cut out spicey, fried, and rich food. We're almost vegan to begin with.


Mainly the doc wanted me to have an operation for the hernia so I did that - three weeks ago today. He and other doctors did not connect the three problems, but since that surgery, they've gone away. I quite caffeinated tea too three weeks ago just in case that was a factor in the abodomen problem. Everything's normal now. I healed quickly. That surprised me a little because things don't heal quick here. But what was a pleasant outcome was no stomach problem at all. I've been hesitant to do anything that might bring that back because it bothered me much more than the hernia. I don't know if caffeinated tea was a factor but I didn't want to take a chance.

But today I woke up from a twenty minute nap feeling groggy as if I'd slept longer. So I thought, okay, I'll try some green tea. One small teaspoon of it. Let it steep two seconds, added a little homemade almond/cashew milk. I could feel it after two sips. I drank it all slowly but I didn't particularly like the result except that it woke me up. I tried to explain to Katrinka how it made me feel, said it made me feel sharp and hard, not there was a thin sheet of stainless steele running from the top of my head through my spine. Not a mellow feeling. My only drug for fifteen years has been caffeine via tea and chocolate and I've been most fond of it. I think I'll leave it out too now. Except a little square of 70% chocolate now and then. Lots of great chocolate here in Bali.