Striving for Less Stress

After a few difficult, high-stress years that included a hip surgery, hernia surgery and the death of her mother, Judy Gaudio set out for 2023 to be the year she would rise up out of the mental and physical anguish she’s experienced and finally “bloom,” she says. But life is full of surprises. At the beginning of the year, she went to the doctor for a CT scan for an infection and digestive issues that have plagued most of her adult life.

Though she finally had a diagnosis and received acute treatment, Gaudio was unsure of how to manage her symptoms. So in March, she turned to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Dietitian Molly Linek. In mere months, Gaudio has already experienced improvement in her symptoms, stress levels and even weight loss. Overall she has a great sense of gratitude for all the professionals who have helped her.

Gaudio and her husband, Randy, have been Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany members for nearly 10 years. The couple has been married for 43 years and they have four adult children and nine grandchildren (with another on the way).

This interview was been edited for length and clarity.

Healthy New Albany Magazine: Describe your health and wellness journey? How did it begin? What was motivating you to make changes or seek out help?

Judy Gaudio: I’ve been struggling with digestive issues most of my adult life. It’s just one of those things that you learn to manage it the best way you can, but it really does take a toll.

I got to a point recently where a CT scan had given me vivid proof that there was more damage going on than what I realized. When I saw that I just was kind of like, “I gotta do something different.” So I started to seek out additional advice. Even though I have great respect for my physician and what she’s done to find these things, there’s not as much (help) on what we do about it, and so that’s when I called Molly and I got an appointment with her.

HNA: What were you diagnosed with? When you went to the doctor, how did they explain to you what was going on?

JG: I have diverticulitis, and so I had an infection and they were treating that. But when they did the CT scan, they also saw some inflammation in the rest of my digestive system. I ended up having, like, an ulcer in my stomach and then the acid reflux stuff. … I was just completely unaware that this is what the symptoms were. I just thought, “Oh, my throat feels a little funny,” or something. [Editor’s note: A symptom of acid reflux and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is chronic sore throat.] Anything too serious was ruled out, which was good. But at the end of the test results and what they were finding, I still didn’t feel like I had a plan to fix it. And that’s when I went to Molly.

HNA: Tell me about what dietary changes and exercise changes you’re making. Can you detail a little bit about what has been working for you?

JG: I started out by just resting my system completely with bone broth for about four or five days. And then I gradually added things back in and I think that was very helpful to get everything calmed down because I did have a lot of inflammation going on. … Intermittent fasting. I know that’s a big popular thing now, but for me, I think it’s even more so because it allows my system to rest. So I do that, which basically is just, I eat nothing after dinner. And I don’t eat again until 11 a.m. or noon the next day.

(Molly) pinpointed immediately that my biggest issue is the stress in my body and that’s what’s causing this. Even though I don’t have a super stressful life or anything, it’s just the way my body was wound up. Realizing that, I began to measure my suc- cess by how I felt and not by the scale or not by how many miles I did.

So what I’ve changed is I do more weights. I tried to get in (the gym) three days a week. I do the functional fitness class (Fit For Life at the Heit Center), which I love. Michelle (Williams) teaches that and I’ve added some Pilates and then my walks I still do, but I call them my strolls. Instead of it being like, “Oh, how high can I get my heart rate today?” It’s more about calming myself and focusing my thoughts.

Then the other thing I incorporated was medical massage treatments which have also been eye-opening because they, too, have recognized the tenseness and how tight my muscles and things really are. So they’ve been helping me with that part of it.

HNA: And in terms of how you’re feeling, if you’re measuring it by that, do you feel like you’re on the right path? Can you tell me what your day to day has been like?

JG: My symptoms are going to be a lifelong journey. They’re not going to be just gone but they are much, much improved.

I think the thing is, I’ve achieved a feeling of being stress-free at some point in the day, and so now I know what I’m aiming for. I now have some tools that help me bring myself back to where I want to be.

My profession was an early childhood educator and a parent educator. And so I spent a lot of time encouraging parents that limits equal kindness. I find it interesting that it’s time to put some limits on myself. And with that, I mean, giving myself some kindness to be able to recognize that there are limits; you can only do so much and you have to take care of yourself.

Claire Miller is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@ cityscenemediagroup.com.

By Claire Miller