A lot has happened since the last post I made... I've basically knocked gluten out of my diet and I feel a million times better because of it. Here's just a list of the symptoms that I used to have...
* heart palpitation and pain
* heart burn
* acid reflux (at least once daily)
* hair loss
* brittle nails
* HORRIBLE periods (sorry, boys)
* gas and cramps after certain foods
* low energy
* tired all of the time
* anxiety, panic attacks, and depression
* numbness and tingling all over the body (that was the worst one).
I still have some of the tingling, but it radiates from my spine, and we already know it's from an accident that I was in last May-- I'll be seeking medical attention for that, soon.
Everything else is gone. Amazing that I was taking prevacid for acid reflux that was so bad I had no other choice to take it-- I've not had acid reflux a single time. I've not had any unwelcome or unexpected bathroom trips, I haven't broken a nail without a REASON (bumping into something), and I feel like I'm able to get a lot more accomplished on a daily basis. I always attributed my anxiety and depression to bad menstrual cycles, but believe it or not, ALL of that has gone away with the gluten. I hate to go into details here (if you're a boy who's uncomfortable by girl info, stop reading)-- but this month and last my period surprised me... that NEVER happens. It's always excruciatingly painful for 4-5 days before, and now it just sneaks up on me. An amazing win.
So overall, life is so much better. I'm not sure that I'm Celiac (someone who can't have gluten AT ALL, even trace amounts)-- the fact that I can eat certain things (like Domino's gluten free pizza crust, for example) without any kinds of problems make me think for certain I'm not. I also don't want to have the Celiac tests, partially because I still don't have health insurance, and partially because I don't want to have to go back on gluten for the two weeks required to get it into your system enough for them to do the test.
It's like back in 2006 when I had surgery to remove a cyst from my ovary (sorry again, boys).... I was on a morphine drip for pain that was controlled by a button I could press at any time. I'd push the button and the morphine would automatically enter my bloodstream. Every time I pushed, the too-strong dose entering my body at record pace would make me vomit. The nurse came in and scolded me because I wasn't "using my drip the two times an hour as recommended, I had only used it once in 12 hours, and that was bad." I told her, "if YOU pushed a button and it made you throw up every single time, you'd learn pretty quickly to stop pushing the button."
I don't know whether I had some kind of cyst, stomach ulcer, or GI disturbance that suddenly caused my body to not be able to tolerate gluten. I don't know whether I've been growing more gluten intolerant slowly but surely over the last few years, leading to the GI disturbances and stripping of my stomach and esophageal lining. I suspect the latter, but either way, it doesn't matter. What matters is that when I eat gluten, I feel awful, and that's enough to make the psychologist in me recognize a Pavlovian response that's tried and true. I have no idea why, or how, but that's how it is now and that's how it's going to be.
Now that I have a little more time, I"ll try to write more frequently about my favorite foods, products you should try, and more about my continuing lessons in gluten-free life. And I still do try to eat organically, but at least I know now that it's okay if I don't, as long as I'm eating whole foods. And I don't mean the grocery store necessarily, I just mean foods that are whole-- that I know what they are, that I can identify the ingredients of. And at the very WORST case, if I have to eat something processed or take-out, I make sure for FACT that there's no gluten. And that's the best thing I can do for myself at this current moment.
