Gluten Free and...BLAH

Once I post this, I'll brace myself for the backlash of naysayers and know-it-alls. I am two weeks gluten free and I feel..................NOT SO GREAT. I got my positive antibodies celiac panel results on October 29.

What is wrong with me? Article after testimonial after face-to-face after interview says, "you will feel amazing within a few day of being gluten free." I waited. I stuck with it. I ate fresh vegetables each day, made my own bread, and pizza dough, and even delicious chocolate chip cookies. I switched from my regular Cheerios to Chex. Not only do I not feel better, I feel worse, with a steady weight gain and feeling an overall sense of dragginess. I'm swollen more and my aches have increased, and I am not sleeping well, I'm foggy and emotional. I have not had one AHA moment. I just feel worse.

I'm frustrated and angry. People assume I'm just still eating junk food because I joke about it so much and because, well, I tend to be a snacker. (I can hear some people laughing right now at the minimization of that statement--oh, shut up!) I am screaming from the rooftops here, I HAVE BEEN EATING HEALTHY FOODS and NO gluten, save for 1 lone flour tortilla and a bowl of Cheerios about a week ago. This was supposed to be the Hallelujah choir awakening of my hidden, feeling better, self. I never expected to feel worse.

From all the reading I have been doing, and knowing my own body, I think it is safe to assume there are other foods I am reacting to. I know I have always had problems with corn and am just realizing there is some sort of corn (flour, meal, starch) in many things I've been eating recently. Sure, I could try to eliminate that as well; unfortunately I think there are others.  With 2 kids still in the house that are not gluten free, I don't see how I could practically track it all down. I'm not meaning to sound like a martyr (although isn't that my role as a mom??), I just don't feel that I can do this on my own, and continue to feel worse and wait up to 6 months to start feeling better.

I will continue to research and hope to find answers. I see a rheumatologist next month and hopefully that will narrow the possibilities into what is going on inside my body. Hey, I know what I need: OSMOSIS JONES! MAGIC SCHOOLBUS!! Hey Miss Frizzle, figure this out for me!

I am taking this seriously, trust me I want to feel better. I just don't see how this particular path is going to "work" right now.

Fever Days

For several years I have what I have termed "fever days". I wake up in general pain all over and usually a headache is present and without fail my temperature will be around 99 degrees. It will go as high as 100, but never higher, and never below 99, and usually is gone by the end of the day though occasionally it will last 2 days. Once the fever did stay with me for about 2 weeks and, when I also woke up to almost every part of my body swollen (including my NOSE, yes seriously!), I went to the doctor. I was tested for Lyme, the testing came back positive several weeks later, but my symptoms were gone and we did not treat. I will forever wonder about that decision and if it further contributed to my ongoing issues since then.

I have had so many health mysteries over the past years like the aforementioned fevers, 2 weeks in the hospital for asthma, body swelling now and then, deep aches and pains (fibromyalgia was diagnosed in 2005), unexplained rashes, hair shedding, massive dental problems, inexplicable swollen lymph nodes, at times crazy low Vitamin D levels (have been as low as 7, now "up" to 17)...could it all be due to Celiac (antibodies present blood results just found a couple days ago)? Is it Lupus? Is it neither, or both plus fibro? I'm just tired of it all! I'm glad it seems that together with my doctor, we are finally putting the pieces together but I am just tired of all of it. I'm not a big complainer, and I hold back on expressing my pain levels because, well, I'm a mom and I'm a single mom and down days aren't an option, or at least that's what I've convinced myself lol. Every now and then though I just want to YELL and whine and complain and today is one of those days. I also find it can not only benefit me but also maybe others that are also searching for answers, so you are very welcome ;) Seriously, if any of these things are familiar to you, share with me! 

Back to your regularly scheduled positive, insightful, and occasionally funny but always sarcastic blog entries. And with Mama cooking primarily whole foods and gluten-free, there will be plenty of sarcastic stories to share about my kids and their LOVE of our new eating lifestyle. :-D