Consider yourselves warned -- I'm probably going to be grumpy over the next few weeks.
A few days ago, after I whined to my husband about how much my gut hurt and how freaky I find the whole bloody diarrhea experience, he suggested, "Hey, maybe you should just try the whole gluten-free thing for a month and see what happens."
It's one of those things I've been skeptical and resistant to trying without some testing suggesting it would be helpful. Allergy testing and celiac testing (both blood and biopsy of the duodenum) have been negative for wheat/gluten sensitivity.
But things clearly aren't getting any better for me, so besides the inconvenience, what's the harm in trying it? Even a placebo effect would be more than welcome at this point. And my GI doc says that they're finding more and more people with rare forms of celiac that normal testing doesn't identify. So maybe I'm one of them.
The big stumbling block for me going gluten-free is breakfast. I am all about the various forms of bread and toast. For the past few years, I've been obsessed with toasted bagels in the morning. I've previously gone through periods where I only ate freezer waffles for breakfast, or certain types of breads for toast. I ate cereal (dry/no milk) as a kid, but only until I outgrew cereals with marshmallows. :-)
And I've just always loved bread, for any meal! Back before we had to set a good example for a munchkin, Scott and I would occasionally devour a loaf of garlic bread for dinner. Just garlic bread. Yummmm!
Anyway, I haven't found a solution for this problem yet. But my friend/neighbor Joan, who has a son with celiac disease and also is a registered dietitian, sent over some gluten-free things for me to try, including some freezer waffles. So we'll see how those work tomorrow morning. We also made a stop tonight at New Seasons Market and picked up some additional food replacements for me, including gluten-free crackers and pretzels. Since I'm currently not allowed fresh fruit and veggies, I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to snack on if I can't have wheat. I'm hoping these will help give me some options.
So, time will tell if this is the solution for me. I'm sure I'll keep y'all posted. Meanwhile, I'd be grateful for any suggestions about how to make this transition to gluten-free. And if you're local to Portland, OR, I'd love suggestions on where to shop for gluten-free foods.
I'm a Librocubicularist, are you?
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*As many other knows, the emotional pain of a chronic illness is almost as
bad as the physical. So far, 2017 has been intensely difficult. I'm
working...
6 years ago