The Challenge Continues

It's now the 3rd week into my gluten challenge, & I thought it was about time for an update. It's been quite a journey so far...

Nope, not pregnant.
How my stomach is looking right now

Pain. Pain is the best way of describing how & what I'm feeling daily. Yesterday it was too much, & I didn't eat any gluten at all, & not much of anything else. Over the past couple of weeks, I've indulged in food I haven't eaten in ages; different types of bread, having pizza at a restaurant, homemade lasagna & cinnamon rolls. Living in Sweden, it's been nice to sample some traditional things that I haven't been able to since I arrived here. & I had beer again (but that's a big no-no. Was not feeling good after that). But it's all come with a painful price. So painful that I'm now wondering if it's worth continuing. The last five days have been the worst, & I can only see it continuing to get worse.

Gas. So much gas. My stomach is so irritated that it doesn't matter what I eat now. I save the gluten intake for when I get home from work, so that I don't get gas & cramps at work. It's at the stage now that my breakfast of steamed vegetables & the salad for lunch causes the same gas & cramping as a piece of bread does. Sometimes when I'm hungry & my stomach growls, that in turn sets off cramps & then gas. It's all a no-win situation.

With the cramps & gas, also comes nausea. It's mainly when there's a swirling feeling in my stomach. I also have burning sensations in my stomach & intestines, mostly at the same time, & I tend to feel nauseous when this occurs.

I've also been getting migraines here & there, something that I used to get a lot, particularly in high school. I'm starting to draw a lot of connections to previous health issues. My chest tends to feel a little tight at times too. I'm asthmatic, but I haven't had an attack for a very long time. I just feel when I draw out the last of my breath, there's a tightness there that I haven't felt in a long time.

The bloating continues. I noticed on Friday night that my ankles were swollen, & that calmed down a little today, but I think that was mainly because I didn't eat any gluten yesterday. Otherwise, my whole body is swollen, particularly my thighs & breasts (the boy is complaining about the latter).

So, I'm going to ring the clinic this week & see if they can give me a date or even an estimate to how long it's going to be. I really just want to stop eating this right now. The food adventure has been fun, but the fun is being overshadowed by pain.

Gluten Challenge

Last Friday I received a letter from the gastrointestinal division at the hospital to advise me that they received my referral & have accepted it. So now I'm on the waiting list, which is about a 2 month wait. This news has been a relief, & since receiving it I started myself on a gluten challenge. I've read that 6-8 weeks has been a sufficient time, & I'm hoping to get through 2 months of this challenge before being called. 5 days into the challenge I've decided to write about some of the changes that I've noticed occur.

My main source of gluten has been bread, which may not be the smartest idea, since I am allergic to yeast. But it's easily accessible & I can't be bothered to cook pasta each time I'm going to eat gluten. That, & I find pasta really boring. We'll see. I'll probably eat some pasta at some point.

The first time I ate some bread, I kinda freaked. A little. Actually, maybe a little more than 'a little'. For almost 2 years I've not eaten a slice of bread or a bit of pasta, out of fear of what pain I'd be afflicted with. So I was a bit apprehensive about consuming it again. However, the old symptoms of pain did not return. My stomach bloated a little, but that was about it. I was confused. I actually started to feel like a fraud. What the hell? Is it suddenly ok to eat this stuff, even though previously a tiny bit of contaminated food would send me reeling & writhing in pain. What gives?

Each day I've eaten a little more bread, but the longer it goes on the more symptoms I've noticed occurring. My stomach started some groaning the night before last. Last night was the worst night of sleep I've had so far, & I'm a notorious insomniac. Despite being rather tired when I went to bed last night, it took me over an hour to get to sleep. When I did finally reach sleep, it was a sleep where I felt partially aware half the night. So today I've felt tired, more tired than usual. Generally food would help me feel a bit more alert (as well as coffee), but these haven't done much to change it. I had intestinal pains as well, not ones usual to what I do get. Gas seemed to collect in one spot & linger there, growing in size. It made lying on one side of my body particularly uncomfortable.

Gas. Gas! Ahh... I've not been someone pleasant to sit near at home, to say the least. I'm constantly burning incense or sitting with a blanket over the lap to muffle the sounds and/or smells. Hmm...

Hazy, slightly dizzy & light-headed feelings have grown today. They began yesterday. I also started some part time work & thought it could be due to just feeling a bit worn out from the new routine. I've just eaten some bread, & am finding that I feeling this moreso afterwards.

I've noticed my body swell slowly over the last few days, like it's retaining water or is inflamed. I feel like I've added a bunch of weight, which isn't doing anything great to my already diminishing mood. My stomach is swelling, to the point where I would be wondering if I was pregnant if I wasn't doing this challenge. I must remember to take a photo of it, for my chronicles of this. I also haven't done a poo in a few days now. I've always had problems with constipation, which lessened when I removed bread & pasta from my diet.

Something that has surprised me in this sense of burning in my esophagus, almost constant. Like a very small case of heartburn that won't cease.

My mood. That has been the biggest & quickest change of all. Sometimes thinking about this gluten challenge has me close to tears. I feel myself battling a rather depressive state, & I've suffered depression in the past. Old habits, behaviours & thought patterns I see returning. It's amazing the influence food has over more than just our appetite.

As for appetite; in the evenings I generally get quite hungry. Since my diet previous to the challenge was mainly paleo - mostly vegetable, some meat, with cheese now & then - I find my appetite at night is quite satiated. However, after having a bite of bread, I will go back & grab some more. Considering the amount of sugar that's in manufactured bread, it's no surprise it's moreish. After wanting to avoid another 'giving up sugar' session (seriously as hard as giving up nicotine), it looks like I may have to do it after this. Not happy about that.

I'll write more about this later. I'm feeling rather dizzy right now, & I'm finding it hard to concentrate on anything more.