Day four was pretty good - due to really bad traffic I missed Crossfit, but luckily we had gone to lunch-time yoga at the Blanton on campus. It ended up being almost 90 minutes of yoga - so I still got in some exercise yesterday! Going out with my friend last night was fairly easy. I had one moment of panic when I realized the bar had recently changed their menu and no longer had either item I had picked ahead of time, but they still had quite a few gluten-free options, so I had a pear and walnut salad (which was delicious!).
Now we are moving into the weekend, which is a little daunting because I have no plan for meals outside of tomorrow nights homemade pizza night. But it has been fairly easy to find options so far, so I think it will be smooth sailing.
As far as benefits or changes I still haven't noticed much, but I didn't expect much within the first week. There was another tiny dip on the scale, but again - that could be due to a variety of things. Only time will tell. I feel that symptoms and overall health outside of weight will truly be the deciding factor as to whether gluten-free has any benefit for me.
Speaking of symptoms and health, I have been thinking that I should offer some history of where this all began, why I say that arthritis and auto-immune conditions are even a concern for me, and what all led me to the decision to try out gluten-free. This post will focus on the beginning, which was actually four years ago: January 2010.
Mr. X and I were newly engaged, about to start planning our wedding. That Christmas (December 2009) I came down with what I suspected was the flu. I also assumed that I had never had the flu before...because I had NEVER felt this badly before. I went from feeling completely fine - to shivering under a blanket and spiking a 103 degree fever - to laying on the floor of my mom's half-bathroom as she told a nurse on the phone that I just said "I have never felt this shitty before. Ever." in the span of about thirty minutes.
We actually went to the emergency room that day, because the nurse on the phone recommended that I get Tamiflu immediately. Once in the ER they saw me, did some blood work, but would not give me Tamiflu (so that was a waste of a visit). Oddly, by the next day I felt better. I thought it was some weird 24-hour bug, packed up my car and headed back home from my mom's house. Except that it wasn't a weird 24-hour bug. At all.
That night, the same ordeal: uncontrollable shivering and spiking a fever close to 104. But no other symptoms. No stuffy nose, sore throat or headache (aside from the one you get from having your temperature increase from 98.6 to 104 in about five minutes). After the second day of this I go to my doctor - she gives me Tamiflu. She warns me that it may be too late for the medicine to do any good (thanks ER) and tells me that if I spike a fever higher than 104 or if I start getting a rash to call her immediately.
By New Years Eve I am still struggling with...whatever it was. Mr. X and I cancel our travel plans we had with friends and stay home. Well before midnight my fever spikes to 104.3. We call my mom, and she says I should take a cold shower to try to get my temperature down. Which was the worst thing in the world. Even worse, we noticed I had developed a rash on my torso. We call my doctor and she wants me to go to the ER. Once we get there, they tell me they are admitting me to the hospital.
I don't remember how many nights I was in the hospital. Probably only 3 or 4. Or how many tests they ran. Probably a million. The only result that came back positive was the flu. After seeing a multiple doctors, including an infectious disease doctor my mom had a little crush on, they sent me home. They told me they were doing nothing in the hospital that we couldn't do at home. They did think of giving me popsicles when my fever spiked - which was a godsend, and pretty much the only thing that we learned during my stay.
At this point I was spiking high fevers (probably averaging 103) regularly. Throughout the day and night any time I wasn't on tylenol or ibuprofen I would run a fever. This literally went on for over a month with no explanation. And then it just stopped. Also with no explanation. Tests for leukemia (because my white blood count was low), auto-immune disorders, the flu - they were all coming back negative. And then the fevers just stopped.
And then my joints starting swelling. Just like that. The fevers went away, only to rear their ugly heads occasionally, but my joints were just randomly swelling. We did x-rays on my ankle swelling - which showed nothing. Then my hip swelled, so we did a CAT scan. Nothing. Then my hand swelled. Then I saw a rheumatologist.
For lack of any other diagnosis, he concluded it was Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis. A rare disorder - it presents similar to Rheumatoid, and is also an auto-immune disorder; but, Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis jumps around from joint to joint willy-nilly and, more importantly, does no lasting damage to the joint. I started taking Plaquenil, which he warned me could take as little as six weeks to really have an effect. The next week I stopped having symptoms.
Over the next six months I would run an occasional unexplained fever. I remember feeling paranoid each time that it was starting all over. Luckily, that did not happen. The joint pain pretty much disappeared. Although now, any pain I have I wonder the cause: "Is this because I am getting older? Or do I really have this weird arthritis?" I think this to myself every time.
Over the past three and a half years, since I began taking the Plaquenil, we have been slowly reducing my dose with great success. Three months ago I stopped taking the medication all-together, again, with great success thus far.
But this is why I say that arthritis and auto-immune disorders are included amongst the reasons that I wanted to try a gluten-free diet. It is also why I say the diagnosis of these two disorders for me is uncertain. Obviously I had something very scary and strange going on within my body. I am not positive they ever determined what that thing was.
Maybe it was Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis, and that small dose of Plaquenil was just enough to let my body overcome the disease and I went into remission. It is possible. Or maybe it was just coincidence that I started that medication at the same point that whatever my body was going through ended. I may never know. I hope I never know, because that would mean going through it again. And I hope that never happens.
Reading about the gluten-free diet - and the range of affects that gluten can have on individuals with sensitivity made me wonder. What if someone had talked to me about this when I was sick? Perhaps my body could have healed faster. Perhaps not. Again, I will never know. But knowing that my body has been through such an ordeal, makes me wonder about gluten. Knowing that arthritis and auto-immune diseases such as Rheumatoid have been successfully managed and, at times, cured by sufferers going gluten-free makes me consider it a viable option.
So that is where it all began...four years ago. There will be a part two, that focuses on my more current reasons...but everything has to start somewhere....
For now, here we go - headed into the weekend! Wish me luck!
Day #5
Friday (yay!)
January 17, 2014
Breakfast
Modern Oats apple walnut all-natural oatmeal (I was running late this morning, luckily our in-building coffee shop carries this gluten-free product)
Black coffee
Lunch
Gluten-free pasta with peppers and sausage (again...running late...leftovers were quick to throw in my lunchbox)
Snack
Rhythm Superfoods kale chips
Workout
Rest day!
Dinner
NO IDEA! Yikes!
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