I feel validated...

The past couple weeks I have been feeling like hell. Tired, hot flashes, anxiety, my hip feels like it's going to fall off (that's another story.), etc. I have had under-active thyroid (for the last 14 years) and for the past 6 months (give or take) my thyroid levels have been inconsistent. About 6 weeks ago my thyroid was way under-treated and my Internal Medicine doctor bumped my meds way up, to a dosage I have never had before. That's where the hot flashes, etc came in the picture. This totally stunk because the last 4 weeks before I had been feeling pretty good. Lots of energy, feeling great, assuming from going gluten-free.

I called and ask to have my thyroid levels checked again and sure enough on an office visit on Friday, my levels were way over-treated. I have never had an over-treated thyroid and of course the one side effect that I didn't get was weight loss. Figures. In the course of the conversation with my physician, she didn't know I was recently diagnosed with Celiac. I guess the GI doctor that diagnosed me never sent her my medical records. Here comes the validation. She said she was so sorry that she didn't catch the Celiac diagnosis over the years with my stomach issues, she (and other specialists) linked it to my hip surgery's, use of anti-inflammatory med's (for my hip) and ulcers from stress. She asked if I had the positive biopsy's and blood tests and I said yes, the biopsy's and both blood tests confirmed. She also said that the diagnosis put many puzzle pieces together with all of my miscellaneous symptoms over the years. Her thought was that she didn't event think of Celiac because I never mentioned diarrhea. She said from now on, she will not assume one has to have significant diarrhea to have Celiac. 

My thyroid med's were changed to a lower dosage. I haven't taken the thyroid med's in over a week, starting when I assumed on my own I was over-treated, even still with the lower dosage I am freaked the new dosage will still be too high. I hated the way I felt being over-treated but scared to be under-treated again. Not sure how it's going to level out (pun intended!), but will have levels checked again in 6 weeks. I asked her if the thyroid issues and Celiac had a connection and her response was that they are both auto-immune disorders but didn't think much past that. 

Long story short. When I walked out of her office, for the first time in 5 plus years of feeling like death, I didn't leave feeling like a nutcase with unexplained symptoms. I felt validated and it feels amazing. 

I was glutenized...

The last few weeks have been fairly busy with some what stressful days. I got sloppy eating out and paid the price, twice. I was glutenized.

Let me start by saying since being diagnosed in early June of this year, I have done everything possible not to consume any gluten in fear of the gnawing stomach pain coming back. I have wondered daily if I had accidentally had consumed gluten since going gluten-free with all of our eating out. However I think it's fairly safe to say I had not consumed gluten until recently.

We ended up at Shari's restaurant late on a Saturday night after we were starving and running out of options. The waitress was pretty clueless (not to mention stressed) when I asked about what was gluten-free. I ended up ordering a steak and salad. I asked if the ranch was gluten-free and she came back and said yes. The salad came with croutons and instead of sending the salad back, I picked off the croutons. Mistake. Big Mistake. Huge. Even though I know it was the croutons, I still wonder about the ranch. It definitely was not fresh ranch by any means. I won't even mention how bad the rest of the meal was for all of us. Ok, wait. The kids loved their milkshakes. By the time we got home, I could barely stand up. The gnawing stomach pain was unbelievable and shocking how quickly it hit.

This past week I needed a meal for the kids after soccer practice and of course had no desire to cook. After all it was going to be 9:00 pm when they got home. I stopped by KFC and bought a bucket for the troops and ordered a baked chicken breast for me. I didn't ask if it was gluten-free or even do a quick internet check. I just ordered. About 20 minutes after I devoured the chicken, including the skin, I couldn't stand straight because my stomach hurt so bad. I wanted to crawl instead of walking and I looked like I was about 9 months pregnant. The next morning I did a KFC menu check and sure enough, the baked chicken does contain gluten.

Being gluten-free stinks and I have my "poor me" days, but after being glutenized twice in a 2-week period, I will do my very best not to lazy about my food choices because it just isn't worth it.