Goodbye Gluten, I Won't Miss You

A lot of things have happened recently with regards to how I feel physically.

In 2010 I had Sydney, and then I had post partum thyroiditis. It was awful and lasted for over a year. I only sort of felt "normal" again when I eliminated dairy and beans (I must have developed leaky gut syndrome which lead to food intolerances).

Then I had Brynn in 2014. I felt pretty good and thyroid blood tests looked normal. I even watched my diet (nothing extreme) and even lost 15 pounds!

But this year despite counting calories, eating well, and exercising, I couldn't lose any weight. Besides that, all the thyroid symptoms came back. Especially exhaustion. Some days I took two naps. It was months and months of feeling bad most of the time. I was beginning to think that this was how it would be, for the rest of my life.

On the outside, I looked fine. I acted fine. Some days I felt pretty good. But never more than like 50% of how I feel when I'm my "normal" self. The problem with a wacky thyroid is that no one else can really tell that there is anything wrong. Because you keep doing most of the things you normally do. But it's sorta like driving your car with only 1 spark plug firing off. Eventually it will stop working.

In the meantime, I started having horrible pain right above the right part of my stomach. Long story short, after a visit to Urgent Care they didn't know what it was. After a week of the pain, and fasting to make sure it wasn't gastro intestinal, and getting a blessing from Jon, I talked to two of my siblings and finally figured out the pain was muscular! So I changed how I sit, especially when I work on the laptop, how I stand, etc. The pain moved to my back, but now it's mostly gone. My hips ache a lot, and that is the real source of the pain. So yoga needs to be an almost everyday thing.

So back to my thyroid symptoms. My thyroid blood tests have been normal. So I went to a holistic clinic. She looks at your blood under a microscope and could tell my adrenals -- which work with the thyroid -- were stuggling. She loaded me up with a regiment of drops and drinks. Some were nasty, but I was willing to try anything. After a week, I felt the same. Still in a state of constant tiredness and mental fog. Waking up feeling about 10 days behind on sleep, having to nap, and only feeling like I was putting half of my effort into everything even though that was all I had to give.

I went to my regular doctor. We had a good talk. He said many times we don't know WHY our bodies have these types of issues. But we just keep doing tests and trying things and seeing what works. He ordered a blood test (cholesterol and cortisol) and also an oxygen sleep test (which came out fine). 

THEN I went to a gluten free class, since two of my kids are gluten intolerant. Long story short, the lady and a neurologist both explained how wheat has changed, and our bodies don't recognize it, and it doesn't just cause gastro intestinal issues. It can cause neurological issues that affect your energy, mental state, etc. THEN they said, if you have any sort of thyroid issue, stop eating gluten right now. So I did.

The next day, Friday, was awful. It was gluten withdrawl day. So overall I felt sick and just tired.

But then everything changed! Saturday (a week ago today) I woke up feel refreshed and full of energy. It was AMAZING. I hadn't felt like that in months and months. The next day, the same thing, plus I had randomly lost two pounds! I was still eating carbs like bread and pretzels and tortillas, I had just switched to the gluten free versions.

One week later, I have not been counting calories or doing anything beyond a little bit of yoga, and I've lost another pound. I also feel amazing. So I know going gluten free -- for whatever reason -- is making me feel good and my body is working the way it is supposed to.

My goal weight is about 20 lbs away, so once I hit a plateau with just eating how I am eating now, I'll start being more strict and actively trying to lose weight again.

Thankfully for me, going gluten free was easy, because most of what we eat is already gluten free -- because I had been cooking things for my two gluten free kids for several years. I am so  so grateful to have been blessed with the knowledge to be able to turn my health around and feel NORMAL again. It's been a long time.

GOODBYE GLUTEN, I won't miss you!