|
| About 15 years ago I was having stomach discomfort that cleared up when I stopped eating gluten. Our 3rd son was a baby at the time and after I got off of gluten, my wife noticed that he was not near as colicy if she did not eat gluten. I even had a sister in law who said she would not baby sit him if my wife ate gluten. My wife soon discovered that she had celiacs disease and would have severe pain and diarrhea if she went back to eating gluten.
Just before I quit eating gluten I thought I was coming down with carpal tunnel syndrome. I even got a better keyboard. Then it just went away and my hands and wrists were fine until just a few months ago. Over the last couple of years, I noticed that if I took probiotics my stomach was not bothered by gluten anymore. Since my wife cannot eat it, I avoided it for the most part but started to eat it if I was offered it. That meant I would eat gluten at church and at other people's houses regularly over the past year. I probably had it about once a week late last summer and into the fall. Evidently it started to affect my body again. By last October I had started to have a lot of muscle/joint/tendon pain. It was strange because one day my elbow would hurt and then the next day it would feel totally fine, but the shoulder on the other side would hurt. Then the next day, that would feel fine, but my hand would hurt. The pain would move to different areas, but the next day there would be no pain, weakness, or swelling in the area it had hurt the day before. Often it hurt bad to even move, but then the next day it would feel fine, but a different spot would hurt.
One day I noticed my whole hand hurt just like when I thought I had carpel tunnel over 15 years before. Suddenly it registered that the pain had gone away and not returned when I had stayed away from gluten all those years. I looked up pain and gluten and found out that it can take months for the pain to stop after you quit eating gluten. It was around Thanksgiving that I stopped the gluten completely again. Last week was the first pain free week in months. I have had a few finger aches that lasted a few hours this week, but the pain was hardly noticeable. I plan to stay away from gluten again for the long haul.
I also had a blood test around the first of the year that showed I was low on vitamin D and protein even though I eat a lot of meat and nuts. Likely the gluten was affecting my intestines so I was not absorbing nutrients like I should.
Like John Burns, I am not giving medical advice. I am simply telling what has been going on with my body and how much better I am feeling. | |
|
No More Gluten- For Me It's About Pain Not a Fad
