It's been a long time since i was able to create a post. I have been sick for several years, each year bringing new symptoms to try & understand. As it stands today I have Fibromylagia, CFS, Peripheral Neuropathy, Chronic Depression, Gluten Intolerance, & Lactose Intolerance.

The Gluten is a new revelation, I'm only just getting started on my new gluten free life but already i can feel the difference! I have read a number of blogs, facebook pages, etc; anything i can find to try & understand. So much of what i thought i knew was wrong & there is SO much more to it than I ever could have imagined!

I plan to post about all of my symptoms/conditions as well as the GF various brands I have tried, anything I think someone else might benefit from. Living Gluten free is a massive undertaking & not to be entered into lightly, or blindly. To live gluten free you HAVE to do your homework, you have to learn what is & is not safe, all the many names behind which gluten hides (You wouldn't believe the things I have found gluten in - like popcorn!).

One thing that was hard for me & for my family is the fact that i am... well an adult (no need to get into the specifics of age), meaning not a child. How did i live for years eating gluten daily without feeling sick from? Doesn't Gluten Intolerance (GI) start when you're a child?

Well the answer is that GI can strike at any age. You can also have GI without being sick to your stomach! (that one was a shocker to me) I met a woman who has what she calls silent Celiac - she went to her Dr for osteoarthritis & the the tests showed that she had celiac! This lady told me that she never feels sick to her stomach when she eats gluten - not even 12 years after her diagnosis. In her case it was her bones that bore the brunt of the illness; although she had also been treated for cancer, which her Dr later realized had been caused by her undiagnosed GI!! I was beyond shocked, it had never occurred to me that GI could damage your bones, let alone cause cancer!

I have learned that celiac disease destroys the villi that line the intestines, the villi are responsible for absorbing nutrients from what we've eaten. So over time as more & more villi are damaged or killed your begins to suffer from malnourishment & vitamin deficiencies. Here is where we encounter another commonly believed falsehood about people with GI. I used to think everyone with celiac was super thin. This is not the case, in fact many people with GI are often of "normal" weight & there are many who are even over weight.

If you're anything like me gluten makes more than 50% of your diet, so facing a GF life was terrifying. If you had suggested it to me a few months ago I would have laughed & said not a chance! It dosen't take long - when you're so sick every day that you're confined to the couch & bathroom - to realize that life without gluten sounds pretty good after all.

In my case I thought that all of the new IBS symptoms I was having were because of my fibromyalgia; GI couldn't have been farther from my mind. Until a friend of mine tagged me in a link on facebook. She had found an article that listed some of the known symptoms of GI & it had made her think of me. The article listed 10 symptoms that could indicate GI; among the symptoms listed were, fibromyalgia, CFS, peripheral neuropathy, depression, & anxiety. Needless to say seeing all of my problems listed together in association with a condition I had never before considered caught my attention.

With helpful advice of some friends - real & virtual - I have been able to start this journey with a considerable advantage; an advantage I hope to pass on to as many people as possible.

Numb

Numb

fire twists

stomach churns

tears

shed & unshed

eyes burn

dreams

fears

silent screams

choke the throat

fingers & toes

tingle, burn

muscles ache

pain consumes

sleepless tears

chill to the bone

hope

fragile bubble bursts

dreams die

empty echoes

fear 

held at bay

sad, scared, sweet

terrible relief

cursed blessing

embrace the void

surrender to fate

Intro

What better way to start off a blog than a little background info on the author? If nothing else this should at least give you enough of a glimpse into my insanity to know what your getting into... 

My interests are many ranging from books to baking and from camping to tattoos... I like to be well rounded; but you are not going to find talk of sports or politics gracing my page anytime soon (I almost started a riot once asking who the Steelers were... so I've learned its best not to go there). 

Nutrition and healthy living is another biggie for me. Last winter I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and have since learned that I also have CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - which includes such fun as insomnia and & non-restorative sleep), and chronic/severe depression; its also possible that I'm hypoglycemic (think diabetes in reverse), although I've never been officially tested for it.  

After that impressive list you can guess where my interest in nutrition might have come from. Not a whole lot is known about Fibro or CFS (which might actually be the same thing, although that it is still debated - I tend to look at them as different sides of the same coin); most doctors can't even tell you what they are! As such i do a LOT of research on my illnesses, what they are, targeted health & wellness tips, and how to keep living your life in spite of the obstacles.

This blog is not meant to follow 1 specific topic or genre, it will be more focused on things that are going on in my life, from baking muffins with my roomie to searching for a job that I can manage with my new found (and still growing) list of ... challenges, and reviewing some of the many books that I read - to say i am book obsessed is probably treating it lightly...

As far as books are concerned my main obsessions are young adult and juvenile authors. While you have to contend with insane romance drama & frequent doses of morality lessons, there is far less emphasis on death, destruction, & sex; which I'm sorry but can get a little old after awhile, IMO. 

As i mentioned previously, anything is fair game! I actually really enjoy doing online research so if you have questions feel free to ask, its always good to broaden ones horizons :)