Going Wheatless, Again.

(I don't like writing "personal" posts on my blog, especially health-related ones -- really, who wants to read about someone's acne? -- but family and friends may be interested and it may help someone else. I'll avoid any really disgusting details. Promise.)

I've long thought that I may be hypoglycemic, and not able to process carbohydrates well.  Sometimes it seemed white (sugar, refined wheat, etc) carbohydrates didn't bother me at all.  Other times, I'd be quite sick, nauseous, weak, confused, and flushed from eating a high carb meal. And down. Depressed, obsessed over little annoyances.  Indecisive.  Sometimes, quite panicky and irrational. Sometimes whole grains seemed to trigger the same reaction.  And there was the weight gain thing.

People didn't believe me when I said that I could gain 8 pounds over a day or two.  "It's just water," they'd say.  If it was "just water," how come it always took weeks of careful eating to budge the weight, if I was able to even make a dent in it at all?  (Only to be surprised by it again a few days or weeks later.)  Eight pounds? in a weekend? That is some serious binge eating, something I have honestly never done.  Sure, you can gain weight from eating pizza -- but one night's dinner at Pizza Hut causing an 8 pound weight gain? I don't think so.

Early last August, I got a rice cooker from my mom. I've wanted one for a long time; I like rice, and it's cheap.  Having a rice cooker made it easy to do a trial run of a gluten-free diet. 

I can't remember exactly how I came to think that wheat might be the culprit. Perhaps it was hearing that gluten intolerance can cause deep joint pain.  At the time I was, several times per week, having nights where I was waking many times overnight due to hip pain.  On a bad night, I couldn't tolerate more than 30 minutes in one position. Ibuprofen didn't help. Special pillows didn't help. I felt like a 90 year old lady.  Getting out of bed in the morning was painful.

One day while grocery shopping back in August, the same week I got the rice cooker, on a whim, I bought a mix for gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.   I baked them the next day (boy, the dough smelled bad!) and ate nearly all of them for my lunch.  The cookies tasted much better than the dough smelled. 

Nothing.  No sugar reaction.  No wooziness.  No flushed face, like I'd taken a swig of whiskey.  

I cooked rice the next day.  Ate a humongous amount of it.  Felt full, but not sick.  No "carb reaction."  None.

And no weirdo guerrilla weight gain, either. 

After that, I was wheat-free until early October. Well, I was free of overt wheat; I found that a tiny amount caused no trouble, such as the cross-contamination in American oatmeal, or the amount used to thicken a soup.

My struggles with bouts of depression lessened significantly (although I remain a person prone to down days and blue moods. That is, however, quite a different animal than the black hole of depression.)  After a few weeks, I realized I couldn't remember the last time hip pain had woken me up at night. 

Several other minor symptoms disappeared, things I hadn't realized had been bothering me until they weren't anymore.  Spatial and clutter sensitivity. Sensitivity to clothing being too tight, too loose or sitting wrong on my body.  My cold tolerance improved.  My mild adult acne cleared up.

I dropped nearly 10 pounds. It was great! I was eating less, because of feeling better emotionally, but I was actually hungry a lot less, too.

And then came a three-day retreat, with FAIL on the agenda.  I got lazy. I ate lasagna.  I ate cookies.  I ate tortillas on the road during my trip there and my trip back. Over the three days, I gained back all the weight I'd lost.  And started crying at the drop of a hat again.

Fast forward through three months of varying degrees of success staying off of wheat.  Then came Christmas.  I did pretty well at first, but as we got into the depths of the holiday season, I got lazier and lazier about watching what wheat I put in my mouth.  I gradually started to feel nastier and nastier.

So now it's time to start all over again.  It's an awful lot harder quitting the second time around, but each day of the last three days I've eaten less wheat than the day before.  Today, it was one fortune cookie. 

I'm really feeling good.

Who knows if I'm "diagnosable" with any sort of syndrome or allergy?  Really, who cares?  All I know is I feel normal when I'm off of wheat.  I can handle life, to the extent that any of us can.  I hurt a lot less.  I feel healthier.  Off wheat, I have at least a standing chance that when I eat well and healthfully I'll drop weight instead of being blindsided with oddball weight gains.  But when I'm "on wheat," I feel 20 years older than I am and I don't like myself very much at all.  And I cry alot more.

Pass the rice.

Comments

[Cheryl]

Sorry about that acne post last year. ;-)

[Elephantschild]

Phooey on you, Cheryl. Pbbbbblllt!!

[Elephantschild]

BTW, I meant to change the wording so that you wouldn't think I was making a big deal about OTHER people who post on health stuff. But you got here before I changed it.

[William Weedon]

That is really an interesting post EC. I forwarded the link to my Cin because so much of it sounds soooooo familiar.

[Joy]

Are you SURE you don't have a thyroid problem? I used to cry at the drop of a hat too--regardless of where I was on my monthly cycle. It was terribly embarrassing at baseball games, because the tears just poured during the National Anthem. We'd have friends over to watch the game, and there'd be a Hallmark commercial or a Feed The Children ad, and I'd spring a leak. Awk. Ward.

I avoid bread if gluten is a main ingredient. If it's in the 2% or less category, it's okay.

[Roger (Big Doofus)]

It's funny. I had never heard of sensitivity to gluten until last year when my sister-in-law figure out that her daughter (my niece) had issues with it. The full-blown condition is called Celiac Disease and I know several people who deal with it. It's not always easy, but living a gluten-free life is not all that difficult today. My sister-in-law (Andrea's sister) knows quite a bit if you ever want to talk to her.

[Elephantschild]

Joy, if it was a solely a thyroid problem, I doubt the symptoms would clear up so dramatically when I go off of wheat.

But that is one of the things that I've suspected over the last few years. With a $5,000 deductible and no co-pay, though, one doesn't volunteer for expensive tests.

[Laura]

I can so relate! I can tolerate gluten in one thing over perhaps four days with no significant problems...but I get like you when I eat too much. It feels terrible! I am having a pot pie tonight...that should be fine. That means no more for a few days, at least. I did not test positive for sensitivity to gluten, either.

[Iggy Antiochus]

Hey, EC, I wish you continued success! Triggers for depression can be as varied as anything out there. I am glad you figured one out that works for you.

As an aside, I have a friend or two that can benefit from your article. I will be passing it along or at least bringing it up during conversation.

God bless you on your journey!