Well this is a new concept for me but I have always wanted to be a writer so I guess why not write about my struggles right? Well my struggles as you can probably tell from my title have to do with gluten. Now this is something I suspected for some time but until recently didn't put all the pieces together.
Just this past week I started feeling awful, I mean not being able to lift my head awful! I had to stay out of work for two days due to unpleasantness in the bathroom, constant nausea, and headaches. I thought, well I have the stomach flu. But with some reflection I realized I didn't have stomach flu symptoms. I started to really think about my diet and how I had been eating lately, and what do you know the holidays were not to far in the past and guess who dappled in some gluten eating. ME! I knew I had a problem but thought it was just an intolerance. I think it may be more. Why you ask?
Well I have never had normal hormones, didn't get my first period until I was sixteen. And now people I am about to get really raw with you.....My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant now for over 3 years! and guess what the doctors can find nothing wrong with me, and yet I have never gotten normal periods unless I was on the pill.
It got so bad at one point that I didn't get my period for 7 months! I now am about 3 months on one month off. Now if you are trying to get pregnant this is extremely frustrating! because every three months you think you are preggers! But nope just one pink line shows up still. I cannot even tell you how many tests I have taken over these past 3 years. But lets get back on track....
I started really thinking about my stomach issues which I have had sense birth being diagnosed with lactose intolerance at 6 and Irritable Bowel syndrome at 20. Turns out when thinking about when I have recently missed my periods where months where gluten had been more prevalent in my diet...coincidence? I am thinking not.
Another thing you should know about me is that I have been a vegetarian/vegan off and on ever sense I was 10 years old. During college I decided to commit myself to a vegetarian diet fully again and that is when I was diagnosed with IBS which guess what kind of foods I was eating as a busy college student, boca burgers (which contain gluten) and whole wheat pasta. Well no wonder I spent most of my night life stuck in the bathroom, but honestly I just thought I couldn't eat! And after having a tube shoved up my behind I really didn't care to go for more testing IBS was good enough for me. But now in trying to get pregnant my problem I believe is more severe than I had thought, celiac disease leads to infertility and hormonal problems, ding ding ding! Oh and I fit all the other symptoms as well.
I am currently no longer vegetarian or vegan (for some of my friends I know this is shocking) but trying to figure out what I can and cannot eat has been something else let me tell you! My husband and I are eating a mostly vegetarian diet with some wild caught salmon and other wild fish. We feel right now this is the best thing for us and even though I want to be vegan my body is telling me this is right for me at the moment. I just have to stop eating the gluten!
So here's the deal this blog is set up by myself to display my triumphs and struggles with entering a gluten free life and hopefully on my path towards regular hormones. It is my hope to give information to those who have fertility troubles to think about their diets before taking any fertility medication because the answer may be what you are digesting, at least that is what I am thinking to be the case for me. I would also love any information any of you have to guide me on my path to a gluten free and hormonally balanced life. Lets see where this road takes us and hope that my intestines can finally take a break from working so hard to digest that which it cannot handle.
So here I am opening myself up to anyone willing to listen, today starts my journey with hopefully a new found love for my stomach and a new found love for shirts that don't have to hide my bloat ;-)
Peace, Love, and eat well,
Ashley
Great first post! Very bold of you and an interesting read. I wonder if you have any thoughts on how mercury levels in fish can effect the body? This article hit on the topic of wild vs. farmed salmon for example. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHello, I must say I am very excited to have my first post! :-) Thank you for the nice words! Thank you for the article as well! I will be sure to check it out. I do understand mercury levels in fish is not great for our bodies, but in honest the amount we are eating is minimal and hopefully will soon be none. We mainly eat salmon and that is about once a week and that is wild Alaskan salmon. Now granted they are beautiful fish and I would rather not eat them, however, I think my body was just seeking it out because it was having to fight the gluten so much so hopefully I won't crave it anymore once I have healed more. I cannot wait to get back to my veg diet!
ReplyDelete-Ashley