Week 3 has maintained most of the symptoms from the last two weeks and heightened others.
My mind seems to have accepted it’s fate and I don’t notice the constancy of the discomfort so much, unless I focus on a specific part of the body. I basically go about ignoring the discomforts as though they don’t exist. Or, it could be that my mind is putting more focus on the symptoms that seem to be making it very difficult for me to do the basics. At the least, I can say that I am slowly feeling stuck within the pains of my own body. Most of the days I am in a lot of pain and can’t do much.
1.Full body inflammation: Flare ups
Ohhhh.. Dear me..
As I mentioned in week 2, full body inflammation has slowly been creeping in and it hit like a ton of bricks last weekend, and decided to stay for a few days.
I was in so much pain all I could do was just cry. I don’t know what happened either. Perhaps I ate something that completely threw my system off, or I did something that caused more imbalance than I already have, but whooooaaaa. The Pain.
Everything hurt, including my brain, chest and all joints. So much so, that I could barely walk or talk. Everything was so painful, so I just lay in bed watching cartoons.
Cartoons make me happy and sometimes we just need to tune to whatever offers us the kindness, healing, and joy we need at the moment we need it.
2.Asthma is back with a bang:
My chest feels like there is an elephant sitting on it.
Alright, I cannot lie. I was expecting my asthma to make a reappearance during the challenge and planned according by asking my doctor for a prescription.
Before the gluten challenge, I was able to go inhaler free for about 7 months. Changing my diet heavily affected how much inflammation I had and that affected the status of my asthma.
After the few days of full body inflammation, asthma became a prominent problem. Before the flare up, it was lingering in the background without causing me too much pain.
Of course there were the signs.
One of them, I was watching a movie with my mom and in the middle of laughter, I started coughing. A deep, echo filled, drumming cough. My mom looked at me and asked me where my inhaler was. Well… It was still in it’s box hidden in the closet.
Before that moment, there were other signs. The frustrated moments of feeling as though there wasn’t enough air in the room, anxious moments of feeling as though I can’t breathe. But for the most part, I had it under control.
The asthma has not been kind either. Pangs of pain in my chest, breathing is difficult and sometimes talking is too. And sometimes, BEHOLD… blood when I spit and brush and of course more pain. At times, my chest feels like it’s carrying 500 tons of bricks on it.
I am saddened to say that I am back to using my inhaler in full swing. I use it every 4 hours and if I could, I would probably use it more.
3.The room is spinning. But wait… I’m sitting or lying down.
Yes. These happen when I am sitting or lying down.
And Yes. I also have dizzy and lightheaded spells while standing. And a history of all out pass out spells (which thankfully have not made a reappearance.)
But right now, I get dizzy and lightheaded while lying and sitting down. It’s something, isn’t it.
I actually cant explain this symptom. The first time I had it, I was really afraid, but as it continued to happen, I got used to it and have learned to work past it’s confusion. It’s trippy.
I haven’t had this happen in a while, and now it’s back.
4.My perspiration has a pungent smell.
Like many things in this journey, this is also not new. As a matter of fact, before understanding that I had a problem, I would notice that certain foods changed my perspiration.
Of course, I filled myself with antiperspirants before they started affecting my health. That was until I researched and discovered how much damage antiperspirants actually cause (stay tuned for a post about the dangers of using aluminum filled deodorants and antiperspirants).
Then I experimented and researched with natural deodorant, until I learned how to make my own (This took months of trial and error until I made a recipe that works)
Yes. I make my own deodorant and it works on this symptom like a charm.
5.Recovery is very slow: Exercise hurts.
First let me explain my relationship with exercise. I love, love, love, looooveee exercise. Exercise and books are my retreats.
In week 1, I talked about how I struggle with depression and I use staying positive as a way to keep it in check. Along with staying positive, another way I keep my depression in check is exercise and booyyy does it hurt right now.
So now, two of the biggest ways I keep depression at bay are increasingly becoming difficult for me. I feel like I should take this opportunity to say that, the gluten challenge is really not a good idea for people with gluten problems. What a paradox.
In a nut shell. It’s taking me a while to recover from exercise or anything that hurts for that matter. So by all means, it would be a really bad idea for me to get cut or injured in any way right now.
Ok. So like most of the symptoms I have spoken about during this series, this is actually not new. It’s intensity is new, but its existence is not.
About 2 years ago, I started realizing sharp and specific upper back pains that resulted from weight lifting, kickboxing and boxing. I cut down on those and maintained cardio exercise. I then developed serious fatigue issues that made exercising difficult, so I stopped exercising.
Like most of the symptoms I talk about through this series, the fatigue and pains disappeared when I changed my diet, and I went back to exercising full swing. But now they are back with a new ferocity and I am back to no gym.
So my upper back hurts, no surprise there. The new thing is, my body takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r t.o r.e.p.i.a.r from soreness. I don’t actually feel sore. I am just in pain.
Another interesting thing that may be connected to this is, I have a tan from November 2017 that has not completely gone away. Maybe poor blood circulation? but I am thinking that whatever is keeping the tan from completely going away is probably contributing to my pain during exercise repair.
6. Wait… I can’t see.
So I noticed this before I started the gluten challenge. I noticed that on days that I have flare-ups or a bit of inflammation, my eyesight is not good. What I usually see, I cannot.
With gluten, this issue has become heightened. The seriousness of it is increasing by week. For the most part, everything at a distance is becoming blurry to a certain extent.
7. Ohhh my joints
I love sitting on the floor, and this is becoming something of a challenge. Keeping my knees bent for a long time or sitting on my heels, cause significant pain when I unfurl my limbs. Oyy, the pain.
Also, typing and using the mouse is starting to create a bit of a challenge. Not too much to cause me concern, but enough to be noticed.
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