I am finishing week 4 of of the gluten challenge and my goodness me. On certain days the pain is intolerable. The emotional drain unexplainable. And frankly, on those days I just want to give up.
I cannot deny that the last 4 weeks have been extremely difficult. What I can account for is that at the end of all this,I will get an answer to the mystery that is my health.
This week’s symptoms:
1.Tingling numbness in hands and feet:
No surprise there. This usually happens after sitting in one place for a long time. Putting pressure on my hands and feet for extended amounts of time does not help either.
Like the other symptoms, this disappeared for a while, but has made a return during this prolonged gluten party.
2.Chest Pains:
Ok. Well this is by far the scariest symptom I have.
So I have occasional heart palpitations. Iโm used to those and they donโt scare me that much anymore.
I am experiencing two different chest pains on the left side of my chest. First one is a dull ache right under the far right of my left breast, that never goes away. This dull ache also turns into sharp shooting pains that spread across my chest and make it very very hard to breathe.
The second is a dull ache with the capability of becoming very uncomfortable and painful, above the far right of my left chest cavity.
These started a while back. Although they were sporadic, they would come and go as they pleased and whenever I noticed the pain I would discuss it with my doctor (of the time), and this led to many EKG tests, but everything always came back normal.
Since I started the gluten challenge, I noticed itโs presence increasing in intensity. To this point, it has turned into a constant. The dull aches never goes away, and the sharp shooting pains come and go as they please.
3.Asthma:
As I spoke about in week 3, asthma is a real pain.
4.Anxiety and Mood swings:
I donโt like this part. Not as if I like any of the other parts. I just really really donโt like this part.
I have anxiety issues.
Over the years I have learned to observe my anxiety and have something of a cordial relationship with it. I know my signs and symptoms, and I know what to avoid to keep them at bay. Part of the reason anxiety and I had a good relationship was based of my diet. What I eat heavily affects anxiety and gluten seems to give anxiety an edge that I cannot understand.
Anxiety attacks are back.
This week I had an anxiety attack while cooking. There were many things going on, too many people talking, I was being asked questions, and boom. Anxiety attack!
The signs were all there, because it has been such a long time since I had to pay attention to my anxiety, I was not prepared. The attack was not as big as they used to be, but it bothered me that I did not see it coming. I mean, the signs were all there.
I got flustered, felt as though I was stuck, all over sudden things seemed as though they were moving at an unbearable pace, my breathing changed rapidly etc. I basically should have seen it coming.
With the anxiety comes the mood swings. Ugh…. I just, ughโฆ I don’t like mood swings. I like constancy and not being able to be in control of my moods just makes this whole situation that much worse.
5.Low energy, extreme fatigue:
I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am so tired.
I am just so tired.
6.Muscle & Joint pain:
My whole body hurts.
Although my muscles though bother me the least. They donโt hurt unless touched, bumped, etc. The pain is there at a distance, so as long as I avoid bumping into anything, or jumping children, Iโm ok.
7.Strong perfume make my stomach hurt + cause inflammation:
This is very interesting.
I noticed this towards the end of 2016 and it eventually disappeared when I changed my diet by removing inflammatory foods and gluten.
Now itโs back!
Perfume makes my stomach hurt, and the worst part of it, the stomach ache comes along with a full body flare up.
8.Irritated:
I really donโt like this part of my symptoms.
I am soo so very irritated by anything and everything. I mean, even oxygen can be irritating if it rubs me the wrong way at the wrong time.
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