I got the "get out of jail" card.....
I've been seasoning posting this, but now a week and a half in, I guess it's time.
So, it's no news to anyone that I'm fat. It's also likely no news to anyone that I'm sick and tired of it, and likely, from it. I've had success before doing low-carb in the past (think Southbeach instead of Atkins) and the beginning of last week I started again. The vast majority of my simple carbs went out the window and with it 90% of my wheat products.
In 36 hours my arthritis pain evaporated.
I've carried a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis for the past 20 odd years. It's an inflammatory arthritis that usually behaves like a milder form of rheumatoid and it accompanies the skin disease psoriasis in one case in 20. My initial diagnosis was sero-negative rheumatoid, until 3 months into treatment when my then rheumatologist took a harder look at my skin. My skin disease has always been pretty mild, mostly scalp and above my ears. In my case the arthritis has hit mostly small joints, basically my fingers, toes, wrists and ankles and then not always the entire joint. It's been the medial side of my right ankle and the lateral side of the left, the latter of which has made me miserable and really limited my mobility for the past several years. If I walked more than a couple of blocks, or spent too much time on my feet, my left ankle was on fire, red, swollen and even warmer than usual.
Almost all of that ended a week ago Tuesday. Sans the bulk of my wheat (and the bulk of my simple carbs), the joint effusions, the redness, the increased warmth, in just about every last inflammed joint in my feet AND my hands has stopped and I've been out hiking every day since. I'm back right now from a 4 mile, 80 minute hike, and nothing other than the blister on the side of my big toe hurts.
I feel like I just got out of prison.
I saw my primary care provider on Monday, who like me is very suspicious of gluten intolerance. This both pleases me and ticks me off. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful to not be in the kind of pain that I was. However, eliminating all wheat products permanently feels daunting. I have in fact not yet done so. I've still been consuming very small amounts of uber high fiber, organic bread, no more than a slice per day. My gut has always been happier with a higher fiber content in my foods and my choice of bread comes in at 6 grams per slice, so there's a part of me that is not completely gung ho on giving it up.
Still, I have a sibling that is now off of gluten due to presumed celiac disease, so perhaps I really should take that step. For now, it's going to be at the 12-steppers say,"one day at a time".
Oh, and I'm down 6 lbs since I started this journey.
So, it's no news to anyone that I'm fat. It's also likely no news to anyone that I'm sick and tired of it, and likely, from it. I've had success before doing low-carb in the past (think Southbeach instead of Atkins) and the beginning of last week I started again. The vast majority of my simple carbs went out the window and with it 90% of my wheat products.
In 36 hours my arthritis pain evaporated.
I've carried a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis for the past 20 odd years. It's an inflammatory arthritis that usually behaves like a milder form of rheumatoid and it accompanies the skin disease psoriasis in one case in 20. My initial diagnosis was sero-negative rheumatoid, until 3 months into treatment when my then rheumatologist took a harder look at my skin. My skin disease has always been pretty mild, mostly scalp and above my ears. In my case the arthritis has hit mostly small joints, basically my fingers, toes, wrists and ankles and then not always the entire joint. It's been the medial side of my right ankle and the lateral side of the left, the latter of which has made me miserable and really limited my mobility for the past several years. If I walked more than a couple of blocks, or spent too much time on my feet, my left ankle was on fire, red, swollen and even warmer than usual.
Almost all of that ended a week ago Tuesday. Sans the bulk of my wheat (and the bulk of my simple carbs), the joint effusions, the redness, the increased warmth, in just about every last inflammed joint in my feet AND my hands has stopped and I've been out hiking every day since. I'm back right now from a 4 mile, 80 minute hike, and nothing other than the blister on the side of my big toe hurts.
I feel like I just got out of prison.
I saw my primary care provider on Monday, who like me is very suspicious of gluten intolerance. This both pleases me and ticks me off. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful to not be in the kind of pain that I was. However, eliminating all wheat products permanently feels daunting. I have in fact not yet done so. I've still been consuming very small amounts of uber high fiber, organic bread, no more than a slice per day. My gut has always been happier with a higher fiber content in my foods and my choice of bread comes in at 6 grams per slice, so there's a part of me that is not completely gung ho on giving it up.
Still, I have a sibling that is now off of gluten due to presumed celiac disease, so perhaps I really should take that step. For now, it's going to be at the 12-steppers say,"one day at a time".
Oh, and I'm down 6 lbs since I started this journey.