Gumbo was up most of the night having an existential crisis, so we went out for a run in the rain to clear our minds and rinse off this pile-up of worry.
I have been concerned as of late about the ways in which I express my pain and the magnitude of that expression (I'll delve into this at a later post.) So I wanted to write something light and celebrate the little things that come from these strange new illnesses inhabiting my body. Plus, who doesn't love a list?
So today is Positive Spin Saturday!
First up:
Things I Don't Have to Worry About Since Becoming Gluten Intolerant
- Being overwhelmed by choices at a restaurant. Can't be indecisive when you only have one choice! (Hey, lookee here, I guess I'll have fries!)
- Eating too much at the office party (Mini carrots, anyone?)
- Obsessing over "OMG when are they going to serve the wedding cake?" j/k. Who cares, I can't have it anyway! Pass the carrots.
- Impulse pastries! Unless I tote some donuts around in my purse, it's almost like I'm purposefully making healthy choices. Hooray for forced smug satisfaction!
- Hurting family's feelings by not eating their fruit cake
- Soggy noodles in the sink drain! AHHHHHHH!!
- Spending too much during airport layovers (I totes have some Kinnikinnick in my backpack, y'all) or having to eat bad airplane food. Hooray!
These are just a few of the marvelous aspects of being a gluten-free vegetarian. Positive Spin FTW.
Hi! I randomly found your blog while searching histamine intolerance. I can't believe the similarities we share. I have been in health agony since starting the depo shot 18 years ago. I never put the connection to depo & my health until I read your blog. I contracted mononucleosis within a few months of my depo shot & always connected the start of my health issues to the mono changing my immune system. For the last 18 years I have suffered with monthly sinus/ear infections & allergies to just about everything you can think of. I would love to chat about how you were able to take control of your health & how you are feeling now. Everytime I try to get off the depo I start gaining weight & becoming so moody that I go back for another shot. I actually did switch to the regular birth control pill a few years ago & was noticing improvement in my symptoms but ultimately went back to depo when I kept forgetting to take my pill. Have you had luck balancing your hormones? Like you, I am also a runner & am so tired of waking up with fatigue & joint pain, preventing me from what I love most. Please help:)
ReplyDeleteWow, there are a lot of similarities there! Yeah, I was really sick after I started Depo and attributed my cough to a lingering infection. It took so long to connect the dots.
ReplyDelete18 years on Depo is a really long time! My best friend likes to remind me that many women take Depo (or other forms of hormonal birth control) for medical reasons such as endometriosis, so I know that not everyone can simply stop taking it the way that I did.
That's some good news that you had started to see improvement in your symptoms when you went off of it! So it sounds like your body is reacting to it pretty strongly. My last shot was in August of 2013, and I hit my 200-day-Depo-out-of-body mark in March of 2014. I was really discouraged that I wasn't feeling much better, though as my partner reminds me, I AM doing better than this time last year. The GREAT news is that at the beginning of May, after a couple of weeks of AWFUL food reactions and stabbing stomach pain and feeling like my boobs were going to burst open, I started my period! Whoa! It lasted for about a month (yikes!) but was the first I'd had in 4 years. Now, for the past 6 days, I've been eating (mostly) what I want (aside from really triggering foods like gluten and alcohol), sleeping though the night, have had very minimal histamine reactions, and HAVE BEEN RUNNING!!!!! Not as much as I want to, because of this research project that I need need need to get done, but my desire to run is there and that means SO MUCH to me. It sounds like you understand that feeling. :)
You may have developed food intolerances from the Depo. There are studies showing that it inhibits liver function and your body's ability to process lipids and carbohydrates. When I discovered my gluten intolerance, it was a giant step in my process of recovery. After that, the biggest leap that I needed to take was stopping my birth control. There are non-hormonal methods that you can try such as the copper IUD. I haven't tried it but a lot of women in my Master's program said that they really like the copper IUD (and had awful reactions to Depo). I can't personally vouch for it, as I've opted out of ingestable/shootable/insertable birth control altogether since going through such hell with Depo. I may check into it one day when my body is back to normal, but for now I can't get myself to consider it.
I've heard of women having a hard time coming off of Depo. For me, the worst was really the month long period. I was so debilitated by side effects for so long that I don't know if I had anywhere to go but up. :)
What have you looked into for your fatigue and joint pain? Have you tried an elimination diet? How long did you stay off of the Depo? Like I said in a past post, it takes about 200 days for it to get out of your system. Then the real waiting begins as your body tries to start regulating itself again. I know it sounds like a daunting amount of time. I sure was overwhelmed.