Last night I had a HORRIBLE night. Gas pains were shooting through my shoulder joints, my abdomen doubled in size, and I could barely walk without feeling sick. I was having a gluten reaction. It began around 11 pm and I didn’t feel normal again until well into the morning.

6 hours after the bloat began

Last year, I put myself on a modified Paleo/Primal diet. I wanted to see if cutting out grains would help me lose fat. I slipped up from time to time and succumbed to my bread addiction but I noticed after each time I would get some abdominal bloating. I didn’t know what it meant but since I wasn’t supposed to be eating the bread I figured that it was my punishment. Over the next few months I treated myself like a lab rat. Trying out foods, noting reactions and researching. In the end, I concluded that the best case scenario was that I had gluten intolerance, and worst case I had celiac disease.  The next step is to talk to my doctor about my conclusions.

I try to be really careful about what I eat but sometimes, like yesterday, foods with gluten get by without me recognizing it. I never had these problems before delivery. I can remember my first reaction happening when Li’l T was about a month. I just thought it was related to the c-section and maybe my body had to work out what had been done in surgery. In the beginning the reactions were so rare that I couldn’t pinpoint it. Now, I can tell almost as soon as I eat something that I’m going to be in for a bad night.

I still love breads and pastas but now I go for potato or rice based or I skip them all together. The pain, sleepless nights and missing work just isn’t worth it.