Um, Gluten-Free?? …me?

Hi all, I thought I might share with you a little of the current events happening in my life lately.

A little over a month ago now, I had this very strange, rather frightening experience. I was sitting down to lunch at home and suddenly the entire left side of my body went numb. Over the next hour the sensation of pins and needles, the way one’s foot ‘falls asleep’, would come and go in waves. There was no pain. No confusion. No slurred speech. No oddness in my facial features or my ability to smile. Just pins and needles from my cheekbone down to my tippy toes.

I was alone, and it was scary. But as I was praying, I felt a sense of peace, and so I went and just laid down, and fell asleep. When I woke the feeling was much improved and eventually went away almost altogether. About a week later, I kinda had a recurrence, tho’ not nearly as intense, and the tingling had moved to my right arm and right shin as well. At this point today, I feel very mild tingling in my left cheekbone, shoulder and toes, my right forearm and right shin. The tingling is intense in my left fingertips and toes only.

I’ve continued to pray and ask the Lord’s guidance. No, I’m not one of “those” kind of Christians who are completely unwilling to go to the doctor. But I am on the alternative and natural end of things, and have been for many years, and so my first reaction isn’t necessarily towards the medical community. I also believe God’s a living God who can and will direct me. He might choose to send me to a doctor. Or He might choose to show me alternative methods for healing. It’s up to Him.

So anyway, a visit to a medical doctor may be in my future, idk.. but for now, I feel like God is showing me things about gluten sensitivity. Like, for instance, one of the main initial symptoms is neuropathy…. iow…. yep, tingling in the extremities. Another sign is brain fog, and I was struggling with that hugely for several weeks/months before this all happened. The longer this goes on, the more I realize I’ve had many of the symptoms of gluten sensitivity in one form or another for quite some time: constipation, bloating, chicken skin, ADHD (not being able to concentrate or focus), mood issues (ya, ask my husband on that one :P), dizziness and off balance occasionally, joint inflammation, itching, etc.

So…… thus begins my journey into the gluten-free world.

Part of the reason for hesitation of going to a medical doctor is that gluten-sensitivity cannot be diagnosed, and has only recently been accepted in medical circles as a valid condition. Apparently, the surest way of knowing whether you’re gluten-sensitive is to go off gluten for a few weeks, see if the symptoms lessen, and then reintroduce it again and see if the symptoms return.

So, I’m a couple weeks or so now into this process. There’s been definite improvement in my physical symptoms. The brain fog and concentration and focus problems disappeared almost immediately. The bloating and constipation have gotten so much better. I’ve not had a spell of dizziness and loss of balance since going off gluten. The tingling is still there, but there’ve been several days where I’ve hardly noticed it at all except in my fingertips and toetips.

Anyway…… I don’t wanna make this post a book, so I’ll try and wrap it up. There’s a lot of argument on both sides as to whether going gluten-free is just another trendy thing for the public to do, or whether there’s truly a benefit to a gluten-free lifestyle. I haven’t really thought thru the answer to that debate, but what I do know is that there’s a lot of weird illness and symptoms and unhealthiness going around in our society and sooooo much of it (most of it?) has to do with our diet. We are overfed and malnourished and eating so much food that has been changed from it’s orginal intent.

If you suffer from any of the symptoms mentioned above, or if you suffer from migraines, headaches, depression, irritability, pms, or any number of ‘mysterious’ symptoms no one can seem to figure out, then maybe the answer is as simple as changing your diet and eating clean, real food. And maybe there’s real help in going gluten-free for a while too. I’m not one for bandwagons, but after my experiences in the last month, I say: trendy or not, it can’t hurt to see what happens…

<3
~Mary

The link below is a podcast that I stumbled onto recently. It’s a wealth of information for the gluten beginner on what causes gluten-sensitivity.
Dr Vikki Petersen podcast

Feature Image from: http://unearthedcomics.com/ Check ’em out. Fun stuff. : )

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The purpose of Jordan’s Crossing Herbal Connections is to promote the sharing of information about healthy, natural products and dietary supplements. JCHC’s views and opinions are INFORMATIONAL ONLY and are not intended to constitute medical advice. If you are sick, injured or pregnant, please consult a licensed health care professional.