Gluten Update

In my last update I forgot to mention my progress with going gluten-free and its effects on my health.

Short recap:  I had routine thyroid labs drawn in August which showed a significantly elevated TSH level.  I went gluten-free a day after receiving those test results and have stuck with it for over 6 weeks now.  My endocrinologist wanted labs repeated within 4 weeks of my appointment with him, so I had repeat labs drawn a week and a half ago.

Within 5 weeks of being gluten-free, my TSH levels have returned to normal range.  I find that pretty impressive.  Should I totally credit the gluten-free diet for this?  Maybe, maybe not.  But it's certainly enough for me to feel motivated to continue.  Some days it's challenging to stay gluten-free when all I want to do is order pizza with my son, but feeling better is more important that a one-time fix, so I stay the course.

Here's to continually improving health!

Gluten is my enemy

At least I think it is.  It's a long story but here's the most shortened version I can offer.  I was officially diagnosed with hypothyroidism at 18, took medication faithfully for 2 years, stopped for 8, managed to get pregnant, medicated again to avoid birth defects, stopped for 2 more years, then had a ridiculously abnormally high TSH reading (we're talking hundreds of times higher than the range of normal...the doctor was impressed I was even still able to function) and resumption of faithful pill-popping ever since.  However, in spite of my diligence and full compliance to medicating myself, my TSH is still significantly elevated after a year.

My initial response was indignation.  After all, I had given up alcohol, lost nearly 30 pounds, started eating more whole foods, moving my body more, just generally truly trying harder and still, STILL I had a problem.  WTH?!  How could this be?!  

Then my ex mentioned something he discussed with his current health practitioner, and it involved gluten intolerance.  I vaguely recalled reading an article a while back about gluten intolerance being connected with autoimmune disorders like Hashimoto's thyroiditis (official diagnosis), and so I decided to research again.  There's definitely compelling evidence regarding the link to gluten and malfunctioning thyroid glands, and I'm finally willing to give the whole gluten-free thing a try.

Right now I'm feeling excited and sad at the same time.  Just last night a friend of mine was trying to educate Doran on the food groups (albeit with outdated information), and we ranked our favorites.  Breads and grains were my #1.  I'm a bread and pasta junkie for sure.  How am I going to just give that up so easily?  And that's just scratching the surface.  Can I truly be as diligent as I'd need to be?

Then I think about getting lab results that show my medication needs to be reduced until maybe, just maybe, I can do without it completely and suddenly those sacrifices seem so trivial.  So I'm going to give gluten-free a shot, but not until I've said a proper good-bye.  So I'll spend the next week enjoying the wheat products I've loved and accepting that my quality of life is more important than any food I could ever eat.  And anyone who knows me knows that's a powerful statement to make.

Here's hoping for miracles!