Connect the dots

As I have said to Trillian a couple times in the past few days, there has been a part of me that wished the gluten-free diet wouldn't work, that we could just call it quits and go back to eating all our usual old stuff. It would certainly be easier. Wouldn't solve anything, but everything would be easier.

But I can't ignore that there's been a difference. After years of being a low weight for his height, Scooter has been gaining weight. He's filling out and I can no longer count his ribs easily. If his gut is anything like mine, he must be feeling better too.

To add to all of this, Trillian was doing some research today that further supports at least the "gluten-free" part of the gfcf diet. Our internet research takes us to information on celiac disease, and Trillian found that there are some potential connections between some odd health issues I've long had and gluten.

The most interesting one is paresthesia. My extremities fall asleep very easily. Like I cross my legs and get pins and needles in my foot and lower leg within minutes. I cannot do anything above my head for more than about a minute at a time. Almost four years ago, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, though I only barely fit the criteria based on tender points. The neurologist, however, felt that my paresthesia was much more severe than would make sense, given the level of my other symptoms. I had various scans, even allowed them to stick pins in me and run electrical currents through my body to see if there was anything impeding my nerve impulses. Absolutely no reason was found. No explanation. Just figure out how to live with it.

Turns out that there are people with celiac disease whose symptoms include paresthesia. So I'm waiting to see if this gets better if I stick to the gluten-free diet for several months. And then maybe that will be one way Scooter doesn't have to take after his mother.