Gluten

Thursday:

I continue to get lots of pelvic/abdominal pain, even though I had my uterine fibroids removed, so I am no longer sure it is reproductive-organ-related. I saw my doctor yesterday (a different one, they get a new female doctor every six months as part of their training) and we talked about the possibility it could be digestive-tract-related. I had not realised until some internet research this week that I have a number of symptoms indicating possible Coeliac Disease or gluten intolerance. Apart from the abdominal pain, I have lots of joint pain, frequent mouth ulcers (which I had related to sugar, but maybe it's gluten), fatigue, and I don't seem to absorb vitamins well from food (eg I have to take Vitamin B12 despite eating lots of meat, and I've had other unexplained deficiencies in the past). I'm not jumping to any conclusions, just looking for answers.

So that the gluten test will be accurate, I have to eat four slices of bread a day for four weeks before a blood test and then maybe a bowel biopsy. Eating bread certainly isn't a hardship, but I do worry that it will derail my lowish-carb weight loss efforts, and if it's actual Coeliac Disease then every bit of gluten is doing my body real damage. I've decided to go ahead with the test because I definitely want an answer about my abdominal pain and other symptoms. And avoiding gluten is considered a bit of a fad (loved the joke that Californians are so afraid of gluten that you could rob a bank with a bagel) but for people with Coeliac it is a major issue leading to serious health problems and gluten has to be strictly avoided. (And even if  a person just feels better without it, why sneer at them for that?)

I had a lovely roast chicken roll for lunch, and garlic bread with dinner. Yum. I didn't have any stomach cramps after yesterday's bread, but I had a horrible sinus headache in the evening and this morning. No idea if it was gluten making my existing hayfever worse (because it encourages inflammation) or unrelated. I haven't been gluten-free prior to this, just lowish-carb, so I don't know if the increase will make a big difference to how I feel.

Access to our front door is currently only up a fairly steep driveway and this is an issue for some older or unwell visitors (like my 100-year-old grandfather, or my father-in-law's partner Jo who has lung cancer and therefore compromised breathing). We're planning to have stairs and a railing added next to the driveway and we've had two contractors come out to have a look. One very pleasant youngish well-presented clean young man who ummed and ah-ed and looked very uncertain about everything, as if he'd never tackled that particular type of job before. And one somewhat older man with work-stained clothes and dirty boots who was casually confident and looked like he built stairs every day. We haven't got the quotes yet but I'd feel a lot more comfortable trusting the second guy!