Disguised Progress?

I semi-accidentally got a hold of some gluten on Sunday. Not a ton, but enough to make me sick. I had ordered catfish at one restaurant that said it was battered in cornmeal, and ate french fries that were battered in "seasonings." Both were fried in oil that wheat was fried in. I knew the risks, but was feeling rebellious and thought, "surely this won't bother me." I was immediately sick within an hour- pregnant looking belly, digestive reaction, and felt cruddy the rest of the evening. Monday, my brain was in a fog all day and I could not concentrate for anything, plus I was in a sudden deep depressive fog and had a major blood sugar crash. Monday night I had trouble sleeping. Tuesday, I felt so much better and didn't think anything else of it. Tuesday afternoon, notice a painful burning feeling on both forearms. Tuesday night, problems sleeping (I sleep through ANYTHING so this is a big red flag for me that something is wrong). Wednesday morning, opposite of Monday- overly energetic (a lot of anxiety). Wednesday evening- full out rash on my forearms and back (typical places for gluten rash). I didn't think of all of these things related until I looked up 'gluten reactions.' This is a normal reaction-immediate digestion issues after eating, followed by brain fog the next few days, and skin reactions up to 2-3 days after. The skin reaction is called Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), nicknamed "gluten rash."

SO, the good news is, I was properly diagnosed with gluten intolerance. I know you may be thinking, "well obviously, Caroline." But back me up here, fellow food allergy peeps... Once you are diagnosed with a food allergy, some normal thought processes are, "it's probably just in my head" and "I bet it's not that extreme, I've eaten this my whole life and I am sure I can cheat a little," or "maybe I am making too big a deal of this and will try a little something in attempts to prove I am really okay." But seriously, if I am going to commit a LIFETIME to no wheat/no gluten, it's nice to have backup proof that I can't tolerate it.

The added bonus comes in this little fact... The more you "heal" from the intestinal damage caused by your food intolerance, the bigger the reaction. This is proof that I am healing! It's icing on my gluten-free-cake to have tangible evidence that giving up my regular cake is worth it!