Feeling Sorry for Myself…

I have been constantly tired since we had Kyan and somewhat so also since having Jasmine, although not near as much. I have had problems with Iron deficiency and more recently (last 1 or more years) anemia. Despite keeping an eye on how much red meat I am eating and taking iron suppliments pretty much constantly my anemia has remained constant.

A few weeks ago I had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy to rule out bowel related issues. My bowel etc appeared normal but they took a sample which I got the pathology results for today.

It turns out I am not only lactose intolerant, (which didn’t overly suprise me) but I have Coeliac Disease as well. So not do I have to cut lactose out of my diet, (even tho it is not effecting my anemia) I have to cut out all gluten products as well. So no more cereal, bread, pasta, biscuits, cake, hot cross buns you name it unless it is made with gluten free products.

This is going to be so hard! I am so not looking forward to this, which by the way will be starting as of tomorrow as I just cannot stand being this exhausted any longer. It has gotten totally out of control.. I cannot even make it to 10am without feeling totally and utterly exhuasted to the point where I can’t concentrate and struggle to keep awake. This is despite making a concious effort to get at least 9hrs sleep a night and keeping up my iron suppliments etc etc. But I guess it is no wonder, as from what I have read so far, having gluten makes it difficult for me to absorb nutrients so despite trying hard to eat healthy it is not making a scrap of difference..

My gp said to go with how I feel with the dairy, so I may not cut it out completely and the only way it will effect me is gastric wise. I have managed this long without it bothering me too much (as long as I don’t have it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach) so while I will make an effort not to have too much, I will perhaps not be completely stringent about it.

The gluten on the other hand will be much more difficult as even the tiniest bit of gluten can cause problems. Dean has been sweet and has started researching already, and I just did a bit before starting this post. I have found a few websites with gluten free bread mixes and such so I may see if I can get myself a breadmaker.  You can get gluten free pancake mix too which is great as pancakes are one of my favourite treats. Looks like it will be one of the few I can still have!
Apparently a HUGE amount of foods have gluten in them so we are going to have to be really careful with reading labels. Tomato Sauce, Soy Sauce and Worsteshire sauce all have gluten in them. For those interested in finding out what exactly it is, you can read a little more about it here, or by doing a search on google or yahoo or any other search engine.

So as the title of this post says, I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself, it is going to be hard to try and eat low gi as well as gluten and lactose free! Oh well life wasn’t meant to be easy.. I had best be off to bed… tomorrow is another day. Here’s hoping that this time next week I will feel like a new woman thanks to my new diet.