Becoming Gluten Free

First of all....this is effing hard.

This may sound random to some people....well maybe everyone.  I have never had a great stomach or digestive system; my mom has IBS and I was tested for Crohn's and it was negative, my doctor, about 12 years ago, decided that all of my symptoms fall under IBS as well.  At the end of high school and the beginning of college were my darkest times.  I literally could not eat anything without worrying about my stomach errupting and causing a great deal of pain.  The pain is so bad with IBS that my mom told me if I could get through an episode, child labor would be a breeze.....years later while I was in labor with Parker, I remembered her statement and honestly, I remember IBS pain, I could not tell you how bad the pain was in labor....yea it hurt, but it was tolerable.

So my mid to late 20's were really smooth.  The pain that I experienced in high school and early college was not nearly as frequent.  I could go weeks without an episode and I become tolerant to peppers....which I love now.  Looking back at how this syndrome has changed through my life is interesting.  When I felt the least amount of stress, between 18 and 21, it was the worse in terms of pain and frequency.  Then through pregnancy and my break up with Parker's dad, finishing college with a small child (and commuting from Dayton to Cincinnati everyday), starting the job I still have, transfering and moving back to Cincinnati...which all was much more stressful, my system was some what normal.  But since my downtown store closed last June, my system has changed drasitcally.  It is completely different than in my early 20's.  Since the beginning of 2011, it has gotten worse and I am just simply sick of nothing working.  The most common suggestion I have to help me is to take fiber....well, it has shown that fiber actually makes symptoms worse.

I was bumming around on medical websites and was rerearching IBS (I do this every so ofter) and it said that a common trigger for IBS is wheat, barley and rye.  Three of my most favorite things in the world.  I have tried so many things from perscriptions to probiotics to everything I can think of so now it is time to try this.  I have not consulted a doctor yet which may make some people cringe that I am trying something so drastic with out than consultation.  I plan on it, but the sacfrice is worth the idea or possibility of being some what normal.  I feel like crap most of the time...I am always bloated which makes me feel like the size of a house, I just hate those feelings and everything else that goes with it too.

I thought it didn't sound too hard until I went to the grocery store on Saturday.  I buy red beans in chili sauce...they are great in tacos or just with a bit of chicken....well guess what...those effing beans have wheat in them.  Also I bought ice cream without reading the label, and you can guess what was in that too.  I have come to terms with no beer, mostly, I have discovered the hard cider really isn't that bad, vodka and everclear are always options and maybe I will discover a taste for wine.  But overall, this is going to be much more difficult than I thought but it has been a week and although I don't know what normal feels like, I feel a little better than normal for me.