Many people don't realize that I am basically in a mode of discomfort/pain quite frequently. If I sit or lay for any extended amount of time, I stiffen right up. It's first obvious in my hips, I basically can't walk when I stand up. My hips are extremely tight. It takes a few limps (and sometimes a near fall) before I am able to walk halfway normal. Once those hips loosen a little, then my feet and ankles let me know that they too are not enjoying my attempts at walking. After a bit of moving around, most of my joints have loosened up to the point of being able to get around without too many difficulties. Getting out of bed in the morning causes the same difficulties for me ~ every morning... It's actually quite embarrassing to attempt to stand in front of people after an extended period of time of sitting/laying!
Unless I have wrist splints on at night, I don't sleep well. I have HORRIBLE carpal tunnel in both wrists. My hands don't just go tingly numb... they turn into solid, numb, painful boulders. From my elbows down, I can't feel them. From my elbows up... a very painful throb. Thankfully, if I wear my wrist splints my nights are better. Most nights with the splints on, I have no issues. Sometimes, my hands are little tingly even with the splints on, but not very often.
A short while back I completed a Whole30 Challenge. It was tough! It was unbelievably tough ~ for about the first week or so. Once my cravings stopped, things went quite a bit smoother for me. I did veer off of it on Thanksgiving (we had a gluten free/dairy free Thanksgiving) ~ something I regretted! I went back on the challenge after Thanksgiving!
What happened to me on my Whole30 Challenge was a beautiful thing! Actually, many beautiful things happened :)
~ First of all, my hip, ankle and foot stiffness basically disappeared. Honestly, it was gone!! For some reason, it didn't actually dawn on me that it was gone until after I splurged on Thanksgiving. A day or two after Thanksgiving I was a stiff as could be! At that point, I actually told Mike that I was never going to eat grains again. I was miserable.
~ Second, my carpal tunnel improved to the point that I didn't need to wear my wrist splints and was able to sleep through the night. A beautiful thing :)
~ Third, I've always had an itchy, flaky scalp. I would scratch and scratch until I caused scabs to form. I also had the same thing on my right eyebrow. It was quite disturbing, and something the children all teased me about ;) A week or so into the Whole30, I noticed that the itchiness was decreasing. By the end... the itchiness, scabs, flaky, dry skin WAS GONE! Not only from my head, but also my eyebrow.
~ Fourth, the melasma on my face decreased dramatically. I did some research and more often than not found statements like this " We conclude that there is a true association between thyroid autoimmunity and melasma" ~ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3923030
After the completion of my Whole30 Challenge, I unfortunately went back to eating grains and sugar. These were basically the only 2 things I had to let go of due to our family already being GF/DF already because of several allergies. Unfortunately this was a really dumb move on my part! I am basically miserable! I can't hardly walk, my melasma is ridiculous, my carpal tunnel is out.of.control, and the itchy, flaky scalp I mentioned above... is back with a vengeance. It feels as though these symptoms are actually worse than they were prior to my Whole30 Challenge.
I have come to the conclusion that grains and sugar are my enemies. I know that Christmas is just around the corner, and with Christmas comes goodies!! The goodies will be available for my family, but I won't be indulging! I'm over it ~ I am going back to living pain free!
This time around, I won't be doing the Whole30... I'll be moving into Whole365 for life, living the Whole9. The stiffness, pain and discomfort I get from eating grains and sugar is just not worth it for me.
Here's to a new beginning!
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