Rice

NOTE: All g are net carbs

I usually eat a bit of carbs at lunch, unless I know I'm going to have carbs at supper. Balance!

Yesterday I had a shake before I went to work for a half day (around 12 g). Since I wasn't planning on eating a carby supper, for lunch I ate grits with cheese (22 g). The only other carbs I had were 1 tsp demerara in my coffee (4 g) and 1 square of Ghirardelli Twilight Delight (4 g).

Last night I ended up eating my favorite frozen dinner for supper (http://www.shopwell.com/full-circle-butter-chicken/poultry/p/3680036784). It is fairly healthy, with real ingredients. I add more chicken and a bit more cream. But... 42 g.

At 84, my total carb count for the day wasn't bad. Higher than usual, but not terrible by any means!

Before I ate last night, the swelling in my hands and feet had finally gone down for the first time since the episode Sunday night. When I woke up this morning, I'm swollen again :( Not nearly as bad as I was, but it's noticeable.

I've been trying to minimize rice. I've been saying that I don't tolerate it well. I think this is more evidence of that. I do okay with (GF) oats, grits, potatoes, etc.

I absolutely LOVE that frozen dinner! A friend who lives out of state recommended a butter chicken seasoning packet that looks like it has good ingredients (nothing I react to in it obviously). Once I find it in a store here, I'm going to try it, without rice.

For now, I'm going to continue keeping rice-based products to a minimum.

Gluten Reactions Suck - Stage 2?

My last post was Thursday of last week. The symptoms were easing. They say it takes about 30 days for gluten to really clear your system. I think this week is evidence that it's still wreaking havoc in my body...

Sunday my stomach felt a bit off. I didn't eat anything unusual. Yogurt and coffee for breakfast. Roast, beef broth "gravy" over 1/2 cup of brown rice, and Brussels sprouts for lunch.We had to bring the boys back to their dad's, so I had my usual extra cup of coffee before we left. I also took a dose of Pepto in case I had stomach issues brewing, which would be a big problem on a car trip!

I ate a string cheese on the road. When we got home, we ate some leftover chicken and coleslaw. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Shortly after, my stomach started hurting. It got worse. The pain would come in waves. I laid down and pressed on my gallbladder to see if it was causing me problems. It wasn't any more sore than the rest of my stomach. The most tender parts were in the lower middle area. I could feel stomach acid backing up into my throat.

I finally got to sleep about 2:30am. I woke up an hour later in worse pain. I got up and sat in the bathroom. The pain kept getting worse. I was beginning to think I needed to wake up my husband and have him bring me to the ER. It was that bad! (says the woman who's suffered at home through numerous gallbladder attacks and stuck gallstones) I finally vomited the undigested contents of my stomach. TMI Food that I had eaten 14-15 hours before looked freshly chewed, despite acid burning my throat as it came back up.

The pain eased after my stomach emptied. Monday I braved some chicken broth and Jello. My stomach still didn't feel good, but it didn't rebel. Tuesday I had a small bit of coffee (to avoid a caffeine withdrawal headache) and a little more food.

Today is Friday and my stomach still doesn't feel back to normal. I'm taking it fairly easy. Yesterday I had a second cup of coffee in the afternoon. It was also the first day I've eaten veggies (a small bowl of coleslaw).

I'm wondering if it's a delayed digestive reaction to the gluten. Especially since my stomach was okay last week. Everyone ate the same thing as me with no problems. I was so sick. And scared :(

Thoughts?

Gluten Reactions Suck :(

(I originally posted this in July but I think it got out of order when I made a minor edit in August)

Last week (beginning of July) my husband ended up in the ER :( Turns out it was "just" a kidney stone, but it was pretty scary! When we stopped at the pharmacy, I picked up a bag of a new Ghirardelli Intense Dark flavor. I paid for it and opened it while we were waiting to fill his prescriptions. Ate one.

Tuesday when I woke up, my stomach felt a bit weird. I took some Pepto and didn't think anything more about it. By that afternoon, my emotions were out of control :( Every little thing was making me upset to the point of tears. I had to make the 5ish hour round trip drive to bring the boys to their dad's. It was a tough trip!

By the time I got home that night, I started thinking there was something really wrong. My anxiety hadn't been that bad since..... my last gluten exposure 2 years ago. I tried to think of everything I had eaten in the last couple days. The only thing I could remember having different was the chocolate. I eat Ghirardelli Intense Dark on a regular basis. But this was a different flavor. I pulled up the ingredients online (the bag was downstairs and I was upstairs).

Ingredients: Sugar, Unsweetened Chocolate, Glucose Syrup (Wheat), Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Cream (Milk), Butter (Cream, Salt), Nonfat Dry Milk, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Vanilla Extract.

*facepalm* 

There it is, right in the ingredient list that I did not check :(  I'm so anal about checking labels! I guess after being in the ER with hubby, with the boys, having to get his car from his work, etc, I just wasn't thinking. Plus I know I can eat GID normally, so I think that played into it too.

My stomach never acted up too much, but my anxiety was through the roof! I got upset easily. I was sad. I had no motivation to do anything. I was absolutely exhausted. My heart rate would jump whenever I did the least little thing.  

I found something that helped a little. I take Quercetin as needed for allergies. It took the edge off the anxiety. 

Sunday evening I finally started feeling somewhat human... Today is Thursday. I'm still fighting the anxiety but it's better. 

If the little bit of gluten in one square of chocolate that had a wheat-derived ingredient affected me that much, I'd hate to see what more would do!