Food Adventures
The past few days really have been adventurous in terms of food discoveries! I’m going to start this tale by telling you what happened on Friday…
This past Friday my friend came over, and because I thought it would be fun, we went out and got ice cream. It was fun, but when we got back, I started to feel really awful. I assumed that it was because I’d had a long day, and because the driving to get to the ice cream place had been rather atrocious. That night (still not feeling well) I didn’t sleep all that well, and I woke up in the middle of the night because my eyes were sore and itchy; I looked at them in the mirror, and they were bright red because they were so bloodshot.
At the time, I assumed that my long day had just sparked my fibromyalgia, while my eyes had been hurt by…not properly cleaning off my makeup before bed(?) (I was less convinced of this answer)
The next day, I wasn’t feeling all that great – still worn out, I assumed from the day before. At lunch, I had a piece of havarti cheese on my sandwich. I mentioned a few days ago that I thought I might be lactose intolerant, but honestly, I wasn’t entirely convinced, and it was just one bitty piece of cheese anyway…
After lunch I felt AWFUL! I was so nauseous, that I thought I was going to throw up. Thanks to large amounts of Gravol, I didn’t throw up, but I was feeling really miserable. Then my body was randomly itchy, and later my eyes got all dry and itchy too. I even noticed that I was having a bit of trouble swallowing. By the end of the day I was so exhausted and sick that I ended up going to sleep at 7:00 pm! I slept for fourteen hours!
Have you guessed it yet? For two days in a row, I was having allergic reactions to dairy!!
Now I’m sure you are wondering how I could be allergic to dairy and not notice. I have an explanation, though it may or may not make sense to you. Awhile ago I talked to a friend with fibromyalgia who said that after she was diagnosed she practically became a hypochondriac, assuming that every symptom was a sign of something greater. I on the other hand, went completely the opposite route. I just assumed that everything was related to, or explained by, my fibromyalgia; so when I felt super duper nauseous and tired, I didn’t consider that it might be because of the food I ate.
I’ve never been one to complain, so I didn’t pay close attention to the patterns of when I felt worse or better; I just did what I could to cope. Now that I’ve started to pay close attention not only to what I eat, but how I feel before and after I eat it, I’ve realized that some of the problems I’ve had in the past few years may be related to food allergies!
I was still not feeling great this morning, but I’ve been drinking excessive amounts of water to try and flush out my system, and am starting to feel much better. I’ve also been drinking camomile tea, which is meant to calm your stomach (add a few drops of lemon to make it extra delicious!).
So the moral of the story is: no more dairy for Jane!!! I’m going to cut it out completely and pay attention to how I feel over the next few weeks. Hopefully this change will make a big positive improvement.
