Still Going Strong

Today marks the ninth day I've gone without a drop of alcohol in my system.

You may have noticed my absence for day eight yesterday. That migraine that started on the week anniversary just plowed right through into the following day, and it turned out to be one of those 48 hour migraines. I'm feeling all better today, though! Sometimes you just have to wait it out. I've tried all kinds of remedies. Some help more than others, but nothing truly takes it away aside from some good ol' patience and passage of time.

I wanted to write yesterday, but I was too sensitive to light, sound, smell- I couldn't stand to look at a screen.

Every time I suffer from a migraine, I tend to have nightmares while I sleep. It makes sense. The body will still recognize pain while one is sleeping. I dreamt that I was back at work for Starbucks, despite having quit a few weeks ago. It slowly dawned on me in the dream that I had already quit, and I began to wonder what I was doing there. Slowly the answer came to me: they couldn't find anyone to cover that shift, and I was called in for some emergency help. That kind of thing used to happen all the time while I worked there, and I'd be the one to sweep in and resolve the crises. Talk about high stress.

In the second dream, I had decided that just one drink wouldn't hurt. It was like I was watching myself from a third person view, and no matter how hard I tried to scream "No, don't!" I ended up drinking anyway. One drink led to a second. By this point, the me that was watching me was having an all-out fit that finally jolted me awake.

But that was yesterday!

After two days off, I had to get back to the gym today.

I managed to shave nearly 40 seconds off of my mile run since the last time, finishing up at 10.07. I still had to slow to a walk three quarters of the way through, but it felt easier this time.  Omar showed me some weight lifting moves that I don't know the name of, but I already feel my lats getting sore. Good stuff!

I'm pleased to say that I did enough weight to upset my soft lady skins. These are my battle scars, and I am proud to have them!

I woke up feeling terrible.

I mean, you can clearly see the gastrointestinal distress I'm in today via this photo, but that was even more of a motivator for me to get on the treadmill. I know that running will help move things along and hopefully speed up the healing process.

For those of you who didn't know, I suffer from coeliac disease.

What this does is trigger an autoimmune response. My body flips out when it finds gluten, and it begins an all-out attack against my intestines. Specifically, it targets the villi, which are normally responsible for pulling the nutrients from what you've consumed for use in the body. What you see in the photo above is major swelling, caused by this attack and the subsequent attempts made by the intestines to heal. Unfortunately, the villi that have come under attack to the point of death do not regrow- they are dead and gone. With enough of that, coeliac disease can often lead to intestinal cancer. This is what makes it so dangerous for one with coeliac to consume gluten. In addition to all that, it can take anywhere from three to six months for gluten to completely exit the body. That crap sticks with you. Literally.

So how does one deal?

First: I further restrict my diet. Absolutely no processed foods. No cheating, either. It's not worth it. I'll enjoy my gluten free mac and cheese and gluten free pizza once I'm healed. Until then, I follow a heavily restricted diet, run a lot, drink a lot of water, and choose anti-inflammatory foods.