Tori’s Writing Hole

Actually, no I don’t. I’m missing one. And dental insurance is no friend of mine. So now I have to wonder how long I’ll be avoiding smiling, talking and eating in public. Some b-day I’ll be having on Friday… supposed to go out to dinner, can’t get anything with wheat so that rules out some of my fav places, and I can’t eat anything that requires me to open my mouth wide. (No jokes!) The next day is my nephew’s birthday party, and while my hubby has convinced me that family will understand my toothless status, I’m still not keen on the idea of showing off my gaping hole (still, no jokes, please).

On another topic, by mistake I ate part of a fortune cookie yesterday (wheat based) and today I feel poopy (not literally, which is a problem). Is this coincidence, or does it show that I really have a problem with gluten? I guess it’s too early to tell. Julia makes the whole day ok, though… she was just running through the house saying the names of all of her cousins - she hasn’t seen them in a few weeks. It was so cute! (Btw, Emery seems to be her favorite name).

I’ve also written some poetry that I’m really proud of in the last few days, and I’m hoping to get some more “for me” writing done as soon as I meet my end-of-the month freelance writing deadline.

Technorati Tags: gluten, teeth, dentist, writing

So I’ve spent the last few days trying to figure out if I have a food allergy or intolerance. I don’t believe it’s a dairy thing, rather, I think I’m gluten (wheat) intolerant. The list of symptoms is a perfect match for my ailments, from muscle pain to fatigue to the horrible bowel symptoms. I registered on Celiac.com and began reading the message boards and I was so very, very shocked…

I also have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which is pretty darn rare (1 in 5000 to 1 in 10,000 people are afflicted with it). While on the Celiac board (Celiac Disease is the most severe form of gluten intolerance) I found other people who have noticed a correlation between these two genetic disorders (Celiac Disease afflicts 1 in 100 people). How freaky is that? I’ve never even encountered others with my connective tissue disorder outside of a specific group for EDS, and here on this board there were several!

So next week will be the litmus test (well, really, the allergy test) when I ask the doc to test me for food allergies. Until then, I’ve cut gluten out of my diet, which is so very hard. I love bread - I think I’d choose bread above all other foods. Give me a crusty loaf of French bread, some butter, and I’m in heaven. No more, if this is my illness (and albatross). At least I can still have chocolate.

Technorati Tags: celiac, gluten, gluten free, bread, chocolate

Ok, so when is vomit funny? I guess that’s a subjective question - plastic puke may crack some people up, as may fake barf shown on TV. However, real life throw-up is hardly ever funny. Especially when it’s spewing from your toddler at an alarming rate onto the nearest furry family member, namely, our dog Dakota.

Julia’s little throat decided that one crumb of her breakfast bar was just one crumb too many, and she decided to projectile vomit said bar across her outfit and downward. The only problem was, she was sitting on my lap at the time. And Dakota was directly under us, waiting for any stray tidbits to fall. Well, something fell- in a white chunky stripe across his furry back, ending with a dollop on his head.

Of course, the floor was not immune, so I was left with:

1. Toddler covered in barf
2. Dog decorated with streamers of barf
3. Two puddles of barf on the floor

As I quickly scooped up Julia and cleaned her, Dakota commenced eating said puddle. Ick. So I hurriedly took him for a bath as well. Then (thank God for wood floors) I got to come back to the living room and clean the floor. Tired, oh so tired.

Moral of the story? Train daughter to save vomit for when Daddy’s on duty. Train dog not to look up lovingly at me with puke on his head, big brown eyes saying “Don’t you wanna pet me now?” Oh, and no more breakfast bars.

Technorati Tags: dog, vomit, barf, breakfast, bath

For the last two days I’ve had an extreme flare up of my EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), fibromyalgia, polycystic ovary syndrome and what ever other diagnosis they can throw at me… well, I just hurt. And it sucks. Sometimes I wonder how others who live with chronic pain do it. I feel guilty about not taking care of my daughter well enough (I can’t take her out to classes, playgroups, all that because I hurt), I feel guilty about not being able to be consistent about writing or have a “real” job… heck, I feel like crap about everything.

Hopefully, having this trusty blog o’ therapy will make me feel better, I just don’t know. I do know, however, that something has to change. I’m currently looking into the possibility that I have food allergies and that they’re causing my fatigue and pain. So this week, I’m eliminating dairy to see if it makes a difference. It’s been only a day and already I miss my milk products. Especially cheese. If it is a food allergy, though, even a dramatic one like dairy, wheat or eggs - I’ll be happy to stop eating them in order to feel better. I’m also going to the dr next week to *hopefully* get blood tests to check for food allergies. This is just a guess, however - who knows if food allergies are really the source of my problems.

Technorati Tags: chronic pain, fibromyalgia, food allergy

No, PETA, I’m not talking about a jacket. I’m talking about my dog’s lovely skin problem. See, not only do I have health problems, but I unwittingly adopted a canine with his own set of doggie issues. He has a food allergy - specifically, wheat, which means finding dry dog food and biscuit treats that he can eat is tough. He also has a severe reaction to said allergen - which has caused a yeast infection to spread throughout his body. Dakota (the aforementioned doggie) has this fungus all over his chest, “armpits” and paws. It’s quite disgusting - smelly (imagine a dog covered in Athlete’s Foot - he’s like a living locker room), and he’s leaving flakes of yeasty skin everywhere.

The worst part is that the last treatment by a vet ($200 out the window) didn’t work. We asked the vet to call in an Rx for antifungals for Dakota - and we’re hoping this works. Luckily, pet meds are a little less expensive than human ones, but no insurance means we’re out of pocket.

If anyone wants to know what it’s like to have a kid before actually having one, get a dog. Same heartache, same expense (or similar) and same pain in the ass. You can’t drop a kid at the pound though, so I guess that’s something different. (Don’t worry, Dakota, you’re not going anywhere.) Ah, my two children…

Technorati Tags: dog, yeast, medicine, vet