To Diet or Not to Diet?

Hi All,

With all my new health developments I am trying to research ways to make life easier on my body. Now that I am used to my medicine things are better but I am still achy and have had sleep troubles because of pain. Everything I have read says that I need to heal my gut before I do anything else. I have to admit I have not been eating the best lately. So, I guess I will give it a try.

A lot of articles suggest that Sjogren's is linked to Celiac's disease. For those of you who don't know, Celiac's is a gluten intolerance basically. I have not found out if I have this or not but I am seriously hoping NOT! I love bread waay too much for this to hit me. My mother has it and I have watched her basically give up on eating bread regularly. It is a sad thing.

I have "dieted" in the past and I always told myself I will cut back on things but I will never give up bread completely. So, here I am faced with this conundrum. I don't see my rheumatologist until the end of October so I am seeing what I can do until then to help my body. My mom really thinks I have at least a gluten sensitivity and wants me to try going gluten free to see what happens. The problem with that is- besides the obvious- going gluten free doesn't mean I will be "healthier" or have the potential of losing weight from it.

JK I have a lot more to lose than that ;D

Some gluten free products have more calories and sugar to compensate for the lack of gluten. I know it sounds weird but it is true. With this problem I am going to try and see what I can do without some gluten free options and be very mindful of the calories and sugar intake. I do not want to gain unnecessary weight because this option seems better, "healthier", or whatever.

I wanted to put it out there and see what you all thought about this. Does anyone have Celiac's and found certain brands are better than others? Has anyone gone gluten free and not had a health reason that forced them? Also, if anyone has comments or thoughts about Sjogren's in general that would be helpful as well since I am new to this whole thing! Your comments and thoughts are welcome and always appreciated. Until next time!

One Step At A Time

Hi All,

There was another break in our regularly scheduled updates unfortunately. I apologize for the lack of updates but I have a good reason for it.

I have just recently been diagnosed with both mental illness and an autoimmune disease. I had no idea and it explains a lot about what I have been feeling the last 2 years. I have an autoimmune disease called Sjogren's syndrome. The short of it is my white blood cells are attacking my saliva glands and joints. I have mild symptoms right now but all of the muscle and joint aches are caused by this. Explains why I have trouble getting myself moving some mornings.

Anyways, it has been a rough road for me the past couple months. I have felt sicker than I ever have before in the worst "I am sorta functioning" way. Sleeping is a chore because I am either sleeping way too much or have severe insomnia. My body hurts and I get headaches a lot more than I ever have. All of this combined with my mental illness and struggles with that are making life very difficult.

But on a more positive note, I am working for a company I love doing something rewarding that has a flexible schedule. I am getting answers and better at managing things everyday. I have great friends all over the world who support and love me and some who are trying to get me my dream job. Kelly has always been an ear and sends me encouraging messages that help me more than she knows. Her journey is still going strong and I love seeing updates from her. She is very busy these days too with her grown up job and getting married to the love of her life. We have both missed out on a few posts but we hope you readers are still interested in our crazy lives.

I now have a schedule where I have enough energy to go back to the gym so I will see how I do with that in the coming week. I also am seeing a rheumatologist soon to figure out where I can go from here. Thank you everyone for being patient and keeping up with our blog! Hopefully, we will be here more often once again!