Hashimoto's Fatigue after a Gluten/Sugar Binge

I'm writing this on a Monday morning and I'm dragging my butt around. I have this yucky fatigue that came on me yesterday. All my zip and energy that had been coming back in the week since I gave up sugar... vanished. I was doing so well! What the heck happened?

Well... I think I got glutened.

I know... gluten isn't a verb... but out in the Hashimoto and Celiac Disease world... it is. It describes the fatigue and brain fog that happens when you eat gluten.

And it's a direct correlation to what I ate and drank on Saturday... the day before the fatigue hit me like a brick wall. I had a beer around the campfire as we roasted some sausages at lunch time. And then I went out with a group of colleagues for an appy dinner and... I threw caution to the winds and had another beer (gluten) and then munched on several appies... all of which apparently had gluten.

The lady next to me was only eating the salad and when I asked why... she has Celiac Disease. But can't she eat the yam fries? Nope... because they are all fried in the same oil as the gluten appies... Great. But I thought to myself.. "Ah, it's just a bit of gluten"... and now I am apparently paying the price for this.

I keep bumping up against this and I keep thinking I can have a bit of gluten and be fine. But I don't think so. Every time I do this... I pay the price. My TSH was fine in October 2022, but by January 2023, it was out of range again. Why? Because we went on vacation to Mexico for 2 weeks over Christmas and I ate whatever I wanted... all sorts of things with gluten in them... lots of beer... lots of baked treats. It's a direct cause & effect.

I don't want to face this though! I really don't! It's just too hard right now to admit that I should be eliminating all of these things from my diet:

• sugar
• refined foods
• gluten - wheat, barley, rye and maybe oats (they get contaminated)
• beer and probably all alcohol (converts to sugar)
• soy
• dairy
• eggs
• legumes

And those are just the worst offenders. If I cut out the first 4 though... I'd probably see a marked improvement. But I'm really struggling with all of them. The thought of no sugar (ever), no junk food or sausages or bacon (ever), no cake (ever), no beer (ever)... just crushes me.

And I see the impact of all of those foods on me... when I let things slide, I pay the price. I can't keep ignoring that. But it's too hard on my body.

So, it's time to pull up my Big Girl Panties and grab the steering of wheel of my life away from my cravings. I can't keep giving in to them. The cost is too high. The benefits too low.