Thursday, April 19, 2012

4 Years Gluten Free!



This week I am celebrating my 4 year anniversary!  
FOUR years dedicated to no gluten.  


The improvements keep coming, it continues to get easier, and what I am capable in my life of keeps growing.  
The food we enjoy is fresh, delicious, and abundant.
It is a beautiful thing!


I continue to be very sensitive to cross contamination and even small accidental gluten - but the reactions now are much less severe than in the beginning.  And I am grateful for that.


I am deeply thankful to my daughter for providing my ah ha! moment.  She is a gem and a joy - and eating well gives me the energy and spirit to be the Mom I strive to be, and that she deserves.  Present and pain free.


One of the most profound changes for me is when I removed the gluten - I removed the migraines that had viciously plagued me since I was 12.  Since I was twelve years old I had lived a life of frequent debilitating migraines.  Over 30 years of trying everything under the sun!


Now they are a rare occurrence.


The migraines went from 1 - 4 per week, down to 3 or 4 per year!!  And if I get accidental gluten, it will trigger a migraine.  Without it, I am clear.


So, I am off to enjoy my 4-year mark and joyfully will be able to include red wine and chocolate in my celebration!!





5 comments:

Wendy said...

You have no idea (well, actually, you probably do!) how encouraging it is to hear that the accidental gluten incidents are less severe as time goes on. I've been gluten-free for just 9 months and it's completely changed my life. I had chronic migraine for about 15 yrs (having had migraine since the age of 6 and I'm now 51). Your blog was one of the ones I found when searching for gluten and migraine 9 months ago - I wish the link was more publicised as I spent years searching for ways to ease my migraines!

erin rogers pickering said...

Wendy! congrats on hitting the 9 month mark! Glad to hear my story has helped you... and it keeps getting better! going GF turned my life around but truly the best part is saying goodbye to the migraines. I had tried everything to make them stop - and gf did it!
Thanks so much for leaving your comment, and sharing your experience!
Best of luck going forward!!!
:)

Wendy said...

Thanks Erin for replying. I'd also tried everything to stop them - a whole round of drugs prescribed by a specialist - it went on for years. I had come to think I needed to learn to live with them. My own doctor even suggested giving up work. Like you, I'm also so pleased to have got rid of the migraines. Thanks for your help in publicising the migraine/gluten link! x

Megan J. Cuadrado said...

Congratulations - 4 years!

Unknown said...

I have just discovered you blog Erin and find it so encouraging to find such a wonderful outcome from living a gluten free lifestyle. I am 27 and have been suffering from debilitating chronic migraines for almost 9 years. At my worst I suffered around 5 migraines per week, and now between 1-3 per week. This isn't helped by having a beautiful 15 month daughter to run around after! I have tried so many doctors, medications, stress minimisation, food avoidance and natural therapies all to no avail. So I have just embarked on my gluten free fact finding and am really inspired and encouraged by your story. Here's hoping I find similar outcomes through adopting a gluten free lifestyle. Congratulations on 4 years gluten free and being liberated from you migraines :)