First....knitting wise...here's one of two projects I'm currently working on. I love the three yarns I'm working with...so soft and such great variation of texture and tone. I'm about half way done with this long, wrappy scarf.
I've just started a new book recommended over dinner by a friend. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It's a wonderful novel for long autumn nights of reading.
I haven't posted in a while as I was going through a health situation with inflammation in my shoulder. I was diagnosed, for the second time in three years, with frozen shoulder. This time, my right shoulder joint was completely locked down. Being my prominent arm, the crazy pain and stiffness impacted my knitting, cooking, getting ready in the morning....absolutely everything. This second bout was going on five months when recently a friend at book club asked me if I was gluten sensitive. I had no idea. Since April, I had x-rays, MRI's, acupuncture, physical therapy and a cortisone shot. Nothing helped. But no one spoke to me about my diet or food choices. I had not considered gluten at all.
I told me friend I would eliminate gluten if she thought there could be a tie in.....I would try anything at this point. I also had two glasses of wine at this point so maybe I was just extra agreeable! The next day I cut out wheat, gluten and sugar. Within two days my pain level dropped to nearly zero. I thought it was probably a fluke but enjoyed my new found comfort. As days went by the pain stayed nearly nonexistent. Slowly now my range of motion is starting to come back. I think that my diet was contributing to inflammation throughout my system. I notice far less puffiness in my face, hands and feet. I cannot describe how much healthier I feel. I will be posing recipe links inline with my new food choices! xo
After 8 weeks of shoulder pain, I was diagnosed this morning with Frozen Shoulder and searched Twitter to see if anyone had some ideas of relief. This is the first I've seen about impact of diet on inflammation, and I am very interested in trying this! I am going for a cortisone shot on Friday {not fun, but I've had worse}.
ReplyDeleteHave you been able to keep up the gluten free, sugar-free diet? How is your shoulder doing today?
It's my first time to your blog, but I love your book list!
Hi Tara....thanks for your note. I'm sorry to hear that you have Frozen Shoulder...so not fun! I'm at about Day 32 or so and YES....Im doing great keeping gluten free, sugar free and no carbs. My shoulder pain is nearly nonexistent. I went from 3200 mg a day of ibuprofen to zero. I'm down twelve pounds which is great but really secondary to the pain relief/inflammation issue. I've received messages on facebook etc with people telling me so many inflammation stories regarding joint pain. I've had so many people tell me that eliminating gluten & sugar stopped their RA also. Let me know how you're doing and how the cortisone went! Karen
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