At twelve years old I was forced to live without my dad because he passed away at a young age from a massive coronary. Eight years ago I was forced to live without my mom because of lung cancer. I didn't think I'd make it through either of those situations but somehow life has moved me forward, like it or not. Did I learn to accept and cope? Yes! Did it effect my life tremendously? You bet! Were they choices I'd have made if asked? No, not at all!
Many people live without hearing, seeing, limbs, feeling in legs or arms, certain organs, salt, sugar, dairy products, etc. They may have even thought that they couldn't live without whatever above thing when they were first made to have them gone. Some people may even have dealt with living without one of those right from birth. Yet, they have learned to live without it. It can be done when necessary.
A year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's autoimmune disease. I had never heard of it and was told it was a thyroid disease. It's not. It's an autoimmune disease that tries to destroy the thyroid first but will eventually move on to other organs and systems of the body. As a matter of fact, if I happened to have my thyroid removed, I would still have Hashimoto's. It would just move on to something else inside me to destroy. I was also told when first diagnosed that it's not really a big deal but in my research I found that it IS A BIG DEAL and can lead to other autoimmune diseases and even certain cancers. There is much false information and "helps" out there for Hashimoto's and sorting through can be difficult and over the past month I have come to realize that it should not be done alone. I believe I have stumbled along the correct help and expert to finally help me. Tomorrow I embark on a new journey to put my Hashimoto's in remission and stop the destruction in my body. I have already removed gluten from my diet because it has been proven that no one goes into remission without removing gluten. I am quite sure that working with the new group will lead to other things being removed from my diet and life. I can make up my mind early that I can't remove anything else or even keep on the no gluten diet because it's too hard or I can decide that whatever I need to do is worth me feeling good again and having energy to enjoy life. I know it won't be easy but most worthwhile things aren't. I know it will cost some money (praying it won't put us in the poor house) but I will get resourceful if necessary. I also know that I am worth it! There was a time in my life when I may not have felt that way but that is no longer. I matter. I have something to offer to those around me and I want to be here to offer it and to feel well enough to offer it.
I listen to people as they say they can't live without their coffee, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, sugar (tho diabetics do every day!), eggs, milk, or gluten, and I think to myself, you never know what you may have to give up in the future. Frankly, most of those should be eliminated from every person anyway. I was once one of those people who thought I could never go gluten free but I have. It mostly takes thought. What makes it harder is people's reactions to my choice. The teasing and down right snide comments hurts as I fight back tears sometimes and in my mind must tell myself that I'm doing this for my health...for my very life because I don't want to end up with thyroid or liver cancer. I don't want to keep suffering with multiple symptoms that have gone unexplained for many years and that I thought I'd just have to live with. So, as I'm told "don't bring that gluten free crap around me" or "my food tastes better than yours" or "you make meal choices difficult"; I must grow a thick skin and just know that my health is worth it. No one else has to participate with me or encourage me or understand my choices. I have decided to take this journey and I will be posting my progress from time to time. If you are someone who doesn't care to know the progress then you can choose to not read those posts. It's not like I have scores of readers anyway. I just hope I can help a few and make people think. That's why I started blogging in the first place. To touch others and as a therapy for myself also.
