autumn in sydney has been very very nice 🙂
i thought i’d take advantage of the great weather, and get out to do something (but still take it easy)
yesterday, i ventured into the city for the first time in months (sad, huh?) and met up with a few flickr friends for a short walk back into darling harbour. the morning started out COLD but warmed up by the time i left my friends to head back home… later on my sister Hayley, my long time friend Sabrina and our dogs ventured down to Cafe Bones. it was really great to catch up with Sabrina, we go too long inbetween seeing each other but we’re planning on changing that asap. Hayley really loved the dog park – when we were young, she was the ‘dog’ person of the family, but she’s yet to have own of her own. i think i’ve convinced her to get a mini poodle!
this morning, i woke up even earlier – and by 7am i was down at Coles to do the grocery shop. i know, 7am! i’m crazy – but i need to use a trolley these days and when i’m usually there at 10-11am it’s way too busy for me to shop in peace. 7am was actually very lovely, and i was back at the apartment by 8am to make a great breakfast and hang out in bed with a dvd on…
after my post-brekkie nap, i did a few necessary chores (boring) and decided to get out of the apartment and treat myself a little bit without going crazy. after picking up some photos i had developed overnight, i wandered down through darling harbour again to look for a gluten free lunch somewhere. turns out there aren’t alot of options but just before i turned back, i stopped by YOTS and saw they had 1 gluten free lunch on the menu. i can’t remember what is was exactly, but i think it was a potato rosti with pumpkin and beetroot and it was GOOOOOD.
so i sat on my own, watching the boats and people go by – and it was a really great afternoon, exactly what i needed to get out, but slow down at the same time..
that’s the day so far, i still have some serious couch plans involving gluten free cake and a stack of magazines but i think you’ve had too much excitement reading this already 😉
for the past few weekends, i’ve somehow eaten or come into contact with gluten or something else that i’m allergic/intolerant to but don’t know of. i think it may have been a moisturiser i’d never used before, or it could of been the 2 squares of chocolate i thought i was safe. those are the only 2 things i touched before it went a bit haywire for me yesterday. i was really looking forward to a full day out. stupid moisturiser bastard.
it’s been hard – as hard as it can get when you’ve got alot of things to do and you’re pregnant and already experiencing weird bodily functions. i’m mostly worried about the effect is has on the baby, if any? i’ll find out, hopefully it’s not so bad for him/her. i also miss feeling ‘safe’ when it comes to food and other things that i touch or put on. i’m alright with avoiding, but i feel like i’m totally losing it whenever i feel myself sliding away.
the effects of a food allergy/intolerance comes on quick for me – usually within 5-10 minutes I will start to feel anxious, very antsy and scattery like there are bugs crawling around inside of me. i’ll start to feel like i need to hurry up whatever i’m doing (even if it’s just sitting there watching tv, i feel like tv needs to be faster). 20 minutes in, I start to get a headache and feel really lightheaded, while still trying to rush around wherever i am. 35 minutes in, the tiredness kicks in and all i just want to do is sit down and go to sleep. luckily, yesterday, my sister was with me so could drive us home otherwise i would of camped out in the most comfortable aisle at woolworths for a few hours.
the rest of the day, i’m exhausted and can’t really focus on anything. the rest of the week, i have a sore throat and my face is inflamed with horrible red patches. (this is why my friends don’t see me, ever. i’m hiding out).
i’ve made the decision that next year after I have the bub and things are settled, i’m going to have the proper test for Coealic Disease. i think it’s important for me to acknowledge that an elimination diet doesn’t work 100% of the time and i need to know what is going on inside me. what i don’t like, is that i’m going to have to go back to eating gluten/wheat/yeast for at least 6 weeks (longer, i think actually?). i don’t think i’ll be able to handle a newborn and going back to foods that i know make me feel like garbage… but i guess i need to look at the rest of my life, rather that put it off and put it off…
i’ve been really scattery the past 4 or 5 days or so .. must of been something i ate because this is typically how i feel if i’ve eaten a pile of ‘oh no’ foods – but i haven’t!
it’s been tough trying to figure out what it is, between the nausea, agoraphobia, dizziness, joint pain and swelling, it’s either the breadcrumbs (yes breadcrumbs) from Regan’s sandwiches that were accidently mixed in with what i’ve been eating all week on my sandwiches; or it’s something crazy new like the mosquito bites that dot my face like a road map.
either way, i’m tired and tired of whining about it so much that people tend to brush it off. i wish there was more information on food allergies and the effects (whether physical or mental) because i’m sure i’m not alone on this. i feel like i’m going totally insane when i’m like this, really out of myself (but not crazy like i’m going to do something bad!)
interestingly enough, the way i’ve been feeling the past few days is exactly how i felt when i was in Malaysia and incredibly sick. funny that i never thought it could be a food allergy thing back then. (we never figured out what happened to me over there).
still, the weekend hasn’t been a total write off – we did get some bulk gluten free cakes (but left it at my parents house by mistake), Mischa took her new harness-style leash out for a spin and did very well; and i’m revisiting our old Buffy on vhs tapes and watched ‘The Body‘ episode and cried my eyes out again. there’s some much needed shopping to be done when i feel a bit better, but that can wait til next weekend.
