Too Much Fun = Too Much Pain

celiac painful

If the above title were reversed, this post would actually be about sadomasochism…and wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace?

But alas, we are instead talking about celiac disease.

So last week was a good week in the fun department.

Wednesday night, my business partner and I launched a new website (if you’re into the James Bond lifestyle, check it out.) To highlight the occasion, we celebrated with our wives with a little bubbly and some sushi.

Thursday night, we got invited out to dinner. Twoย gluten-free beers and a gopdol.

Friday night, we did the dinner and a movie thing, which included a few cocktails and yes…more sushi.

And Saturday night, we finished off with a night at my brother’s house. No, we did not have sushi.

So what do all of the above nights have in common?

1) They were a lot of fun.
2) They involved eating outside my home.
3) They ย involved alcohol.

And how am I feeling now?

Like total crap. Very tired, with seriously intense stomach pain; pain that I haven’t felt in some time.

(I wish I could be like Dennis Quaid in Innerspace and take a ride thru my intestines to see what the hell it looks like when I feel like this.)

It’s my body’s way of telling me to get my sh*t together and get back to a healthy routine.

Which is kinda cool…you always have to listen to your body.

But it also kinda sux.

I didn’t drink a lot (well…maybe Saturday…ssshhhh.)

I ate healthy.

And yet I feel like Morgan Spurlock on day 30 of Super Size Me.

The question is…how much are celiacs supposed to give up just to feel good?

I don’t eat gluten. I don’t eat dairy. I don’t eat soy. I don’t eat corn.

I’m totally cool with these sacrifices.

But I won’t let celiac disease dictate my life to the point that I cannot let loose a little bit every so often.

Even if it means paying the price for it.

Sigh.

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49 thoughts on “Too Much Fun = Too Much Pain”

  1. This brings up an age-old discussion from my house – What in this world is ‘worth it’?

    We have this discussion constantly (never with any real conclusions though).

    Good luck & I hope you feel better quickly!

    1. Thanks Becky. I think we pick our spots. I am going on vacation in December and I’ll be hibernating the previous two weeks to take NO chances.

  2. thats me too. if i go out of my routines, i get huge stomach pain. Not eating at the right time, oh stomach pain. mixing foods wrongly stomach pain. rules here and there. i dont eat gluten, milk, soy, sugar, processed foods, ect list is long. but still pain!!!!!!!!!!!! it is kinda dictating! yes it it! buu hehe it sucks.

  3. I wish i knew what caused my extremely high pain days Friday, Saturday, Sunday.. I didn’t even get to have the fun. And I ended up sleeping all day sat and sun, couldn’t keep my eyes open–difficult to be a mommy with celiac. today I’m hurting, but not as badly and depressed, and exhausted. sigh

    so, moral of the story, have some fun because it doesn’t really matter what you do, celiac will bite you in the ass

    feel better soon!

  4. I have the same script running through my head all the time. I’m all for feeling good and living healthy but if you have to stay in a tiny bubble in a tiny little world, is it worth it? I’ve read about people who won’t even let gluten eaters enter their homes unless they change their clothes before coming in. Just how extreme do we have to be before our world closes in to a safe little gluten free box?

  5. Life is too short to live it in fear and misery. But it can be a very thin line between the things that help us feel ‘normal’ and the things that can hurt us that never bother those without CD. I had a get together with some guys I used to skydive with twenty years ago. It was at a chain restaurant that had a GF menu and GF beer. I had one beer, a ‘safe’ GF meal, and a great time rehashing our jumps together and life since. The next three days were in a fog with a torn up gut and terrible headache. I got glutenated despite everything. But I don’t regret it. Life is simply too short as it is.

  6. Sigh. It’s always the great debate for me. On Friday, I remember thinking hmmm I ALMOST want to have fun tonight. Then I hummed and hawed about how awful I would feel for the next oh…1-3 days. And the moment passed. By 9pm when I was actually invited out, I had already committed to chick flicks and dog cuddles. Then last night I merely stayed up past my bedtime and I feel pretty lousy this am. It does frustrate me how much I give up for Celiac Disease and just for the hope of feeling better…just to all too often be slapped in the face anyhow!

  7. That bites! Maybe the sushi (stay away) or maybe the beer?

    Hard to say but when you deviate from your norm you (we) pay for it.

    CD causes malabsorption issues so keep your regular routines in check.

    I use to be a restaurant lover; try new places, etc. Not any longer. I prefer to say home but as a NJ guy, hard to do that with the aftermath of Sandy so just make the best of it.

    I have felt weird for the last 3 days and completely exhausted which pisses me off as I am not 80 years old and I should be up and lively for my mother’s birthday yesterday Nov 11th. Could barely drive home without a nap. SUX balls!

    1. No sushi and no beer? You are officially blocked from commenting again Kevin.

      JK…the sushi place I go to is safe. Been going for years. And I’m mostly a vodka guy now.

        1. Even those made with wheat pass the gluten test. The distillation process removes it all. That being said, I try to stick with Titos…not made from wheat.

  8. I honestly think we just cannot drink like we used to :(.

    Before getting very ill and Dxed with celiac, I could handle a few.
    Not anymore. I’m a lightweight now. I have 1 and I’m about done.

    I think it may be because our gut linings absorb better now? Hits us faster?. Drink a lot of water–could be dehydration.

    I am GLAD you had a few fun nights, GD!
    You said you’ve been working very hard lately.

    We all need play dates. ๐Ÿ™‚

    I refuse to let this disease control my social life, too.

    Like David, I never regret the chance to get out —because I lost enough time to this thing already and I will not let it confine me anymore.

    And honestly, non-celiacs often pay for partying, too. It bites everyone on the ass.

    Hope you feel better soon.

    1. I agree with you IH about the drinking thing … I am a complete light weight now ha ha … so is my significant other and though he isn’t a Celiac (well not dx’ed) he does eat gluten free, and he finds he is the same way.

      ๐Ÿ™‚

      1. The hubs is not Dxed either, but I know he is gluten intolerant …and he went GF with me after my DX so, well,…yup and yup

        ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Sorry you’re feeling lousy!

    I’m wondering – which gluten free beers did you drink? Because there’s several ‘de-glutinized’ beers out there that are brewed from barley – Daura from Spain and Omission from Oregon are two that I see frequently. Don’t know about you, but both times I drank Daura I had a gluten reaction.

      1. I never liked beer in the first place ha ha … so safe on that one ๐Ÿ˜‰
        I am a gin girl ๐Ÿ™‚

        Ah totally agree with your Post GD – sometimes it hurts to have fun but can’t go without it entirely … This disease can make us feel old, sometimes have to throw off that blanket …

        Hope you feel better soon! ๐Ÿ™‚

        1. GIN girl— right here…:). Cheers!

          This disease made me feel old when I was only 8 and I told my Mom:
          … MY LEGS HURT!!
          ๐Ÿ™ (she told me they were “growing pains” as she was also told ) NOPE!

          I went to dancing school anyway for 15 years, but I was never an athlete because I could not perform well.

          Left unDxed…well, it was bound to catch up to me.

          I am not kidding. I looked 20 years older (during 2008-2010) and now? well…. I look 10 years younger!! those are not MY words.. just those of a doctor I saw recently after 3 years …and my nephew who saw my pic and said: “Auntie, you look awesome!”
          Melted my heart.

          I am aging backwards…like that dude in the movie?…so just call me “Irish Buttons” ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. I have given up all alcohol and I never eat in restaurants and I haven’t regretted it at all. I’ve been burned one too many times and can’t afford to feel like crap or have my brain fog take over for a few days. There are other ways to celebrate events and have fun, one just has to be creative. If I’m going somewhere where everyone is having drinks I’ll have a water with lemon, iced tea or pepsi. No one even notices that I’m not drinking alcohol. I hope this doesn’t sound prude-ish; I just gotta do what works for me!

  11. Gluten free beer(s) make my stomach hurt and my joints a little achy–even if I have just have one or two.

    A friend of mine likes to challenge me saying, “You should treat all alcohol like you do eating gluten.” As in, it’s toxic and damages internal organs.

    I respond in the most mature, considerate way possible…

    …sticking my fingers in my ears and running in circles screaming “LALALALALALA!”

    1. Absolutely. No one has any idea how difficult life was hanging with my skydiving friends unable to eat pizza or drink beer. Now that there are ‘safe-ish’ alternatives, i will take advantage of them and damn them torpedoes. I guess there’s still a 25 year old stuck in my 51 year old body.

      1. I know for sure there’s a crazy 22 year old with perky boobs who once stayed out until 4 am still inside me.

        Here’s to those 2 crazy kids!! Cheers!

        1. Lmao @irishhearts … Just reading this post and have to comment… I AM that 22 year old… So it is extremely hard when all my friend are raging partying wining and dining .. Drunk binging at 4 am..corner diner breakfast spots etc… All which i cant take part in for the past 1 and a half years.. Its really hard sometime feeling like a complete wierdo with all these stupid allergies.. I just wana be able to have fun and not worry sometimes… But i do agree w this post where too much fun equals to much pain… People dont realize what we really go through!

    2. I can’t drink GF beer because the hops….not sure if that is what is happening. But for me I stopped beer BEFORE I was GF. Decided that I would try again, since the wheat might be the issue. Sick for days, No clue, just an idea.

  12. Not all sushi is gluten free, or so I thought? Definitely double check on the sushi.

    Try Magners hard cider. It is an Irish import brand. You will thank me later when you wake up hang-over free. I have converted a lot of beer drinkers to it. It’s a lot nicer than Woodpecker, etc….

    I don’t do gluten free beer well myself. I think it is either the hops or the yeast.

  13. That. Sucks. I am two years in to this “lifestyle” (HAHAHAHAH!!!) and although I don’t feel like I am going to die anymore, I still have stupid and yucky residual nerve and joint pain that is TOTALLY unpredictable. Like right now. I feel like someone has hit my shins with a baseball bat and then shaved my legs with a dry razor. Minor ice picks stabbing the soles of my feet. Not to make it all about me, really. ๐Ÿ™‚ I hate questioning every goddamn thing that crosses my lips. I hope you feel better soon. (PS I just found this blog and was laughing so hard I was crying at the 5 signs your gluten allergy may be fake).

    1. “I feel like someone has hit my shins with a baseball bat and then shaved my legs with a dry razor. Minor ice picks stabbing the soles of my feet.”

      You paint quite the picture Ada ๐Ÿ™‚

    2. Ada! Is that you??.

      It must be. We compared notes many times and no one else could describe this crazy ass nerve/bone pain we both share quite like that —unless it were you.

      It’s a bugger isn’t it?…grumble grumble
      ๐Ÿ™‚
      Cheers, girl!

    3. This is my first time. Iโ€™m reading From Crappy To Happy . That is how I have come a cross your explanation of your pain . It sounds crazy, but thank god Iโ€™m not the only one. I donโ€™t wish this shit upon my worst enemy. I have the same issues. Iโ€™m on my feet constantly and my feet and legs get such needle like jabs itโ€™s just in describable Until now. Wow!!! Iโ€™m a strange way, I feel little more normal. Thanks

  14. Hello, just found your blog, and I love it. Thank you for offering your support to people who have chosen or had to choose GF diets for celiac’s and other health reasons!

    I was in the best shape of my life this past June; I weighed 120 at 5’2″ and after years of doing behavior therapy and yoga, had great muscle tone. I had just turned 29, was active in church, choir, and community, and feeling fabulous. I had allergies as a child but the only remaining was dairy, so I drank soy milk.

    In June, we went on vacation, and the hotel did not clean their pool thoroughly. I ended up with the stomach virus from hell, followed by a sinus infection, followed by a “big gun” antibiotic to knock everything out of my system. My gut has been out of whack ever since.

    Unfortunately, and probably no surprise to you, I’ve not had much luck with modern medicine. I have been through a colonoscopy, a CT scan, 3 rounds of bloodwork, and stool samples. All results negative. With no answers from doctors, I sought my own. I’m smart and creative and love to cook, so I have virtually customized my own diet. I have a food journal and write down everything I eat, including calories (to make sure I get enough) and fat content (to make sure I’m not getting too much). I avoid gluten, dairy, soy, corn, artificial sweeteners, and acidic foods (particularly tomatoes and OJ).

    Last night my husband and I were out to eat at my favorite little vegan joint (they are AWESOME with food issues and I never regret eating there) and ran into one of his friends, who has similar issues. She mentioned an alternative medicine place close to where we live that is nationally recognized for their allergy treatments. My husband and I discussed it and decided this would be our next route.

    Anyway, just wanted to share my story and say thanks!
    Tiena

  15. Does anybody else seem to have faster absorption of alcohol if recently glutened or glutened while drinking?

    I was recently out with friends, had two adult beverages, slipped up and had a garnish from my friend’s pre-mixed bloody mary (there may have been some cross contamination earlier in the day as well). I swear the alcohol absorbed faster and the absorption continued to out-pace the rest of the evening’s drinking (that normally would have been fine).

    I felt like a train wreck the next day and three days later I still feel really off.

    I also have an egg intolerance and I’m fairly certain there were eggs in the gf brownies that somebody brought. That may have also played a role in the train wreck.

    thanks!

  16. Hi Gluten dude!
    I’ve discovered my celiac disease a few months ago and though by now I’ve left out all the products that make me feel ill, drinking more than two glasses of wine a night still leaves me like a whale stranded on the shore the next day. So my question is: has there been any proven link between the celiac disease and the sensitivity to alcohol (gluten free ones) ?
    Thanks for everything you write about, it’s been very helpful!

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Who I am. And who I'm not.

Who I am. And who I'm not.

I AM someone who's been gluten-free since 2007 due to a diagnosis of severe celiac disease. I'm someone who can steer you in the right direction when it comes to going gluten-free. And I'm someone who will always give you the naked truth about going gluten free.

I AM NOT someone who embraces this gluten-free craziness. I didnโ€™t find freedom, a better life or any of that other crap when I got diagnosed. With all due respect to Hunter S. Thompson, I found fear and loathing of an unknown world. But if I can share my wisdom, tell my stories and make the transition easier on you, Iโ€™ve done my job.

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