I Read a Book!

Okay, so my last few blogs haven't been as "positive" as some of my other ones, but, hey, recovering from Lyme disease is not always easy and I would be a phony (and kind of annoying) if I were super-positive in all of these blogs. Lyme rage has been a significant problem and I needed to write about it as truthfully as possible. My stomach has also been a problem, way more sensitive than usual, and being unable to have a beer and/or eat Chipotle has been very depressing to me. Hence my need to write "darker" blogs where I sound like Mr. Whiny-Pants.

This blog, however, will be much more positive because I've had a bit of a breakthrough. Last week, I decided to pick up a book I've been meaning to read, one that I've kept on renewing from the local library, and I figured I would at least try to read a few pages before I finally returned it. I expected I would only be able to read a couple pages here and there because my eyes have been uncooperative when it comes to reading print (i.e. non-digital) books. My right eye gets all dry and itchy and stingy and sometimes even feels like there's a fregging Dyson vacuum cleaner sucking it out of the socket. For these reasons, I can usually only read a few pages of a print book at a time.

So, I picked up the book, read a couple pages and then something weird happened. I suddenly realized my eye didn't feel so bad and I could probably read some more. And some more. And some more? What the frig-newton?!

This is the book I read.

Indeed, my eyes felt much more comfortable reading the book. I was practically reading like a normal human being, a feeling I hadn't felt in so long and it was great! Within a few days, I completed the 280-page book. It was the first print book I was able to read in more than a year!

What happened? What changed?

Well, I have two different theories:

The first theory is that the Artemisia I've been taking has killed off more of the parasites that have been messing with my eyes. I've been taking the parasite-killing herb for about four months now (read my parasite/Artemisia blog HERE) so it's very possible the results are finally starting to show.

The second theory is that my recent change of diet had something to do with it. Basically, I've gone gluten-free or, to be more accurate, I'm about 98% gluten-free. I had been wanting to go gluten-free for quite some time but kept procrastinating because I didn't think it would make that huge of a difference. However, I finally decided to bite the bullet when my stomach started giving me problems (see last blog). I figured my belly issues were the writing on the wall and I needed to finally take the gluten-free plunge.

See, gluten -- along with other carbs and sugar -- feeds both Lyme and the parasites (including candida) that usually come along with Lyme. If you remove gluten from your diet, it's much more difficult for Lyme and parasites to thrive inside of your body.

Also, Lymies are, for whatever reason, much more intolerant to gluten than the average person, kind of like they have celiac disease but they usually don't test positive for celiac (I didn't). In fact, gluten is essentially a toxin for people with Lyme so, if you remove gluten from your body, you're consequently much less toxic, you experience much less inflammation and your immune system is all the stronger.

Now, if you're like me, you're thinking that wheat should be one of the most simple and harmless foods out there. After all, what do you learn about in grade school but the five basic food groups and grains are on the top of the list. Wheat is a staple, for crying out loud, so you would think it would agree with most people! But it's changed over the years because of hybridization; today, there is 8-10 times the gluten in one kernel of grain than there was when hunter and gatherers started to farm 10,000 years ago. This explains the human family's growing gluten intolerance. (Source)

So, for me, gluten is out of the equation for now and reading print books is back in the equation, which I'm happy about. So many books at the local library. And now I can finally read some of them!