That’s the name of my new barbershop quartet. We’re coming to a county fair near you! J/K. Hey, I can’t help that I’m a dork. It’s in my genes. So since my last post I had been really good about taking Zicam and Sambucol to keep my cold at bay, and they did their job. I stopped taking them Saturday night, thinking I was in the clear, and when I woke up Monday morning there was no doubt in my mind that I had a sinus infection. I was pleasantly surprised that the Zicam and the Sambucol worked so well. I didn’t feel sick at all when I was taking them and then the day after I stop, BOOM! Definite signs of a sinus infection So I called the doctor’s office first thing yesterday morning and they gave me an appointment for 11:00 at Lahey Burlington. I already had a 1:30 appointment that same day at Lahey Peabody so I was hoping they could’ve given me an appointment at Peabody, but nope! So yesterday seemed like a very long day. Jack and I headed down to Lahey Burlington and saw one of my favorite people, Dan the PA. Basically, there was no question that I needed another antibiotic–and a stronger one at that. I probably wouldn’t have been in this position if I hadn’t LOST my last bottle of antibiotics after only taking a few days worth of them! I found the bottle a few days later and finished all the pills, but I figured I was creating a super bug. And perhaps that was the case! So Dan called in a prescription for me and Jack and I headed up to Lahey Peabody for my next appointment with the Gastroenterology Department (GI). After my dismal appointment with the dinosaur of an allergist that I saw a month ago who treated me like my gluten intolerance was all in my head, I was hopeful that the GI doctor would be more knowledgeable about food allergies and more eager to work with me. Thankfully, he was fantastic. He didn’t treat me like a moron and he didn’t hesitate when I told him I wanted to have biopsies of my intestines taken to see if there was any gluten-related damage. He scheduled my procedure for February 17. UNFORTUNATELY, until that time I have to eat gluten every day to basically create damage to my intestines. This is called The Gluten Challenge and typically doctors ask you to add gluten back into your diet for three months, so I’ll gladly do it for one month instead of three! I think you have to add gluten back in for three months to get positive results on blood work. Since I’m having biopsies taken instead, maybe a month is sufficient. Either way, I’m not looking forward to this at all. So next time you see me I may be a total disaster (more so than usual), but I really want confirmation that gluten is my problem. And perhaps it isn’t. Maybe dairy or soy is my real problem. So to test that idea, I’m not going to start eating pizza and guzzling milk. The ONLY thing I’m adding back into my diet is gluten. Perhaps I’ll find that I still feel fantastic, and if that’s the case I’ll know that dairy is probably the real problem. I’ll know in a few days for sure!
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