Nothing to do with Basketball

So, back in November, I was looking for some sort of part-time job that would make me even a few bucks more a month. It didn't have to be a lot of money, but a little bit more would really help. My mom mentioned in passing one day that one of her coworkers worked on the Buck's promo crew, meaning, they hand out the freebies at the entrance for several of the games each year. It doesn't pay a ton, but it's a little bit and it helps, so I managed to get a job with them. At first, it seemed great that I would get paid, plus get free parking, and I would get a ticket to go to each game that I work. I used my free ticket for the first game or so that I worked, but eventually I realized that my brother works at the bar across the street from where the games take place. I started going over there when I was done working instead of going to the games. I certainly don't need to have a couple of drinks each time I work, and I do like watching the Bucks games, but I have started making a habit of skipping on the free game ticket and going over to see my brother each time I work. He is so busy, that it is difficult to find time to spend with him. So, over the past few years as much as I would like to get to know him more, I haven't had the chance. I kind of see this opportunity as my chance to get to know him. It's really been a great experience the last couple of months. I know once in awhile he and his coworkers must wonder why I skip on a free game ticket and head over to the bar, but it is just so nice to get to spend some time with him. So, I guess my take away from this is that, as much as I love sports, it is just way more important to me to get to spend time with my brother and I am so grateful to have gotten this job not for the extra money or anything like that, but for the chance to spend more time with him.

Trader Joe's

I can not say enough good things about this store! In the past, I had gone down to Illinois to pick up some Two Buck Chuck and a few other items, but I didn't pay much attention to their food selection. Then, a couple of years ago, we finally got a Trader Joe's in Milwaukee. But, it's on the north side of town and I don't get up there all that often, either. When I went gluten-free, I was trying to taste a lot of different foods that were out there, to get an idea of what I liked. One of my coworkers suggested I check out Trader Joe's and I went on their website to see if they commented on a gluten-free selection. Not only did they comment on it, but they have a 7 page list of everything in their store that is gluten-free.

So, I made a trip up to the store to check out the products. See, while they had a lot of options for me, I was concerned a what they would cost. Gluten-free items at a regular grocery store seem to be obscenely priced, so I wasn't getting my hopes up until I saw some prices. I was very excited when I got there and found things reasonable as well. I was able to get a large bag of rotini-shaped rice pasta for a couple of bucks. Then I saw the holy grail- Gluten-free Mac N Cheese. It looks just like the Kraft- powder cheese and everything, but with rice pasta. Again only a couple of bucks for a box, so pretty good. I did make a couple of adjustments from the instructions- they don't call for any butter, but I added a little margarine, and I tossed on a little of the cheese powder that you can use on popcorn- with my tweaks, I would definitely say it is a rival to the Kraft, and I would know because I used to consider myself a connoisseur of macaroni and cheese. Anyway, I am a huge fan of Trader Joe's now. I'm taking a trip up there this weekend again to stock up on stuff, can't wait!

My New Journey

I'm not sure if I've commented in the past about my migraines, but pretty much everyone who knows me is aware of the problems they have caused in my life particularly the last couple of years. I've always had headaches, but a couple of years after college, I started getting what was diagnosed as migraines. I didn't know what they were at first, but I was getting really bad headaches that would center behind one eye or the other, I would be very light sensitive and many times wound up nauseous. I was taking off about a day a month because I couldn't get out of bed from the headaches. My boss actually asked me if I was depressed or didn't like my job because I was calling in sick so much. Once I finally got diagnosed with migraines, they got me some hard-core medicine to take care of the headaches once I got them. And that pretty much got me through the next several years. I would get a couple of migraines a month and would take the meds and get past it. But, a couple of years ago, I started getting the migraines more often- 3-4 a month at first. Then by this past year, I started getting them in bunches, 5-6 in a week with up to 8-10 a month. I was going broke just paying co-pays on my medicine and I would spend days in a drugged-up state once I got rid of the headaches, but still had so much medicine in my system.

I knew I had to do something with this and my doctor's suggestion was to go on preventative medicine for them. My concern with this is that these meds aren't designed for migraines. They are anti-seizure and hypertension and depression drugs that they have discovered have a side-effect of getting rid of migraines. I don't have any of those problems that the drugs were made for, so I have an issue with taking them for this. So, I spent two months this past fall trying to track everything that I ate, or did, and how much I slept to see if I could figure out what my triggers are. Nothing stuck out. No sleep connections, no food connections, nothing. There was only one thing that had a slight connection- any time I mentioned having stomach "issues" it seemed like I would get a migraine. But it wasn't always and since my migraines brought on nausea, I didn't think much of it. Until mid-December when I was talking to a friend about the headaches. I mentioned the connection and she asked if I had ever considered trying gluten free. I guess one of her co-workers had really bad migraines and she went gluten free and her migraines went away. I didn't think that I had the willpower to do something that drastic, but I kind of remembered the conversation.

Right after Christmas, I had another bout of migraines. This caused my doctor's office to call me because they had gotten so many requests for additional refills on my medicine. I also found out that my insurance was switching my medicine from a tier 1 to a tier 3- which meant going from $12 for 4 pills to $55 for 4 pills. Ouch. I started doing some research. Googling migraines and gluten turned up several small studies that looked at potential links between gluten and migraines. One of the many symptoms of gluten sensitivity is headaches, so it made sense. Plus, I ate a ton of gluten- bread, pasta, breaded foods, that type of stuff, so it would be tough to see that as a trigger.

So, I made a decision and on January 5, I went gluten free. I decided to give it three weeks and see what happens. I was honestly hoping just to see a decrease in the intensity or frequency of migraines. I really didn't think getting rid of them was an option. But, I decided that if I was going to do this, I would do it all the way. So, no low-gluten diet for me, I went gluten free. Now, I haven't taken things to the extreme of someone with severe celiac disease where they can't eat anything prepared on the same grill as gluten full food. But, I haven't eaten anything with gluten since January 5. During the first week, I had two migraines. But since then, nothing. I've had a couple of headaches which I've been able to take care of with just a couple of Excedrin. I haven't gotten rid of a headache with Excedrin in a couple of years. This has been nothing short of a miracle. I'm slowly adjusting to my new lifestyle, but it still gets pretty difficult at times. But, since this seems to be a big part of my life at the moment, hopefully I can update this blog a little more frequently and it will probably focus on gluten free. I'm over a month with this, so hopefully I can keep this up.