But that doesn't make it less real.
Back when I wrote my first #BecauseGluten, the guys from the Celiac Project reached out to talk to me for their podcast. I subscribed (the Gulfport-to-Ybor-City commute is brutal on the way home, so I listen to a lot of podcasts), and over the months I've learned a lot. The biggest game changer for me was the episode where I learned about the Find Me Gluten Free app, which allows me to find gluten-free restaurants while traveling.
Well, the biggest until now.
Last month, the podcast guest was a woman who suffered from gluten withdrawal fatigue, something I'd never heard of before. Two years ago I would've dismissed this as bullshit (remember, I was the world's biggest asshole about celiac and GF diets, and my diagnosis is the universe's idea of karma). Now, I turned up the radio and listened closely.
See, after I gave up gluten, people kept asking me if I felt better. No, I didn't. Aside from the anger of never having decent French bread again, aside from being an asymptomatic or silent celiac who never had the symptoms most celiac sufferers do, I felt like shit. As in, I was tired all the time, had no energy and — oh, yes — I gained 30 pounds in less than six months. Everything seemed like an effort. Shopping for groceries. Making a salad. Walking the dog.
At the time, I chalked it up to low iron, because my iron-deficiency anemia was so severe my hematologist told me he'd never in his life seen iron so low. That led me to get another iron infusion and also receive B-12 shots. Except none of them kicked in like they had before I gave up gluten. I tried to start yoga, but ultimately couldn't get my ass out of bed to get to it. Where I once woke up without an alarm shortly after 4 a.m., I started sleeping till 8 a.m.
This was not normal.
And turns out, going GF may have caused all of it. Not that I shouldn't have given up gluten. I have celiac, and gluten was literally killing me, so it was absolutely the right thing to do. Anecdotal evidence suggests the fatigue I felt is common when people give up gluten and go through withdrawal. It makes sense: Gluten is found in carbs, simple (white bread) and complex (wheat bread), which your body coverts to sugar, which gives you energy. It stands to reason that if your diet doesn't contain a lot of processed or naturally occurring sugars, except for those found in food that contain gluten, you will experience a drop in energy. Additionally, my body might be healing (slowly — four decades of gluten takes a while to undo), and that, too, takes energy. Factor in plain old depression at having an incurable disease and, yeah, it could explain why people get incredibly tired when they go gluten-free.
I'm using my paltry knowledge to make these deductions; I could be wrong. While I'd love to point you toward research that supports — or decries — this, the medical community doesn't seem to want to talk about it. The only articles I can find are far from medically supported. They make sense, but lack research. I did come across a forum about the topic, a wholly unscientific one, and another by a somewhat controversial doctor, the Wheat Belly doctor and cardiologist William Davis. Davis identifies what I've described as gluten withdrawal fatigue, aka carb flu, aka Atkins flu, aka paleo flu, aka keto flu.
After eight months, it has started to go away. I began exercising again last week and went back to yoga this week. I bought ingredients instead of frozen meals. I woke up before 5 a.m. today.
Whether or not I can find valid research on this no longer matters. It happened — and I'm getting past it.
A little warning would've been nice, though.
This article appears in Aug 17-24, 2017.