Gluten Anxiety

[nik95670]

I have been gluten free for four weeks & while the diet & diagnosis has it's challenges, I can honestly say I've never felt so good in my whole life. Increased energy, focus, mood stabilized & improved, and the god awful pain and stomach aches are GONE. I'm finding a major increase in anxiety though. I'm SO terrified that I'm just all of a sudden going to be sick again like before I went Gluten-Free. I don't know how to explain it but I feel like I SHOULD feel more confident eating, going out to social events, etc. but I think it just hasn't been long enough & I don't have the confidence. I'm still scares most days that I'm going to end up in the fetal position in pain & it prevents me from being totally happy. It almost seems too good to be true, that all I have to do is eat right & I can have such improved quality of life. After 20 years of "diagnosis" and "cures" that were short lived, I'm just feeling a lot of anxiety that this won't last. Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with it?

[T.H.]

After 20 years of "diagnosis" and "cures" that were short lived, I'm just feeling a lot of anxiety that this won't last. Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with it?

Oh yeah, I've been there!

I first dealt with it by staying paranoid for months, LOL. Time was really the only cure for it, and for my fears that involved screwing up my good health again.

But looking back, I kind of see it as a lifestyle change rather like having a new baby. At first, you are scared to death about raising a child, screwing up, dropping the baby on its head, missing something that will hurt her, forgetting the baby in the car when you're exhausted, whatever.

But slowly, you get used to thinking of your child 24/7, and it becomes part of your daily life to listen for your kids, wonder what they're doing, think about what to say to them to keep 'em safe. The constant fear fades. But at the same time, it's not that the hyper-awareness goes away, it's just that you get used to it being a part of your normal life and the FEAR goes away.

That's pretty much what's happened to me, anyway. You won't be able to stop thinking of gluten all the time, not if you want to stay safe. But it becomes second nature after a few months.

As an example, I used to be a very oral person - I chewed on my nails all the time, popped things in my mouth to hold on to them when I was thinking(like pens and pencils), and so on. Now, the second I go out my front door, I don't do that. It took me weeks and weeks to get over that behavior, but getting sick from it was very motivating.

In other words: it'll happen. It'll become normal. Not normal for everyone else, maybe, but normal for you, so it's not so overwhelming all the time. You WILL get sick every once in a while. It's almost impossible to avoid. But you'll get over it this time, unlike all the times before in the past couple of decades.

And until it does become normal....lots of deep breaths, whatever relaxes you, lots of hugs from friends, and music, and enjoying the ever-loving heck out of your good health right now. :-)

[pondy]

I'm finding a major increase in anxiety though. I'm SO terrified that I'm just all of a sudden going to be sick again like before I went Gluten-Free. I don't know how to explain it but I feel like I SHOULD feel more confident eating, going out to social events, etc. but I think it just hasn't been long enough & I don't have the confidence. I'm still scares most days that I'm going to end up in the fetal position in pain & it prevents me from being totally happy. It almost seems too good to be true, that all I have to do is eat right & I can have such improved quality of life. After 20 years of "diagnosis" and "cures" that were short lived, I'm just feeling a lot of anxiety that this won't last. Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with it?