Well, knock on wood….but I haven’t had any brain fog since I recovered from the gluten incident with the pizza at the end of our vacation in September. And that includes with my period starting again too, which I typically never make it through without brain fog!

About the same time we got home from vacation, I also ran out of my probiotic. I’d been taking it consistently since my Lyme treatment started and it’s been three months since I finished up my antibiotics for good. So I figured I was safe to stop it.

Well, my stomach has been a bit of a mess. It’s just been very uneasy and “gurgly” for lack of a better term. I’ll spare you the details. I knew I wasn’t eating any gluten since I was eating almost exclusively at home. And I wasn’t getting any of the other gluten type symptoms (brain fog, extreme fatigue, etc). So I thought it may just be that having my gallbladder out was catching up with me. It seemed to bother me the most if I ate fiber type foods (veggies or my coconut ice cream – it has 10 grams of fiber!).

So I finally broke down and went back to the vitamin shop to shell out another $60 for probiotics. I figured maybe they were helping more than I originally thought since my stomach stuff started after I quit taking them.

After standing there for a good half an hour reading every bottle in the place, I ended up getting the same one I’ve always bought because it says on the front that it’s gluten and dairy free. It’s not all that difficult to find one that’s gluten free, but finding a dairy free probiotic is dang near impossible.

When I got back to work, I pulled it out to see if it said anything about taking it with food (I always took it before I went to bed so it didn’t matter before). As I’m reading the box, I notice a statement that says it is produced in a facility that also processes wheat and if you’re sensitive to wheat, you should check with your doctor before taking it.

I WAS FURIOUS!

Why do you have a big gluten free label on your product and then have this in small print on the side? It’s not gluten free if that’s the case! UGH!

Not to mention, this is the probiotic I’ve been taking for MONTHS…..at least nine months, if not longer. So this entire time when I’ve been SO careful with my diet, I’ve been getting glutened with my probiotic!

That could also explain why I haven’t had any brain fog since I quit taking it! Needless to say, I took it back for a refund. As pissed as I was, I’m so glad I read the box before I started taking it again. This may just be the final puzzle piece in trying to go completely gluten free.

Hopefully that’s the case and the brain fog stays far, far away!

I had a conference to go to in NYC for four days. Admittedly, I was nervous. Whenever I eat out, there’s a possibility of being glutened and then I’m sick for at least a week, if not longer.

The conference I was attending said they would take care of me as far as food. Each day they were providing breakfast, lunch and snacks. So I figured I only had to be concerned with dinner.

When I arrived, I walked down to a natural foods store and Whole Foods to get a few snack things and what would end up being my meals for the next few days – a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.

The first night there was a reception. I wasn’t expecting much and I was right. I had the choice of any kind of alcohol and lots of gluten filled appetizers. I left there and went to Ted’s Montana Grill and ordered a steak with plain baked potato. I pretty much begged the waiter to make sure my food was dairy and gluten free. He was so concerned, he actually came to my table after I ate and asked me how I was feeling!

Thank goodness, I felt fine! Day one down.

The next morning I went downstairs at the hotel hoping they would at least have hard boiled eggs as part of their continental breakfast. No dice. But I could have had all the gluten I could have ever wanted! I probably could have asked for something but I figured I could eat at the conference so I wasn’t concerned.

I put a few pieces of bread and a jar of peanut butter in my purse, just in case, and left for the shuttle. When I arrived, they gave me special meal tickets to hand to the workers. So I went down to the food area and only saw pastries, yogurt and apples. Guess they figured I could eat an apple for breakfast?

Fruit is a no go for me because of interstitial cystitis so I ate my first peanut butter bread meal. I figured I would just need to hold out until the morning snack. When that rolled around, it was a repeat of breakfast.

Then it was time for lunch. They had a special table set up for food allergies and they were serving the food to you. Problem is that some who didn’t want to wait, scooped their own salad and touched their pasta filled plates with the spoon. Luckily I was standing there when it happened so I knew not to eat that.

I asked what was gluten and dairy free and she looked confused. She called the chef over and he said he would call to ask. They had meals of baked chicken and a baked potato individually wrapped and they were kosher and gluten free. Stupid me…..I said I don’t know what kosher means?! He said they can’t have dairy and meat prepped together so I would be safe. Sweet!

The afternoon snack was all sweet stuff. For dinner, I couldn’t find a place on Yelp that was gluten free that didn’t have a review about people getting sick. So more peanut butter bread.

The next morning, breakfast was the same so you guessed it! More peanut butter! At lunch, they were having fajitas. Score! Until I found out the fajitas at the allergy table were flour. Really?! Was it that hard to serve corn instead? And they made all of the food vegan. So I had about a half cup of beans and rice. It was good but I was still hungry.

That night I hopped on the subway and went who knows where to a gluten free bakery. I bought a few snacks and had those with my peanut butter bread for dinner.

The next morning, well I bet you can’t guess what I ate?! Haha! I went over to the “special” table for lunch and the only thing that was gluten and dairy free was quinoa. I hate that stuff. I saw people walking away with baked chicken but she said no, they had added BBQ sauce and it wasn’t safe. Um, ever heard of putting stuff on the side?!

So more peanut butter bread. By this time I’m starving. I’m probably averaging about 700 calories a day….maybe. It was the last day and my flight was that night. I couldn’t wait to get back home and go to Chick-fil-a!

As I’m going through security at the airport, they flagged my bag. She asked me if I had anything sharp and I said no, I just have plastic knives (for my peanut butter). She said no, that’s not an issue. So she’s digging through my bag and pulled out my beloved jar of peanut butter.

She said it wasn’t a solid so I couldn’t have it. She could tell I was annoyed but I was trying so hard to be nice. She asked if I wanted to check it and I said no, it’s okay, I’ll just starve. Peanut butter is all I’ve basically had for the past few days so I’ll live if I can’t have it again. She felt really bad but rules are rules!

I was thrilled when my plane landed and I knew where to go to eat that was safe! I have GOT to come up with other plans for traveling because this eating peanut butter for days on end is insane!