Coeliac and me – two years on

The second anniversary of my diagnosis came and went last week. On the day (2nd Oct) I had a nagging feeling I’d forgotten something but couldn’t think what. Coeliac is, thankfully, so ingrained in my everyday life now that it is second nature. When it did occur to me I re-read my post from last year’s anniversary (read it here) and I was amazed at how far I have come.

Last October I was aching and tired after walking the dog for 30 mins a day. I now do weight & cardio training at Golds Gym 3/4 times a week and regularly see a personal trainer. I get achy and tired if I don’t. My weight is now well and truly under control. I feel strong for the first time ever and I love it.

I was working around 2 – 5 hours a week as a freelance social media consultant where I could, more or less, pick and choose when I felt able to work. I worked with a client, Liz Toogood, who became a great source of inspiration. She achieves more in a day than most in a week, despite living with disability, and has the ability to make people around her feel anything is possible; her attitude to life is infectious. She gave me the courage to make the move back into proper employment. An actual job – with a start and a finish time and an expectation of achievement in-between. The ‘Good Luck’ card she sent me when I got a job has become my mantra in life…

What I didn’t know is the security of a proper job and a regular secure income would lead to big change in my personal circumstances. Just one month later I separated with my husband/ partner/ soulmate of 13 years. It was tough, there is no denying it. It still is. The kids are young, they accept but don’t fully understand it. But when times are tough I read the quote on the card (now framed in my downstairs loo) and it gives me the strength to dig deeper.

Mentally I’ve come a long way too. I’m still ‘taking the tablets’ but on half the dose I was last year and I am achieving some remarkable stuff (to me anyway) on them, compared to where I was. I am starting to re-discover the ‘old me’. The carefree, adventurous me that I was in my late teens/ early twenties. I’m a long way off being able to hitch-hike across the Middle East, like I did when I was 20, but I did manage 4 days in Norfolk – just me, the kids and the dog this summer which is definitely a step in the right direction.

Warning – going to the gym is bad for your health

Going to the gym was something I had always resisted fervently. I had this idea that the kind of people who went to gyms were all either lecherous meatheads or condescending super-model wannabes or maybe a bit of both. I was quite lucky in my pre-diagnosis days to not need to do exercise to remain slim and in shape; malnutrition was taking care of my figure for me without me even knowing.

Since my diagnosis with Coeliac Disease and then Osteopenia, which I talk about more in this post here, I am no longer so lucky. Getting our lovely lurcher Woody (which was incidentally 1 year ago today – Happy Re-Birthday Woody!) helped to get me started on being more active as I added Chief Dog Walker to my list of job titles. But, it also got me to meet a whole bunch of new people who I would never of crossed paths with before. One of them turned out to be a British Champion Bodybuilder in the Masters Class (over 50’s), not that I realised this for at least 6 months after meeting him and his lovely Doberman whilst out and about round Priory Country Park. He is very quiet and extremely modest so could not possibly be a gym-monkey for starters….  Even in summer he hides his physique under baggy clothes, so it really was not as obvious as you might think it should be. So when he did finally let slip in conversation he had a series of bodybuilding contests coming up I was quite surprised. Over the following weeks when our paths crossed I  ‘fessed  up to my preconceptions and asked him for advice about how best to get started. My main concern then was doing myself more harm than good. It was the first time in 17 years I had felt genuinely healthy and I really didn’t want to screw it up! He gave me really honest advice and pointed me in the direction of  his friend,  who is also a bodybuilder, that works in a local gym and promised to ask him to look after me.

Buoyed by the fact that no one is going to want to get on his wrong side I plucked up the courage to go along and do you know what? It was really OK! Might go as far to say I actually enjoyed it. I didn’t do much – had a go on the cross-trainer, did a fast walk up a steep hill and then some light weights, but it was OK and I didn’t wake up the next day in a world of pain! I liked it so much I went back twice.

BUT, although I was being well looked after in the gym, on my third visit  I managed to slip on some water  and fall down the stairs on the way out. My biggest fear realised. I was instantly in so much pain I was convinced I had broken something. I somehow drove home and my husband took me to A&E. Luckily nothing was broken, except my pride, but a week later I was still in excruciating pain. I went to see a private physio/ sport massage therapist who diagnosed that the impact of the fall had shunted my SI Joint out of line and potentially damaged the surrounding ligaments. 2 weeks on and I am back at work and on the mend so hopefully the damage is not as extensive as first thought.

Surprising as it may be. I am really missing the gym and can’t wait to get back in there. Addictive & Dangerous – my favourite combination!

 

Woody opening his present

 

Related articles

• Osteopenia Treatment (squarely33.wordpress.com)
• Everything you’ve wanted to know about Gluten & Coeliac Disease (blogs.abc.net.au)