Coeliac Diagnosis – Finally! June 29, 2007

Well, not much to report on the knitting front, I’ve been too busy sorting out the redundancy situation at work and dealing with my latest news.

I went to my GP yesterday who told me that I have Coeliac Disease – despite the fact that I called last week and the stupid woman in reception told me that my test results were negative! Apparently my intestinal biopsy results only arrived on Monday, so who knows where the daft receptionist got her information from!

But anyway, I have medically confirmed Coeliac disease, and I’m actually relieved about it because now I know what is wrong with me I can actually do something about it. I have been ill for so long and I knew that what I’ve been going through is not normal. So I’ve got to get my prescription for non-gluten food sorted out this weekend, I’ve got to buy a breadmaker and get some books to help me! I’m gutted that I won’t be able to eat my favourite foods again, but I will generally be healthier so I can’t really grumble.

 I’m a bit stressed at the moment with the diagnosis, the possible redundancy situation at work and with my freind’s recent sad news – and that has set off my TMJ problem (jaw pain problem) my stupid jaw keeps seizing up and aches when I move it!

If I was a horse I would have been sent to the glue factory by now!

A bit of a bad week June 24, 2007

Sorry, not had much time to blog recently. There are a lot of things going on at work regarding redundancy and job loss which are keeping me busy. Also heard some very sad news yesterday that one of my colleagues husband died yesterday, they had only been married for two months, I went to their wedding and I’m so shocked this has happened.

I will try to get some knitting done this week and be back to blogging soon.

5 weeks until the summer holidays! June 16, 2007

Not that I’m counting! Things are so busy at school that I’ve not had much time for me. Last weekend I finally finished writing my reports which take hours to complete (if you know a teacher then they will confirm this!) so now at least my only weekend school commitment is weekly planning. This weekend I’m hoping to figure out the side increases on my twilleys chevron jacket, I started off so well but I’m really confused now with this part of the pattern!

School knitting club is going well, I will try to remember to take some photos (although I’m not allowed to post pictures of the children, so it will have to be their knitting only)

I got my test results yesterday from my small intestine biopsy, it came back clear which in theory means I’m not a coeliac. Now i don’t know how to take this news as I was actually hoping for a positive diagnosis so that I had a name for whats wrong with me, and that hopefully I could go gluten-free and feel better. Talking to my GP he seemed confused as my blood test was positive. Basically I’ve been advised to exclude gluten from my diet anyway for about 2-3 weeks, then re-introduce it to test my body’s reaction. If I feel better when off gluten and lousy when I re-introduce then I know that my body is reacting to it – then I have to go back to the Gastroenterologist and possibly for another gastroscopy. Nothing is ever simple! I’ve read on the internet that its possible to be non-coeliac gluten intolerant, so maybe that is the answer. All I know is that I suffer the symptoms of coeliac disease when I eat food containing gluten and I had a positive blood test. I’m not convinced about the diagnosis and I won’t be until I have done this exclusion diet.

Right, I’ve got to get to the library then back here to get on with the twilleys jacket – photos of progress (or lack of) soon to follow.

Trekking Socks also finally finished! June 11, 2007

Its taken a while as these were languishing at the botom of my ‘to do’ pile – but I’ve had a weekend of finishing off! So here are my first ever pair of socks knitted on 2 circular needles!

Baby stripe jumper finally finished June 11, 2007

 I’m really pleased with this, the cotton angora is lovely to work with and I’ve also made a hat to match!

A lot going on June 7, 2007

Not had much time to blog this week – just found out today that the school I work at is going to be closed next year – so I will be out of a job (great!)

Will be back to blogging next week – hopefully by then I will have had my coeliac biopsy results too.

Well below average June 2, 2007

I joined a local gym yesterday and had a fitness assessment – I came out as ‘well below average fitness’ which is just great! Mind you, I could have told them that without killing myself on an excercise bike first! So I have to resolves to get to the gym on a regular basis from now on.

Unfortunately I can’t today, I am very behing on writing my school reports and we are back to school on Monday, I’ve also got to write my planning for the next weeks lessons so thats what I’m going to be doing all weekend.

As I’ve been busy with reports I’ve not been to productive on the knitting front, I’ve made some progress with the chevron jacket but I’m getting a bit confused with the increases on the side shaping – so I’ve just put it back in the bag and ignored it for a couple of days!

I’ve got some great bruises from my hospital experience on Wednesday! I have to wait 2 weeks for the biopsy results now which is frustrating. I have managed to convince myself that the biopsy will come back negetive for coeliac disease – but I think i actually want it to be positive. That way I will at least know what is wrong with me and it will be a relief.

 Right, I’m off to get my hair cut now.