More sleep, more data

Still figuring out what I'm needing to avoid or stick with as I shift my diet around.

I think I've gained some valuable data over the last few days. Friday's sleep broke the mould as it was fairly unaffected by the breathing issues. Saturday's sleep wasn't great (but not nearly as bad as it had been!).

Hell, my breathing had improved to the point where I was very happily singing along to the iTunes bits and pieces and not missing any words out due to not breathing at the right times.

What's the data ? What made Saturday night's sleep bad ?

All this week, I'd been having cooked dinners. But I occasionally have a massive sandwich instead. Because I'd got myself caught in doing "just ... one ... more ... quest ..." in Guild Wars 2, I'd broken off quite late yesterday for Doctor Who and didn't really want to be pausing halfway through to pull something out of the over. Answer ? Make one of those massive sandwiches on my lap in front of the telly.

Yeah I know right - domestic god ? Lol. There's that thing again where I have different standards for what I do for me to the standards I'd expect to give to others.

I'm digressing - what's the data again ? There's two big potential triggers from the bread (white bread - I'd gone back to something familiar) : Gluten and wheat. Gluten is the current fashion for something to be allergic to. Let's have a look at that one first :

From wiki - "Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include bloating, abdominal discomfort, pain or diarrhea, or it may present with a variety of extraintestinal symptoms including headaches and migraines, lethargy and tiredness, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity, schizophrenia, muscular disturbances as well as bone and joint pain"

Yeah, I recognise a few of those but I don't think gluten sensitivity is the cause of bone and joint pain, that comes from being a nutter on the cricket field. I don't get migraines and luckily it's rare that I get a headache and that can sometimes be put down to caffeine withdrawal. Some of the others ... yeah. Meh. But again, don't think it's the gluten.

You could look at that list of symptoms and apply them to a huge number of people but then, as with all internet based research, always apply that sanity check to ask "is this really the problem ?". And I don't believe that it's the gluten in the bread that's causing me the problems.

How about what bread's made of ? Wheat allergy (from wiki again) symptoms :

Wheat allergies are not altogether different from other food allergies or respiratory allergies. However two conditions, exercise/aspirin induced anaphylaxis and urticaria occur more frequently with wheat allergies.

Common symptoms of a wheat allergy include sacroiliitis, eczema (atopic dermatitis), hives (urticaria), asthma, "Hay fever" (allergic rhinitis), angioedema (tissue swelling due to fluid leakage from blood vessels), abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting.[15] Rarer symptoms include[citation needed] anaphylactic shock, arthritis, bloated stomach, chest pains, depression or mood swings, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, joint and muscle aches and pains (may be associated with progressive arthritis), palpitations, psoriasis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), swollen throat or tongue, tiredness and lethargy, and unexplained cough. Reactions may become more severe with repeated exposure.

Oh how many of those do I recognise. Easier to say what I haven't experienced of what's above (even to minor degrees). I was about to say "sacroiliitis" because I didn't recognise but on reading where the problem is with that, yep. Add that to the list.

Sanity check again though - the sacroiliitis, joint & muscle aches would be from the various cricket booboos. What is sacroiliitis ? It's problems where the spine meets the pelvis, yeah - I have that but it's a legacy of me hurting my lumbar area when I was 17.

So the symptoms point me towards wheat allergies. However, it's not as simple as that as I've been ok on brown bread. Must be something in white bread that's activating the allergy. It makes a fair bit of sense too, as I've been historically unable to drink more than 4 pints of bitter before having to throw up. That's not been from the alcohol either (I think!)

I think it fits with the growing season too. I've always suffered from hayfever but I got it especially bad in early spring and late summer with a gap in the middle. Perhaps that's lining up with the growing season. Could be. Or I'm just allergic to what's outside the window. (The eyes have improved since the wilderness outside the back got removed)

So - where to from there ?

Avoid white bread for a while. If I can - what may have triggered it last week was munchies at a contractor's office on the Thursday, I could feel my lungs closing up on the way to the car.

Not really sure apart from that - so much of the stuff that's on sale doesn't account for the more uncommon allergies. And even for the more common allergies, there's things like "may contain nuts" on the most unlikely things.

Looking at it a bit more though - I've still been a biscuit fiend and one of the most common ingredients in those is "wheat flour". Must be something specific in the white bread that's activating the allergy. Like the bacon buns at work which have lots of flour on the bun.

We shall see ! And I may get a little more information later too when I see what the reaction is to me downing a milkshake :-)

PS Pizza reaction too - could well be that it's not the cheese I react to but the pizza base itself ...