The next doctor's visit...

Everything I've written so far happened between October/November and January. After the doctor's visit in January I continued to eat grain and legume free. I decided there were no good reasons to reintroduce any grains or legumes to my diet.

I had my next blood test followed by the requisite doctor's visit in May. I was a little concerned about what the results of the blood test would be because I'd failed to take the iron pills every day like I was supposed to, and I had been under a lot of stress for several weeks. (I'd taken on a challenging sub job at school.)

When I saw my doctor the first thing she said was that I'd lost more weight. I told her I didn't think I had--maybe only a pound. (I got myself a doctor's scale last December because the scale I had could read three different weights if I stepped on it three times within a few minutes, so I knew it wasn't accurate.)

Well, surprise surprise, I had lost eleven pounds since October, AND the scale showed I weighed one pound less than I had at home the last time I'd weighed myself there, AND this was in the afternoon with clothes on and everything! The doctor told me to not lose any more weight, and that if I did I was to call her.

That was interesting, particularly since I wasn't really trying to lose weight. At school I was getting more exercise than usual because my classroom was the furthest away from the playground and the library, so I was doing more walking than I normally do. I decided that was the reason for the additional weight loss.

The biggest thing about the blood test was that my A1c was even better than it had been in January! My calcium level was normal! My blood pressure was also perfect. The doctor calculated my BMI and said it was 23.8, which was great. The only thing she was concerned about was my hematocrit. It was a bit lower than it had been in January. I must take my iron pills! The best news was she reduced the amount of diabetes medication! So, from a threat of increasing it when she saw me in October to actually reducing it in May makes this worthwhile.

In general, the doctor was very happy with me, and said that I was ten years younger than when she first met me.

Who knew that by eliminating grains and legumes from one's diet, there could be such positive changes? For me it was an experiment to see if I could avoid taking more medication for diabetes. However, it also revealed that I apparently have celiac disease, which I hadn't known before.

I'm still learning how to do this...