In my last post I said I’d do a headache update here soon and apparently I have officially reached the age and stage where I blink and whole days and weeks and almost months can go by just like that because I had no idea the “here soon” would take quite this long, but sure enough, I am just now getting to that promised post.

In early July I changed a lot in my life, and that’s on top of all the things I had previously tried since April to help curb the chronic headaches. We’re talking new physical therapy, new supplements, new pillow, and even a whole new diet with going gluten free. While we’re not entirely sure what part of that helped the most, the good news is that since early July, my head has been improving. While I’m still not 100%, my light/sound sensitivity is better and I’m hovering between a 1.5-2 instead of a constant 7-9 on my pain scale. I say “my” pain scale because I’ve come to learn that those are super subjective and that I can both fortunately and unfortunately smile through a lot of shit. It’s not that everything you see that seems happy is fake but it’s also 100% true that there is always more to the story than we’re ever really telling each other and dealing with chronic pain touches all aspects of one’s life, even the happy bits.

Because I’m still not totally out of the woods, I’ve embarked on a 8-12 week process to reset my gut with the hope that in doing so, I can kick these headaches for good. This gut check included just that – a test to see what was going on with my body and now I’ll spend the next couple few months continuing the GF diet and taking gut-health supplements to clear out/rebuild my system.

The GF stuff is both not fun or easy but also not nearly as hard as it would been five years ago, for which I am grateful. There are a lot of GF products out there to try and now that the kids are back in school, I’m hoping to have an ounce more free time to plan and work out my meals so I’m really nourishing my body and not just cobbling this together to make it work. Crazy at it might sound, I am hopeful that the anchor of school will work in our/my favor and I really can get back to feeling like myself completely even though I’ve had to let so much of me go this year. Seriously, if you’d asked me in January if I thought I could give up coffee, alcohol, AND all things pizza, pasta, bread, and baked goods this year, I would have said you are freaking nuts. But here I am, doing what needs to be done and taking this gut check in my life not just in the stomach but in my head and heart, too.

May it all be worth it in the end. May that end mean no more pain. May it please come soon.