I really hate my autoimmune system, but I got to meet the President of Ireland!

Here we go again....evidence that yet another part of my body is in revolt against itself.

I'm starting to wonder if I've developed a sensitivity or intolerance to gluten.  

And this coming from the person who never can say no to a good hunk of grainy bread or a sweet baked something.  

Sigh. 

I've been having, um, digestive "issues" that have caught my attention in the last couple of months.  Without TMI, it hasn't exactly been pleasant.  I noticed in all my thyca research over the years that people frequently mentioned going on a gluten-free diet, and that there seemed to be a strong connection between Hashimoto's, hypothryoidism and gluten sensitivity.  

According to the symptoms list, I have quite a few of them. Did I mention that I just hit up the Greenhills bakery this week for my weekly fix of Irish brown bread and scones?  Yeah, definitely not on the gluten-free list.   I really noticed some symptoms after a weekend trip to PA where we had pasta, French bread, waffles--ugh.  

So I guess I could spend some time over the next couple of weeks eliminating gluten from my diet and see how I feel without it.   Kind of funny that I've been focusing on eating more wheat and multigrain stuff over the years to avoid insulin resistance problems, and now I'll have to cut it out completely.  I was at Fenway on Friday and ate my Fenway Frank minus the bun.  Not too exciting.  Didn't help that the Sox lost. Again.  In 13 long cold innings.  

I wonder what role this might play with my elevated inflammation levels?  It has to all be connected and playing off of each other...

Other stuff--I got to hear a speech from the president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, about the Famine and its impact in Ireland and Boston.  Boston was chosen as the international commemoration site for this year's Famine commemoration, and since I'm here because my ancestors fled the Famine and came to Boston, I thought it was kind of like my duty to participate.  The speech was at Fanueil Hall, and it was excellent.  It helps to be reminded not to forget every now and then just how horrific the Famine was.  After the speech he went to the Famine Memorial on School Street where he laid a wreath.  He worked the crowd and I got to shake his hand!  Very cool.  One thing that caught my eye was a woman in his entourage was standing next to the sculpture of the starving family, and she gently caressed one of the statues.  It was touching.   

I was further down the line and got a couple of great shots on my cell phone, but I have to figure out how to get them off the phone....