The light at the end of the tunnel

I feel fantastic today. I think I am finally, a week and a half in, at the tail end of die off. I am no longer anxious or fatigued. I woke up this morning from 6.5 hours of interrupted sleep and felt amazingly ready to face the day. I am not on edge with the kids like I have been since cutting fruit (which had been the only remaining significant sugar source in my diet). I haven't yelled or even snarled at my kids through gritted teeth (which I unfortunately did almost daily last week). I've wanted to raise my kids gently, following the advice in Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids, but often failed to do so because I always felt like I was ready to explode. But now? I'm even keel and feel peaceful. I don't have to try to be a peaceful parent because now it is coming naturally. What a great unexpected outcome of dietary change!!!

As for the kids, Grendel and the Hobbit played with each other with only a normal level of sibling fighting this morning. We didn't have as many random crying jags, and Grendel accepted my requests with a wimper or a whine rather than a full blown tantrum. Thank goodness, because Dr. Dad went back to work today and I don't think I could have handled these hooligans if we were still in the same emotional state as we were yesterday. The kids are still a little trigger happy with their meltdowns, but I can tell it's receding and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. 

You know what else is receding? My hair. Check out this picture.

Okay, so it's not receding, but I just discovered that I developed a bald spot. Thankfully it is well hidden. I have a doctor appointment scheduled for next week to figure out the root cause, but my two leading theories are alopecia, an autoimmune hair loss disease triggered generally by stress (I already have one autoimmune disease, so a second wouldn't be surprising), or hypothyroidism which I've been wondering about for a while. Either way, GAPS should help bring my hormones back into balance and get my immune system to calm down. At least I'm  really hoping so, as I've grown rather attached to my hair.