Intolerant to What????

Here we are on the 20th of  December, and I think I'm close to finding a cause (and a solution!) to the second worst headache of my life.  It appears though I'm not going to like the answer.

After months of suffering (on and off), with this headache humming along at about a three out of ten, one day I had lunch (chicken noodle soup and a piece of white bread and butter.)  My headache exploded  immediately after eating. I was back to a seven out of ten.  I thought of what I'd just eaten and it hit me "I'm intolerant to gluten, but where did this come from out of the blue?"

After a bit more research I realized the gassy stomach ache that I once had my neurosurgeon checking to see if my two distal catheters were entangled, were also a possible symptom of gluten intolerance.  That stomach ache inexplicably started right after my last shunt surgery in 2013.  My research continued, gluten apparently can cause migraines, could this sensitivity date back to 2006 when my migraines started out of the blue?

I also have this itchy place on my abdomen from time to time for a number of years, but no big angry red rash.  Could this also be a sign of my gluten sensitivity?

I never related the itchy spot on my abdomen, with the occasional gassy stomach, with the occasional migraine, or to this monstrous four-month-long headache. (I knew I got migraines from foods I ate, but gluten  wasn't on my radar as far as foods to avoid.)

Gluten is found in only three things, wheat, barley and rye.  I dislike rye bread, so I know that's not the cause. Over the years I've eaten a lot of  whole wheat bread thinking it's good for me.  I did a one-time experiment recently and ate a bowl of beef-barley soup.  No headache.

It appears I may not be intolerant to everything containing gluten, but solely wheat.  How inconvenient.  At Whole Foods I found some Hemp bread, that should be fun to try, but I'll be careful as to when I try it. And how do you make pasta without wheat?  I found some wheat free pasta at Whole Foods of course.

Although it may turn out that this latest nasty headache is terribly inconvenient, it also may not be related at all to my shunt or hydrocephalus.  For that I'm eternally grateful.

Yes, I have to deal with yet another set of headache-related problems, like anyone who suffers from hydrocephalus. However, the fact it isn't shunt-related makes me feel like 'One of the Lucky Ones.'

And now a dry cough

With this second worst headache of my life (that's still going on) I've now developed a dry cough.  The last time I had a dry cough for any length of time, it turned out there was a  break in the proximal  catheter of my ventriculo-peritoneal shunt.  With the combination of a headache and a dry cough, if you look at my history I suppose I should be concerned.

However, I'm not.  I don't have the sense or feeling of anything poking me from the inside, like Edwin.  Thus, all I can think is - to use one of "their" words - all's stable with my shunt.  Besides, I'm "One of the Lucky Ones", I seem to hang on to these things far longer than the average of ten years.  I'm expecting my "new" shunt placed in 2013, to last 27 1/2 years.  Just like the one before it did.  I don't believe or expect anything less.