Gluten Free B- Yep, That's Me

Gluten Free B- Yep that’s me. My family and good friends have always called me “B,” so I thought this title would be fitting.

I have a long story that has gotten me to this point, but I will save that for the books I've dreamed about writing since I was a little girl. For now I will get to the nitty- gritty-the good stuff- why I am here. It all started a couple years ago, after a long journey to determine the root cause of my random and traveling pains throughout my body including my hips, elbows, hands, legs, and ankles which was also accompanied by fatigue and depression and all came on rather suddenly a few months after giving birth to my daughter in 2009.

My family doctor was very surprised to report to me that based on the lab results of the celiac panel my antibodies to gluten were sky rocketing, and she was certain I had celiac disease. To be officially diagnosed with celiac disease one has to undergo an endoscopy. So, a month later I did that and the GI doctor confirmed the diagnosis based on damage to the villi of the small intestine.  The initial diagnosis was a surprise because  the typical GI complaints that most celiacs have like diarrhea, constipation and weight loss had not been a main complaint until  after about  8 months of trying to figure out what was causing my pain. When the doctor called to give me the news she said, “the good news is that we know how to treat celiac disease and you have to go on a completely gluten free diet.”  Yes, thank God that is good news. However, (and this is a big HOWEVER) it is NOT easy and it took a huge toll on me mentally and emotionally.  The only cure for celiac disease is to be completely gluten free, all day- every- day for-- the-- rest-- of--- my----food loving, pizza, pasta and bread loving, it’s pretty much in my blood as a part Italian (thanks dad)------- life. Wow! Talk about a hard pill to swallow. It would have been a lot easier for me at that time to just swallow a prescribed pill every day, than to swallow this pill.

Since May 2010 I have been for the most part gluten free. It was a very rocky road in the beginning. I often second guessed my diagnosis because even though I was starting to feel better, I was still in pain for months after being (what I thought) was gluten free. There were times when I literally thought I was dying from that dreaded 6 letter word that nobody wants to hear, that I will not even mention in this post or ever out loud (you know what word I’m talking about). You can ask my mother if you don’t believe me, how I broke down and cried to her on Mother’s Day (of all days) and told her that I thought I was dying. You want to know what depressed feels like?  Imagine what gets a person to that moment of breaking down to one of the people they love most in life and sharing with them the terrible fate you’ve convinced yourself of.

So, why am I here doing this blog? Well, it’s because over the past year and a half I have learned A LOT! And, I have to share it with you because I know that you or other people you know are going through similar things. There are people who just don’t feel good, have migraines, acne, body aches, depression, fog brain, unexplained pain,  and/or stomach aches (that the doctors just chalk up to irritable bowel syndrome- Yes, I was told I had IBS too- oh and fibromyalgia). Not only have I learned a lot about this disease and gluten I’ve learned about other ailments as well as about general nutrition, food allergies, natural remedies, but most of all I’ve learned that you have to be your own health advocate and you have to be educated. I will be bold in saying this, and some of you won’t like this, but you CANNOT completely rely on doctors to put your best interest first in all cases. I am very grateful  for my doctor helping me determine that  I have celiac disease but there is more to this than this post which I will share at a later time that doctors did not pick up on, and that I have resolved myself.

In the meanwhile, enjoy these posts. I hope you like to learn, because I have a TON to share and I can’t wait to get going!