So here's my Celiac story. It starts clear back in kindergarten when my classmates picked on me because of my big stomach. I wasn't fat at all, in fact everything except my stomach you could have consider petite. It seems I never grew out of that "cute" baby tummy. In fact, I learned to hide it around 5th grade by wearing very baggy clothing and sucking in my stomach.
Then came the anemia around 3rd grade. My doctors tried everything from multiple iron supplement sources to taking me off milk. Nothing worked.
I lived with the status quo until high school when I got tendonitis and became extremely run down. My normal doctor sent me to a GI who, after multiple tests, declared that I had Celiac disease. Unfortunately, me and my stubbornnes, I didn't want to accept that anything was wrong with me. Of course, I followed the diet, but I only knew the basic. I had no drive to find out more and experiment with new things.
After a painstaking year and a half on the gluten free diet my doctor decided that it was time to rechallenge my body with gluten. And amazingly, nothing happened. Upon this he declared that I did NOT have Celiac disease, it was apparently a misdiagnosis, and he couldn't do anything else for me. I was ecstatic, NO MORE STUPID DIET... or so I thought.
Because your body naturally stores iron, my levels remained semi-consistent and only gradually fell. I kept monitoring my iron every few months and finally my primary doctor told me that I had to be supplements again. At least a wasn't a diet...
Then my mother, not satisfied without answers to my inability to absorb iron brought me to a new doctor. Still stubborn against the fact that I might be different, I told her my story and everything that had happened. I only hinted at the fact that I had previously been "misdiagnosed" with CD. My new doctor, however, decided that this should be the new focus of the appointment.
She told me that she thought the previous diagnosis was probably correct and my previous doctor did not know what he was talking about (rightfully so, he treated me like I was 5, I was 16). After a few blood tests and various nutrient tests, she told me it was time to go back on the diet.
This was December 2008, exactly 5 years from the previous initial diagnosis. I felt confused, how could I be going down this path again. I decided that this time, I was going to do it gradually. However, my body decided differently. After a few weeks of going "gradual" I decided enough was enough, it's time to feel better. Cold turkey!
After months of relearning the diet and exploring what had changed in 5 years I couldn't help but learn more about the gluten-free world. I found that I wanted everybody to know that I was different. I wanted to take charge of my life again. Hence the blog. I wanted to learn to cook, create my own recipes, eat healthy and feel as energetic as the thoughts in my head.
Today I feel great, I know how my body reacts when I eat gluten. I have found many triumphs so far, most Chex is now gluten free, I'm experimenting with bread (two flopped loaves and one good one, from a mix), Betty Crocker just came out with gluten free cake mixes, more and more restuarants are experimenting with gluten free products, Schwans now has a gluten free pasta entree, and so much more. The internet has been a great tool, I hope I can give back what I've learned from it, open peoples eyes to the issues in the gluten free world. Maybe I can also help out a few people who are new to the diet??
Check back later for stories about bread experiments...
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