DUH/ D'OH!!

It took well over 2 years, 6 doctors, and thousands of dollars in negative, uninsured testing for ME to figure out what's been so wrong with me. I had been feeling like crap for quite sometime. Lots of debiltating fatigue, joint pain, muscle pain and spasms, 'digestive' issues, and a flaky skin rash covering my face and scalp. I had left a full time buying position at a health food store thinking I was stressed and over worked. An opportunity to work as a part time as a baker opened and I took it. I was dreaming of becoming a bread baker, so basic training at a wonderful cafe was a good start. While I was a baker, my seasonal allergies started acting up...in January. I was living on nettles, then Claritin and Benadryl and feeling worse every day. I'd come home and watch joints swell in my hands and feet before I'd hit the bed, where I'd stay until my next shift. Finally I just basically collapsed after work one morning and thought my kidneys had failed. And so began the testing.

I was tested for almost every auto-immune disease known, various cancers, X-rayed, and CAT scanned. Doctor after doctor said the same thing: Arthritis (I was 36) and Fibromyalgia. When I didn't respond to treatment, more testing revealed vitamin K and D deficiencies, both red flags of gluten issues. I did respond to 'treating' the D and K issues but then leveled off at still sick, still unable to think clearly, work, or live a life worth living. My house, health, and life fell apart before my eyes. My husband and a close cousin took care of me from cleaning, shopping, cooking meals, to help with bathing. I honestly feel I may have died without their care. I was erratic, sick, helpless, and terrified. I started having periods of Peripheral Neuropathy; tingling and numbness, and was beginning to believe I had MS. Back to the doctor and to the Neurologist that ordered testing to rule MS out of the picture. That same day...I lost my health insurance and never had the testing. This made me crazy. The state decided that we made too much money...without ever looking at the costs of (then) 6 medications I was taking or other medical expenses, like my walker. Thanks again there Gov'na. I'm sure to remember your kindness and thoughtfulness in eliminating state assited insurance for 300,000 working people... the first Tuesday in November, 2010.

My primary doctor finally said "Here. Take this Nerontin and call me in 3 months." I'm sorry but have you ever read up on Nerontin? Thanks anyway. I lived in pain, fear, and depression for months...not taking the Nerontin and trying anything I read about to feel better. I adopted an anti-inflammatory diet...saw improvement but no real health returning. I cleansed w/ no improvement (due to a bowel cleansing blend with ground barley and wheat in it). I lost my ability to digest raw foods, so I was even sicker for my 4 weeks on a raw foods diet. So, I chanted. I prayed. I yoga'd. I wrote. Nothing. I finally gave up haunting WEBMD and started trying to live my life as fully as I could...health be damned. I joined Facebook, found long lost friends and relatives and took my mind off of feeling like I was 90...not 38. During a chat with a cousin I hadn't seen in 16 years, she casually mentioned she and one of her daughters had Celiac disease, or, gluten intolerance. Humm, really?

I don't have what doctors or WEBMD (in my case) consider classic Celiac symptoms...unless you look at what does to the body over time. 90% of my symptoms were symptoms of unaddressed gluten intolerance. I jumped on the gluten free train the next day, with ZERO expectations. Within 2 days...I was feeling a bit better. In 3 days I noticed I hadn't had a single bowel spasm. On day 4, 100% gluten free, I unintentionally consumed gluten. WOW. Was I sick! Abdominal bloating, and a burning mouth and face in seconds were all I needed to see to know I was on the right track. I began an elimination diet that lead me, here, to the return of wellness and a new sense of vibrancy. 

In retrospect...the DUH comes in. I was a BAKER when I got really sick. In gluten intolerance we call that, A Trigger... DUH. Or in the words of Homer Simpson, D'oh!!  I still have no health insurance but since I have found gluten to be the cause for my health issues, my family w/ insurance, that's been tested tested for gluten intolerance... we're up to 6, not including me. My daughter will also be tested.

I now can just about laugh at the of my decline in general health...first started about 8 years ago when I started eating really well; lots of whole grains and substituting spelt, for wheat since 'it was less acid forming in the body'. Spelt, has a very high gluten content. I can also clearly hear my Dr ask me, "Have you been exposed to anything?" I'd laugh and say, "Just flour." One would think that a DR, would have tested the BAKER for gluten issues. Apparently, not. I did not fit the outdated gluten picture he had in his head as most Dr.'s do...that of the rare, emaciated, swollen bellied toddler. It's now thought to be 1 in 123 people, doc.

There is a part of me that's angry...2 additional years of suffering would do that to anyone. I am focusing on releasing that anger and I may or may not be responsible for the updated literature on Celiac disease and gluten intolerance that my former dr.'s office just received. But, let us move forward. Onward...

Some helpful links: www.celiac.org, www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/

and www.celiac.com