Whenever I tell people that I'm gluten free I usually get the same questions:
1) What can't you eat? (answer: wheat, rye, barley, and mass produced oats)
2) Has it been hard? (answer: yes and no. There is definitely a high learning curve and there have been ups and downs but my whole family has had noticeable changes to their health so I'm in for the long haul.)
3) And most important: How did you find out you had an allergy? This answer takes a longer explanation.
I have had spring seasonal allergies since I was in high school. Every year they seem to get worse, and every year I go back to the doctor and get another prescription that after awhile no longer works. Back in September, at the urging of my primary doctor, I went to an allergist to get retested. Turned out, I was still allergic to the same things, and now also cats. I left the appointment with a handful of new prescriptions, samples, and a comment the allergist said sticking in my head. He said that there was a good chance I would have to go on Prednisone (AKA a gawd-awful steroid with horrible side effects) to get through the allergy season. That didn't really seem like a good idea to me. So...I looked into a second opinion.
I have many friends (including my sister in-law) who've had good experience with naturopaths. I asked around and found the CT Center for Health and Dr. Sam. I made a call and scheduled an appointment. In the meantime, I felt like shit and realized that all my toenails were starting to fall off. Yup, you heard right. Toenails.falling.off. Gross. When I first met with Dr. Sam I filled out the new patient questionnaire like a good doobie and including all my crazy symptoms that no one had ever resolved before. Eczema, allergies, foot fungus, asthma, just to name a few. Dr. Sam met me and I immediately felt as ease. She was relaxed and laid back like me, she was straightforward, like me. And then, she looked at my symptoms and said "Has anyone ever told you you might have a gluten allergy?" Huh? I replied with a simple no, this woman is crazy I thought, I'm the bread and pasta queen, I never get sick off that stuff. But then she explained that seasonal allergies, asthma, and eczema are all linked (which I knew) and that they are often symptoms of a gluten allergy rather than actual stand alone medical problems (which I didn't know). She also told me I probably had a yeast allergy which was related to the foot fungus. Lastly, she said that as standard operating procedure she tested for a Vitamin D deficiency because most people have one. I left the appointment with a list of blood tests I needed to take and the desire to learn as much as I could before my follow-up appointment.
I headed to the library and got a great book (the title of which now escapes me) that pretty much solidified my opinion that not only did I have this, but my daughter, and most likely my husband did too. Ironically I also think that my grandmother had this too. She spend YEARS trying to get odd symptoms diagnosed. I tried to get Honey to read the book but he said no quite flatly. Instead, I stopped feeding Lovey pasta and bread and miraculously her eczema cleared up pretty spontaneously. Like gone. In a week. That was pretty telling.
So by the time I went back to Dr. Sam I pretty much knew that I had it. Dr. Sam was able to confirm, the blood tests results were pretty staggering. I also had a pretty extreme Vitamin D defiency. I left the appointment armed with prescriptions for vitamins, a lab sheet for follow-up blood work, and an unrelenting craving for a chocolate chip cookie.
The craving has lasted. But the rest of my symptoms? Gone. I was drug free during allergy season for the first time in 15 years! I had more energy, my eczema cleared up, my toenails grew back, I was less irritable. Who would have know? Honey decided to jump on the gluten free bandwagon too and he also felt better. He struggled with adult acne for years and it never resolved. I kept telling him it was something he was eating. Well guess what? It was. Gluten. No gluten for Honey = no acne for Honey. It's as simple as that.
I won't say there aren't times when I'm pissed off I have to be gluten free. It's more expensive, it's inconvenient, not many people understand gluten. I also was quite angry for awhile that I had questioned my health for so long and seen so many specialists and there was never an answer. I wasted so much of my life not feeling healthy and it was all because of a few grains. But now, I am happier for it. It feels good to feel good. Okay, that was cheesy.
My point is, if I'm gonna be gluten free for the long haul I might as well enjoy it. And share it. So here I am.
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