So three years ago I was woeful sick and in pain and the doctors were kind of mystified at what was going on. Anemia, digestion issues, vitamin deficiencies, weird problems with my skin, fatigue etc... Well one doctor started looking at all of it together and said to me one day I need you to have an endoscopy done. Excuse me is what I was thinking, get a tube shoved down my throat for pictures. I really wanted to argue the point but she trumped my arguments with the simple words, "I think I know whats wrong" Ok you win.
So after that test to which I might say they sedated me into a blissful state of non-awareness, I was approached by the docs. My gastro doc sat down next to me and said this.
"Well I am sorry to say that you can never have pizza and beer again, however you can have all the run and tequila to drink that you want. You have Celiac Sprue."
Me, being still rather groggy was like ok, no beer no pizza what does that mean. What it meant was no gluten ever again, period ever, end of sentence.
Now I was 41 years old at this point and I so remembered what bread and pizza and bagels and cookies and all the other good foods tasted like. But as I was told I could no longer eat anything made with wheat, rye, barely, and malt. Even oatmeal might give me issues. I was not a happy camper thinking that my diet was now going to be really dull.
So fast forwards one week from there and suddenly my hair had stopped falling out, the pain was gone, the digestion issues gone. I felt rather human for once. It was wonderful; seriously I could move again, I was no longer tied to my bed and the bathroom, I could get and do things. It was taking my legs a little longer to heal than we thought as the anemia had been so advanced that my nerves in my legs were not cooperating, so I has to use a cane for awhile (I had a cane that looked like House's cane). After one month I was almost completely back to health.
Now whats hard about this besides the diet is the fact that I have people who still want ,even now, to try and foist wheat products on me. They are like, oh one bite won't hurt you, or come on its only a little bit. I succumbed around Halloween that first year to half of a Twizzler (second ingredient is wheat) and two days later I was hospitalized cause the wheat had caused issues with the skin, shorthand its called DH, (I can never remember the full name) and it promptly had become infected with staph aureus. Yeah not. I spent two miserable months on high strength antibiotics to make sure the staph didn't set up shop in my lungs or heart. I got a reaming from my doctors and they promptly sent me to a dietician in order to help me with the diet.
So three years later I have been completely gluten free except for a few incidents of cross-contamination that have been painful, and please don't ask me try another cookie. My family, mom and sister, have not been helpful too much. My mom complains that I make it difficult for her to cook for family holidays. My sister who shows the same symptoms doesn't seem to grasp that if you give up the wheat permanently it helps, not just giving it up for a month or two.
MY husband and kids however deserve medals for what they have done. They have adopted the same diet so that I don't feel alone. We have researched and tried together various GF (gluten free) foods. Some have been very good and others have just hit the trash. We have learned not to eat out much as even if they offer GF it can be cross contamination issues, Outback Steak House has been my go to restaurant. I haven't been to a fast food place in ages now.
The best thing is what the diet has done for my blood tests. As a result of having to eat healthy I have dropped my cholesterol into normal ranges, my inflammation level has dropped to normal, the anemia is resolving and generally my body has been thanking me. So yeah I can't eat pizza as you know it but my hubby makes a killer GF grilled chicken pizza that is better than what we used to eat before and well there are some GF beers out there that taste like beer.
Yes the diet is hard and today is one of those days when I really crave and item that is not GF and they haven't made a substitute for it. I wanted a croissant so bad this morning. Seriously craved it, but there is no GF equivalent for puff pastry as yet. So some days are a breeze and others are still hard but to anyone who has just been diagnosed with Celiac or another gluten sensitivity trust me when I say you will make it. It takes some will power and personal strength to adjust to it all but your body will thank you. Just remember that even pizza and beer isn't out after all
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