Serious Stuff! ~ Symptoms & Related Health Conditions

I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say they were just going to cheat this once or they'll just suffer the consequences because they really like a certain food!  Celiac is an auto immune disease which is related to and can lead to so many other health issues if not taken seriously.  Also, there is such a thing as "Silent Celiac" which is even more dangerous.  The silent celiac will eat something and think they are fine because they have no symptoms when really they are damaging their bodies!  Current research has shown that celiac disease affects 1 in 100 people and gluten sensitivities are even more common affecting 1 in every 3 people!

So what can happen if you don't take it seriously?  The following are only some of the symptoms and conditions that are associated with gluten intolerance:

Common Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance

• Skin rashes/eczema
• Joint pain
• Low energy, tiredness
• Chronic fatigue
• Chronic back pain
• Headaches
• Migrating numbness & tingling
• Stomach bloating/discomfort
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Mental Instability
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Feeling "Spaced Out"
• Inability to lose weight
• Inability to gain weight
• Developmental delays in children
• Failure to thrive
• Brain fog
• Menstrual problems
• Infertility

Source: Life After Bread, Get Off Gluten and Reclaim Your Health by Dr. Eydi Bauer, D.C.


Conditions Associated with Gluten Intolerance

• Thyroid Disorders
• Diabetes
• Osteoporosis
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Anemia
• ANY Autoimmune Disease
• Irrritable Bowel Syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Lactose Intolerance
• Gall Bladder Disease
• Gastric Reflux
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Hypoglycemia
• Psychological Stress
• Schizophrenia

Sources: Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic by Dr. Peter H. Green, Celiac.com, and Full of It! The Shocking Truth About Gluten by Dr. Rodney Ford

GF Candy List 2014

http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenfreefoodshopping/a/GFcandies.htm

I love these lists!  They are updated frequently and often pertain to the particular holiday at hand.  Remember, holiday shaped candies (pumpkins, hearts, etc.) are usually not safe because they are made on shared equipment.

My boys dump out all their candy on the living room floor and trade the unsafe candy with their sister and cousins.  If we're not sure we just refer to the list!  Happy trick-or-treating!

Just as a quick summary of the main candies. The following ARE safe but always check the label:

• Baby Ruth
• Butterfinger Bar (original flavor only, NOT Crisp, Giant Bar, Snakerz, Medallions, Jingles, Hearts or Pumpkins)
• M&M's (all EXCEPT for pretzel-flavored M&M's and some special flavors with a risk of gluten cross-contamination)
• 3 Musketeers Bars (all flavors)
• Milky Way Midnight Bar
• Milky Way Caramel Bar
• Dove Chocolate products (all flavors EXCEPT for milk chocolate cinnamon graham/cookies and cream)
• Snickers Bars (all flavors)
• Almond Joy (all)
• Mounds (all)
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (all except for seasonal shaped items, such as Valentine's hearts)
• Reese's Pieces (all except for Reese's Pieces Eggs)

There are lots more, check the link for a comprehensive list!  These are just some of my favorites :-)

Adjustment

Once I finally knew what had been making me sick my whole life I had to figure out how to stop eating it.  Unfortunately my doctor was of no help, saying "you could probably eat just a little bit of soy sauce and be ok."  Yeah right!  I was also referred to a nutritionist who sadly didn't know anything about Celiac.  As I sat in her office I felt completely helpless as I realized this lady who was supposed to be educated on nutrition knew nothing more than I did about being completely gluten free.  She had a couple books on her shelf and she had a packet of information for the Celiac Disease Foundation, but every question I asked her she went directly to the internet to find the answer.  I'm sorry, but I can do that and I haven't had any additional training.

Feeling like I had lost a part of myself I stood one night in front of the kitchen sink trying to do dishes and I burst into an intense, shuddering sob.  Now mind you this took me by surprise, I am normally a very happy person!  I felt like I could never make cookies for my family again, or yummy moist zucchini bread.  At this point I had tried a few gf cookies and quick breads from the store or that other gf friends had made for me.  Most of them were incredibly dry and crumbly and they tasted...gluten free, nothing like the moist cookies and breads I had made before.

I remember the lost and overwhelmed feelings I had at the beginning of my gluten free journey which is why I wanted to share everything that I have found and learned over the last few years with you.  If you are just starting your switch to gluten free foods please remember that you don't have to give up everything, you just have to find it again in your new gluten free realm.

Hereditary

As you may or may not realize, celiac disease is hereditary.  After I was diagnosed it took us another year to finally realize that 2 of my 3 kids were also affected by gluten.  The first to be taken off of it was my youngest who was in preschool at the time.  We were camping with cousins about 6 months after my diagnosis and I realized that he was unusually sick the entire time we were camping!  I finally realized at the end of the 4 day trip that he was eating all of their snack food and thus getting sick.  As soon as we took him off gluten he stopped getting sick and felt so much better.  

My oldest son, who was in 3rd grade at the time, didn't get taken off gluten for almost another 6 months.  I finally realized that he was getting sick and wasn't telling me.  I told him he needed to stop eating gluten, which he did at home, but he would cheat at school when other kids brought in birthday treats.  After a couple months of being mostly gluten free, he realized that every time he cheated he would feel awful and get sick.  He made the decision to go completely gluten free and has never turned back!  Now when kids bring in treats he just tells me when he gets home and has an equivalent GF treat.  My youngest just has a package of Mi-Del "oreos" stored with his teacher and she can give him one as a substitute.

You should know that I did have all my kids take the blood test screening and they all came back negative, well within the normal range.  It is only through trial and error that we discovered they too have an allergy.  Their tests probably came back negative because I didn't have any gluten filled food to give them before their tests.  Also, like I mentioned earlier, the only true way to diagnose Celiac is with an endoscopy which they don't like to perform on kids.  Since I know I have an allergy and I know it is hereditary we decided it wasn't worth making them eat gluten and get sick just to have a positive test result.  

Sensitivity

I am so sensitive to gluten that I cannot even touch it.  When I was first diagnosed I didn't know how serious my allergy was.  I was still making two meals, one for me and one for the rest of my family.  One day, about a month after my diagnosis, I made regular bread for my family and when my husband came home he exclaimed "what happened to you!"  My face was all red and bumpy...as it had been so much in the past, but after being gluten free for even a short while it had cleared up.  Apparently I couldn't make bread anymore.  

At that point my friends had a "Gluten Party" for me where they all brought a gluten free item for my pantry and in return I gave away all my food that contained gluten.  Now mind you, I grew up in a rural town in Hawaii so when we went to the store we would stock up. That has stuck with me into adulthood so I had enough food in my pantry to feed my family for probably a year if we were careful!

Over the course of yet another year we figured out that I couldn't even walk on it.  My sister-in-law's house still had goldfish crumbs all over the floor (as did mine before we got rid of all the gluten in the house) and after taking my shoes off, being in their house, but not eating anything, I would still get sick.  So eventually I tried leaving my shoes on, or bringing a house pair, I still didn't eat anything, and low and behold...I didn't get sick!  We tested it several more times after that, sometimes I'd leave my shoes on, other times I'd take them off.  I got sick every time I didn't wear my shoes! That's when I fully realized I couldn't even touch it!

Diagnosis

Several years ago, in early 2011, I discovered that I had Celiac disease.  I later learned that I've had the symptoms all my life but didn't know they were related or what was causing them.  I've had lots of doctors prescribe me lots of different medications to treat each symptom...separately, or they'd merely say "that's just your normal."

One morning I woke up early with what I thought was a bad stomach flu.  My husband went to work, the kids all went to school and I stayed in bed.  I continued to get violently sick and seemed to be running to the bathroom at increasing intervals.   Only about an hour after my husband had left for work I noticed, in a daze, that the toilet was completely filled with blood.  Not anything like I had ever seen before.  I called him to come home and take me to the hospital.  By the time he made it home and I made it to the hospital I was so weak I couldn't walk.  As they were checking me in I had to go to the bathroom again and this time I passed out.  I was extremely close to having a blood transfusion but luckily we had gotten to the hospital just in time.  Long story short, I ended up in ICU for almost a week, but they still didn't know what was wrong with me.  

After a couple of months, many blood tests and worthless prescriptions, we finally got a hint into the problem.  One of my blood tests came back way out of the normal range.  There is a screening test they can do for Celiac Disease, but keep in mind it is only a screening and not how they diagnose Celiac.  The screening tests your TTG IgA.  Normal range for TTG IgA is below 20, mine was 145!  Once they received this outrageous number the GI doctor told me he didn't even have to perform the endoscopy to know the outcome but he did anyway since this is the only way to officially diagnose Celiac.  Also, it is worth mention, that if you are not currently eating foods containing gluten all the tests will come back negative.

Getting Started

I am just getting started with this blog so please bare with me as I slowly add tips and advice on living gluten free.  Many friends are always asking me what types of food to buy and what tastes good.  So I have created my gluten free shopping guide, complete with pictures, so you can easily recognize them at the store.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask.  I have been gluten free for several years now and although it was a difficult process at the beginning, I can now find gluten free substitutes for just about anything and I can take almost any recipe and make it gluten free!

You don't have to stop eating all your favorite foods when you go gluten free, you just have to find them again.  The food we eat now tastes even better than the typical store bought stuff we used to buy.  For example, my family LOVED the orange chicken that we used to get from the freezer section at Costco.  Can't eat that anymore so now I make it from scratch.  Granted, it takes longer but it tastes SO much better!

Like I said, you don't have to stop eating your favorite foods, but you do need to plan ahead a little better and sometimes you have to bring your own food when you go places.  Believe me, you get used to it and can't imagine going back...especially because you feel so much better now!!