I have been gluten-free for a year and a half. What an
amazing difference it has made in my life! Getting there was a long and winding
road. For many years, I didn’t even know it was a problem in people who didn’t
have Celiac disease. Then, after I did know, I was a little frantic because I
liked my bread and other baked goods…a lot.
Let’s start at the beginning, I have a tendency to get ahead
of myself. It was 1996. I was a 28 year-old, single-mother of two, working
full-time and attending graduate school full-time. (If any of you wanted an
explanation for my level of sanity – or lack thereof – there you go!) I started
having severe Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) symptoms. Some people have the
pain and cramping associated with alternating constipation and diarrhea. I had
the pain and cramping with the latter only. These weren’t episodes. This was
constant. I know where every bathroom is in every store in any city I’ve lived
for the last 17 years. I’ve had scopes done. I’ve seen gastroenterologists. The
diagnosis was always the same: IBS. They would sometimes try medication to alleviate
the cramping or wanted me to drink Metamucil every night of my life. Have you
tried Metamucil? I rest my case.
So, I lived with it. Those were the only symptoms in the
beginning but in the years to follow, I would develop eczema, joint pain,
sciatica, tendonitis and a multitude of other inflammatory processes. I worked
with a nurse who told me her mother had similar issues, saw an Allergist, and
is now so much better. I got his name and saw this particular Allergist. I
learned from a skin test that I was allergic to multiple things including
household dust, many grasses and weeds, cockroaches, and dogs and cats. I took
allergy shots for a year. Through a food journal he had me keep, I learned that
I was probably intolerant to wheat. As I said, I was not happy with this
discovery. I did nothing with the information.
After I’d lost 50 lbs – in July of 2011 – I was still
feeling exhausted. I still had eczema and all the other inflammatory symptoms.
Finally, I quit gluten. Within two weeks, most of my abdominal pain, cramping
and diarrhea were gone and the other inflammatory symptoms resolved shortly
thereafter. It has made nothing short of a miraculous change in my life. I feel
SO good. I will never knowingly eat gluten again.
People mean well, but they’ve asked me things like, “OH, so
you don’t eaten gluten as a way of being on a low carb diet?” or “You don’t eat
gluten but you’re not Celiac?” or “You know, only about 1% of people in the
world can’t eat gluten.” (This is actually the percentage of people with Celiac
disease.) There is some reason this makes people uncomfortable or irritated. I’m
not sure why. The fact is that there are people with celiac disease, there are
people with wheat allergies and there are people, like me, who have non-celiac
gluten intolerance. There is more research being done all time. The estimates are
that from 6-50% of the population has some form of intolerance to gluten. Why? Some researchers have said it's because we've genetically engineered our wheat to have so much more protein than it ever had, so much that our bodies can no longer tolerate it. I don't think we know the whole answer yet.
Believe me, as the daughter and sister of wheat farmers, this
is an awkward position in which to find myself. But here I am. I have asked
myself so many times – Why didn’t you question the IBS diagnosis when you got
it? Why didn’t anyone else? Why didn’t they ask themselves and why didn’t I ask
myself ‘WHY?’ I was having these symptoms all of the sudden. What I have come to
understand over the years is that Medicine does not have all the answers for the
complexity of the human body, nor does it have the time to delve into everyone’s
history extensively. Each person has the responsibility to find their optimal
level of health – for themselves. Most of the time you need a doctor to help
guide you – and if you find a good one, they will help. But it really is, in
the end, up to you. As a nurse, in school to be a nurse practitioner, I felt stupid
for not inquiring further, not demanding answers. There was very little research
about gluten back then, very little known. So, I’m going to give myself a break
and go with Maya Angelou on this one: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now
that I know better, I do better.”
I hope you take away from this that you alone are responsible
for your health and I hope, if you’re not feeling 100%, you do the research to
find out what can make you better. If you have symptoms similar to mine, here
are some books I recommend to get you started as well as their links on Amazon.
Don’t you just love Amazon?
My son, Adam, in a beautiful field of wheat.
Erickson Farms - 1999
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