Apr 08 2009
Finally!
I’m excited about finally entering this post and here’s why:
I’ve been writing to this blog for the past couple of years - writing about my insights into personal growth and spirituality, but there was always something missing. I was diagnosed with a gluten allergy almost 8 years ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) At the time of the diagnosis I was actually relieved, within a matter of weeks I no longer felt so fatigued that I had to take a nap every night after work, I no longer felt depressed for no reason, I no longer carried 10 lbs of weight around my waist and more importantly I could go on dates, on hikes and on weekend trips without fear of bathroom emergencies or being doubled over in pain - to say nothing of the fact that in the process of eliminating all of the other possibilities, during a colonoscopy, we discovered and removed pre-cancerous polyps in my colon (these can take 10 years to turn into full blown cancer), which might not sound like a big deal, but I was 37 at the time and the protocol for routine colonoscopy for women is age 50 … so as far as I’m concerned my gluten allergy probably saved my life! So all in all, at the time of the diagnosis I was a happy camper.
Until I had to figure out what to eat and what not to eat! This was almost 8 years ago, there weren’t as many options then as there are now and it was hard and I was all on my own. I had to throw out all of the staples I had in my pantry and buy all over again. I got on line and researched products, recipes, how to read ingredient labels, which additives are GF and which aren’t - didn’t know that soy sauce was a no-no, and so was blue cheese dressing. I printed and carried around a 10 page printed list of ingredients and products that were approved as well as the ones that were not approved. I’ve learned a lot and I’m still learning …
Which brings me back to what was missing on this blog. I recently cofounded a local support group for people in our area dealing with gluten issues and part of my goal has been to start a GF blog or website - to create one central place where people like me can go and get some good solid information on how to easily make the transition into the GF lifestyle. I’ve been agonizing about how to go about this and just recently I decided that I don’t need a NEW blog, I can just add on to this blog … it’s all part of the same thing, my passion is helping people heal (mostly women) themselves physically through nutrition, emotionally through personal growth and spirituality. So here it is, my first post in my newly redesigned same old blog! I’m not sure how it’s going to evolve, but it will - so keep checking in!
2 responses so far
2 Responses to “Finally!”
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an e-mail from my amazing friend Vicki:
Hey Lee!
I just opened linkedin and saw your page! I am now wondering about myself. For the past couple of years my allergies to things have gotten stronger. I have never had a test however I know I’m allergic to dairy products…just figured that one out.
The thing that caught my eye was the fact that you were always so tired. I’m always feeling very drained and on weekends always have one or two naps during the day. I’ve seen me fall asleep during weeknights very early…as early as 8pm! On top of feeling exhausted I’m always feeling somewhat bloaty. I’m just wondering if there is a site that a person can go on to to take a “test” to see if I am allergic to gluten. Certainly sounds like it to me!
Anyway I am going to bookmark your site and going to visit other sites. In the meantime if you know of any sites with how to find out if I am allergic that would be greatly appreciated. Mind you, maybe you have them on your blog and I haven’t seen them yet!
I hope life is treating you very well!
Take good care,
Vicki
Hey Vicki!
So nice to hear from you!! I’m sorry you’re feeling so bad - the good news is, you can find out what causing your symptoms and you should be able to start feeling better soon!
Regarding testing, I would really recommend you go to a Doctor for testing (a progressive Dr that believes in prevention, nutrition and holistic healing) - for one thing, you really need to rule out Celiac disease as a possibility (celiacs don’t tolerate dairy until they eliminate gluten) and then there are a whole slew of things that could be going on to cause your symptoms - vitamin deficiency, candida (yeast) in the intestines, hormone deficiency, Chron’s, just to name a few. A Dr who knows about this can quickly rule a bunch of stuff out or zero in on the problem. That being said there is a home test that is supposedly very accurate and the only place you can get it now is in Canada
Go here for a ton of awesome info.
If you really think it’s gluten, a quick self-test is to just cut out all gluten/wheat products from your diet for one week (wheat-free does not necessarily mean gluten-free) - cut out all breads, pasta, anything batter dipped or thickened with flour - also note that oats, rye and barley are no-nos (soy sauce and a lot of blue cheese products are also bad) -there’s a whole list on the site I gave you above. Cut out gluten for a week and see how you feel - when I did that 8 years ago it was like I was a new person! If gluten is your problem, you will feel 90% better in just 3-5 days. If that is the case, you’ll have to go back to eating the bad stuff before you go in for testing- otherwise it can be difficult to detect in a test and could result in a false negative.
Feel free to ask me anything you want, I’m so happy to help you with this - best wishes and feel better soon!
Love & hugs,
Lee