I loved yesterday’s question about who everyone would cook with (Ina or Elise Wiggins – let me know!). What great answers. We all have different experiences with our gluten free living. Some of us have been living gf for a while, some are relatively new to the gf world. That leads us into today’s question – When did you start to eat gluten-free and why?
Cassandra
February 2004 – I received my Parents Magazine which had an article about a woman with Celiac Disease. I thought I sounded a whole lot like that lady, from the symptoms to the many dumbfounded doctors. I set the magazine aside to give to a friend. The same day, my mom brought me the Reader’s Digest, with the article “10 Diseases Doctors Miss Most.” Yep, one of those was Celiac Disease. They now had my full attention. I didn’t have insurance (and I hated doctors), so I did what a friend told me to do and had the stool sample from Enterolab. It came back positive and I immediately went gf. Within a few weeks, I was no longer spending my evenings in the bathroom, and I was able to get out of bed in the morning like a normal person (pretty important when you have a little child).
Carrie
August 2007. I started eating gluten free because I believed that I possibly had a wheat sensitivity and for other digestive problems I was having.Being GF hasn’t solved all of my health problems (but I definitely have a wheat sensitivity — my nose thanks me for being gluten free!).I also believe I am MUCH healthier being gluten free. My body feels better! My husband has lost about 20 pounds! I haven’t lost any weight unfortunately, but I think we are both much happier and healthier!
Melissa
About 8 years ago — because of celiac.
Melanie
In a nutshell, I got very sick in the fall of 2006 with digestive problems. I had had problems for years but suddenly it got worse. Little did I know my doctor ran a blood test for celiac on me that came out positive. I did have the biopsy which did not come out with a clear answer for me. But having a positive blood test and positive response to the diet was enough for me. I’ve never looked back.
Lucy
My daughter is the diagnosed coeliac, and she’s been gluten free since 1997, when she was 1. I’ve dabbled with eating gluten free for psoriasis.
Jen
Right around Christmas 2007 because I was so sick that gf foods were the only thing I could tolerate. I’ve been completely gf since mid-January. My test results for +celiac came back 1/14. I just started to notice symptom improvement in the past week. I also just found out I have Hashihmoto’s Thyroid, which is an autoimmune disease just like celiac. I’m not willing to bet my future health that they’re not related, so gf is the only viable option I have.
Kate
I was diagnosed with Celiac while literally standing in my wedding gown for the last fitting just a couple weeks before my wedding. The doctor didn’t say much more than “Celiac Disease” and that it meant I couldn’t eat “bread, pasta, cake… that kind of stuff”. Not too helpful, but thank god for the internet. I knew more in a few moments on the internet than I could believe. (Thus the word “Gobsmacked” attached to my blog title.) I decided to eat my last piece of gluten-filled cake, etc at our wedding. Within two days of the phone call, however, everything gluten-filled was either thrown out (if opened) or donated. (Wouldn’t ya know that we had just finished our grocery shopping that same day too?!) I learned to make dishes at home that I would have only ordered at a restaurant (like risotto or panna cotta, etc). What’s funny is that in doing so, I learned how easy this recipes really were and starting being smarter about where we ate out, what we ate, etc. Being diagnosed with Celiac Sprue and being mindful of the food we purchase and consume is really a blessing in disguise, if you ask me.
Ginger
Anyone who wants to read the whole sordid tale can go to my blog. Read post no. 1 on August 1, 2007.I am a newbie – I went GF May 2007. I was never tested for Celiac disease, though my medical file says “Probable Celiac Disease” on it. I met someone with CD, and a lightbulb went off. I had 7 or 8 of the symptoms (I already had fibromyalgia, and my painful, chronic bowel problems were the tip of the iceberg. I also had bloating, swollen joints, lethargy, dental problems, hair loss, chronic depression). I had been having them for more than a year, after a traumatic experience after shoulder surgery. So my doctor (whom I love and trust) and I talked, and I did some research and since the only cure for Celiac was a gluten free diet, I decided to try the diet and see if it changed anything. (As I said to her, I already have a million markers and labels. Why do I need this one more?) Within a month, I was healing. I used the whole summer and did a 10-week elimination diet; I intentionally ate no gluten product after May 20. I waited two months before I even tried GF bread or baked items.Kudos here to the husband of the year, my Randy, the most tolerant man in the world. I couldn’t do this without him, and I thank him for supporting me throughout it.
Tiffany
I kept a food journal, and noticed that certain foods make me sicker than others. I had an ALCAT test, and followed the instructions to cut out all “reactive” foods for 1 month, and then reintroduce them. When I reintroduced gluten, I passed out at the mall about 20 min after eating a bowl of pasta. The ER doc said I was gluten intolerant, and I looked that up, and found out about Celiac Disease. I asked my primary doc for the test, and bam, been gluten free ever since.
Jeff
My uncle became deathly ill and no one knew why. Like so many stories I’ve heard from others, it took many years, and several doctors to finally make the diagnosis of celiac disease. Then two years later, my mother was diagnosed. In the meantime I had several auto-immune diseases, and was starting to have gastro-type symptoms. So I went to a Gastroenterologist and said “I’m pretty sure I have celiac disease, can you test me.” I remember vividly when I got the call from my doctor with the results of the endoscopy, I was at work eating a bowl of cream of chicken canned soup. After I hung up with the doctor I looked down at the soup and it looked like paste, full of gluten, and I was repulsed by it. That was the last time I (knowingly) ate gluten.
Shauna
I went gluten free last year (2007). It was diagnosed by a dermatologist who concluded that the ‘contact eczema’ that I had been experiencing for years , and that had been getting worse and spreading to my shoulders and face was actually dermatitis herpetiformis. I went gluten-free to cure a rash but have since found that gluten was also the reason that I was always painfully gassy, bloaty (but very constipated, which really didn’t help me feel any better) and unable to lose weight (even when following doctor prescribed diets to the letter!). In the past my doctors just told me those problems were caused by lack of fibre and recommended eating more wheat bran cereal — which made matters worse!
DC Girls
Mandy – May 2007, headaches and fatigue
Brooke – July 5, 2007 to see if it helped the joint pain I suffer with Crohn’s disease
Brandy- January 2006, celiac diagnosis
Gluten Free Steve
Back in March 2006, I started to have stomach problems and felt lousy. I went to my internist who agreed with my self-diagnosis of IBS (I mean, it all made sense from my Internet research). So he prescribed some pills for cramps and told me to eat more fiber. Well, after a week of bran muffins, I knew fiber was not what I needed! I started a strict gluten free diet in mid-April 2006. I did the blood work tests and scopes and got the official diagnosis that I had Celiac on April 13 (either that day, or the next!). I remember I was off-site for work, shooting a commercial (no, I wasn’t in it, but it was my project to manage). The nurse from the doctor’s office called me with the diagnosis during the shoot. I asked her a bunch of questions which she didn’t know and I got very frustrated. I mean, why have a nurse call you with a diagnosis if she can’t answer any questions. She got an “F”. Looking back over the years, so many of my health issues all make perfect sense now. Hindsight… It’s funny – last week I ate something that gave me heartburn and I realized I haven’t really had that feeling since going gf. When I was eating gluten, heartburn ALL THE TIME just seemed to be the norm.
And that’s a wrap! Tomorrow – favorite gluten free foods!
These are really fascinating answers. I have been meaning to write a post about my symptoms that have gone away (with gluten intolerance and food allergies), and I think this is the nudge I needed!
I really am enjoying knowing all this about my friends! Especially you — that diagnosis of IBS — guess who ALSO had that with the indigestion
Ginger, your answere is pretty similar to mine. Celiac was brought up a few years ago, but I shrugged it off, finally, in March 2007, after being violently ill for almost a year (disease progressing to a level I never want to experience again) my doctor sent me for tests. Everything came back negative, but he told me to go GF anyway because I couldn’t take much more. June 2007 I officially went off of gluten, and haven’t looked back since. It has been the past month that I’ve actually returned to the energetic person I was before starting to get sick almost 10 years ago.
I forgot to add WHEN I went gluten free, Dec of ‘05. Feels like forever ago, in a good way. This seems so second nature for me, to be gluten-free.
[...] 29, 2008 by glutenfreesteve Two years ago, on April 13, was the day I was officially diagnosed with Celiac from my doctor (ok, it may have been April 14th, but we’ll call it the 13th). In [...]
I had a near-deadly allergic reaction five or six years ago. I didn’t die, but I felt awful. The awful continued through tests for leukemia, diabetes, MS, gout, lupus. All negative. Doctor after doctor told me I was getting old and should get used to it. And lose some weight. I couldn’t. And see a dermatologist for that rash. And get steroid injections for the hair loss. I had some really bad days, weeks, months, years.
I improved some when a nurse practitioner FINALLY suggested I get tested for food allergies. In that round of tests I found out I was allergic to broccoli, cabbage, bananas and pineapple. I ate at least one of them every day “for my health.” So I cut them out and improved some. But my eyes were still swollen (as they have been for five years) and I still had some bad days.
Just after New Year, two people in two days told me stories of friends with wheat allergies. So I decided to give up wheat right then. A month later, skin tests showed I was allegic to wheat and corn.
I have more tests scheduled for next week. I PRAY I get to keep eggs, milk, rice, tomatoes and chocolate. My eyes are still swollen, so I’m betting something else has to go.
I’ve read lots of gluten-free blogs in the past two months. And I am thankful for all the insight, humor and information you all offer. I’m fortunate that others went before me, learned how to thrive, and shared their stories.
Thanks for being there!
I started living gluten free about two years ago.
All my life, I have had what they thought was irritable bowel syndrome, constant pain in my abdomen, and an itchy/burning rash on the back of my head, and sometimes on my elbows and knees.
About 4 years ago, I thought I had some kind of brain tumour or chemical imbalance in my brain or something equally as scary. I was sent to a Neurologist and went though a battery of tests and they found nothing wrong.
Then my mother saw a program about a little boy who’s mind wandered etc. and when he was put on a gluten free diet, he became “normal”. I told my doctor who sent me to a specialist, who did a colonoscopy and discovered that I have Celiac Disease.
I have done alot of research in the past two years (and I am still researching) I have also done alot of experimenting with recipes and shampoos and soaps and lotions etc.
I started a blog to try to help others who have been diagnosed – to save them from making the same mistakes as I and to help educate them. It is still a work in progress and I welcome any input I get from others in the Celiac community.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.