My Adventure

So here is my story.... if any one else has their own story about their fight with Celiac Disease, please post!

Not going to get into the "I was born" stuff but since 2001 I have lived in the wonderful country of Belgium. I moved here to be with the man who is now my husband. At this point I didn't think anything was 'wrong' with me... in fact it wasn't until about a year ago that I started to really show any problems or signs of having this disease. Most DON'T show anything to the effect of this disease and in fact that is what makes it so hard to get the proper treatment because there are many that are told the have something like IBA (irritable bowel syndrome).

A bit more then a year ago, I started having this really bad 'I've eaten too much' feeling no matter how much I did or didn't eat. It was horrible. Stomach pains that were sometimes so intense that I was unable to sleep or rest comfortably, having to use the bathroom 3/4/5 times a day for '#2', getting to the point of feeling as though I was going to be sick and to top it all off the worse sight of my stomach bloating (you could actually SEE it doing this from the outside) not to mention the feel of it. Every time I ate something that had wheat of some sort in it, my stomach would bloat and actually make it physically bigger. I hated what was happening.

When I really started to hate what was happening and didn't want to live the way I had been for the rest of my life, I started to wonder what was actually wrong with me. My first thoughts were that perhaps I had an ulcer (hole in the stomach lining) because of a pain injection I take for migraine headaches (which is another symptom of Celiac Disease) and then worse fears went into my head such as gull bladder stuff and so forth.

What REALLY triggers this next thought was actually a TV program I saw... it was one of those 'lets help them be healthier' shows where they put a team together to help with eating better and loosing weight and film it. Well on this one it was a team of 2 doctors... they took picture of different areas of the guys body... things like this tongue, face/skin, belly and so forth. One of the things mentioned when they were looking at the first set of photos (the before photos) was that it looked as though he was getting too much yeast and such.

Later in that program (watched the whole thing) they found out that he was wheat intolerant! OMG what an idea! I started to search right after the show on what symptoms could be on this and I almost fainted. I found a list that mentioned like a dozen things, all of which I suffered from with exception of sever skin rashes (but I did have some nasty pimples). So from that day forward, I started experimenting.

That is where I am today.... I started going to a shop here called "Bio Shop". It is mainly just that, a bio store that sells all natural stuff from household products for cleaning to organic bread to eggs. This store also offered a fairly good selection of Gluten Free products. I stocked up on things from there to test for 2 things... taste being the highest and then how it helped me feel.

After about 2weeks of going gluten free, I started to feel better. The biggest improvement I found was that I wasn't feeling that 'over full' feeling any more... what a relief. What else is that my migraines almost vanished. I was getting one every few weeks and even went to a doctor specialized in them... just to tell me that I was too over excited and crap like that. Since the last visit with him and the start of my new diet have had *1* migraine that I have had to take a shot for... what another relief!

I'm now about 3 months into the new diet. I feel great, I don't sleep until 10/11/12 anymore, I get up feeling full of energy and loving it! I have more energy then I know what to do with most times, I cook full healthy meals and even bake my own desserts with gluten free flour. My skin is clearing up as long as I leave my hands off my face, I'm loosing some weight, my bones/joints don't ache nearly as much any more, I sleep better when I go to bed, I feel tired at night rather then at 3am in the morning, I'm in a better mood most days compared to the bitchiness I use to have all the time and I don't have problems with constantly changing bowl movements (sorry has to be said since it is a problem with the disease as well). There are just so many things about what this diet has done for me that just words are in no way able to tell you!

Now there are days that either I miss in the label that there was a wheat product in something I eat or just gave into temptation to have one of my most loved and missed foods.... those days and the next 2 or 3 after are just pure murder. The food you are eating that has wheat in it, better be REALLY worth it. I suffer for up to 3 days later when I eat wheat. Even if it's just a bit in something like salad dressing to 'thicken it'. So now I just try to stay away from it, although when I do loose around another 20kilo (about 45pounds) I am going to celebrate. I would really like to pig out on Pizza Hut pizza (my favorite) but I might decide that I feel so good and don't want to have a problem later, that I very well might make my own pizza with what I want on it.

I'll be posting again soon with some information that will shock you. Stuff about what foods and so forth I can eat on this diet. Please remember for those reading from other countries, I do live in Belgium so when posting about certain products that you might not be able to find them over in the stores by you. Also, if people know of a good online store that is specially for gluten free and will ship internationally, POST IT! I'm always on the look out for this!