Food and Our Family – Part 2
About the time we discovered Jake had food allergies, I started having problems of my own. I was very excited one weekend when I successfully made Jacob a loaf of focaccia bread that did not have milk or eggs in it, just yeast, olive oil, and water along with sage from our garden. It was the first loaf of bread I’d ever made and it tasted really good. Jeremy and I both ate quite a few pieces. A couple of days later I started having stomach issues, and because it runs in the family and I had just eaten a lot of bread, I immediately suspected I had celiac disease.
I started researching the symptoms of celiac disease which for some reason I had never done before. For those of you who don’t know anything about celiac disease, it is an autoimmune disease that is triggered by eating gluten that is found in wheat, barley, and rye. When someone with celiac disease eats wheat, barley or rye, their body’s immune system damages the lining of their small intestine causing inflammation and malabsorption of vitamins (if you would like more information see http://celiac.com). I knew celiac could cause stomach problems and vitamin malabsorption but beyond that I did not know the symptoms. When I started looking into it in the middle of the night while I was up with stomach issues, I was shocked at all of the symptoms that I have had at one point or another over the course of my life. Things that I thought were just funny quirks about me were actually symptoms of celiac disease. I am clumsy and accident prone, I bruise easily, my extremities “fall asleep” easily. I’ve never had as much energy as some people I know, I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning and don’t usually feel rested when I do, and I was anemic when I was pregnant with Jacob. I am sick often, I have had both bronchitis and tonsillitis that several rounds of antibiotics failed to cure. Just recently after having Jacob I was hungry and eating all of the time but continued to lose weight, which I attributed to breastfeeding, but I am now thinner than I have been since high school. Even this is just a partial list of symptoms I have had.
The more I looked into celiac disease the more I was sure I had it. I eventually found a gastroenterologist in Longmont and made an appointment with her to get checked out. I stopped eating gluten for a few days and started feeling better, but when I made the appointment they told me to keep eating gluten so the tests they did on me would be accurate. When I started eating wheat again, I started getting sick again. When I went to see the doctor she thought there was a good chance I had celiac disease and ran a genetic test, antibody tests, as well as blood tests for vitamin deficiencies on me. She also went ahead and scheduled and endoscopy for me which they use to confirm that you have celiac if the antibody test comes back positive. I had the endoscopy before we even knew the results of the blood test and was then able to stop eating gluten.
Meanwhile Jeremy, Jacob and I attended a friend’s wedding in upstate New York. While I was there I tried to avoid any food that obviously had wheat in it, but somewhere along the way must have ended up eating some. The day we were supposed to fly back to Colorado I woke up with diarrhea, stomach cramps, abdominal pain, and nausea all at the same time. My doctor’s appointment to go over the test results was the next day so I really wanted to make it back but it was a very rough day flying with a 15 month old on two flights and a short layover while feeling that sick.
The next day I went to the doctor and was not at all shocked when she said, “well, you have it.” I have celiac disease, a vitamin D deficiency, and a vitamin B12 deficiency. It may sound strange, but I was actually relieved to know that I had celiac disease. Although changing my diet is tough, it is a disease that requires no medication, and when you change your diet the other symptoms for the most part disappear.
I have now been gluten free for about two weeks and I am already feeling a lot better. There have been some ups and downs, but some days I wake up and have more energy than I have had in years. I am excited to see what life without gluten will bring. I have never known myself without my “quirks” like being clumsy and sleepy all of the time, and I am looking forward to seeing what I can do when I’m actually a normal healthy person for the first time ever.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I'm glad to hear that you're still feeling better! There are some symptoms that you have that I don't, but I definitely bruise easily and am always sleepy. I guess we'll see…
However, I'm very worried that now that your clumsiness might be cured, we won't be able to add things to the "Stephanie's bad luck" song. However, some of those things on the list would probably have happened with or without Celiac's. Unless one of the symptoms is that bees love to sting you on the head.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Yes I'm pretty sure birds attacking me and bees stinging me on the head are probably not celiac related unfortunately! Or maybe they just sensed my weakness so went after me.
Anyway, hopefully you don't have it Angie, but if you do, at least you get to look forward to having a lot more energy and not bruising anymore. My bruises still haven't cleared up but maybe they will soon.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Is life without cupcakes a life worth living? This is my biggest question and biggest fear about have celiacs. I think that I probably have the lease amount of symptoms in the fam, so hopefully it skipped me. I know Angie is mad about me maybe not having it, but I guess I should get some benefits out of being the short, fat sister. Anyway, I'm excited you are feeling better. Hopefully since Jake is a boy, he won't get it.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Jeez, that post is full of typos. Sorry, mom and dad.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
What a disgrace you are Amy!
There are gluten free cupcakes! Almost all of the cupcake places I have been to around here have them. I haven't tried them yet but the things I have tried are all surprisingly good. Kaye even found gluten free cupcakes at a place in OKC! There are at least two gluten free only bakeries here, we found bread that tastes like real bread – I'd even say it tastes like a good loaf of bread. And another place we found makes gluten free baguettes and chocolate chip cookies. Jeremy even declared the chocolate chip cookies some of the best he has ever had, and he is basically a chocolate chip cookie connoisseur. Everything is way better than the things you probably remember from being a kid. There is still gross stuff out there but it is possible to find really good stuff as well.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Goodness, Stephanie, between this and Jacob's dairy and other allergies, you really have your hands full. Good luck with it!
October 27th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I would like to try a gluten free cupcake, but then if it's bad I'll be really disappointed that I wasted an opportunity of a cupcake. It's definitely good that you guys live in an area that is so health concious that its popular to eat gluten-free stuff even when you don't have celiac's. And it's good to hear that even OKC has gluten-free cupcakes. Can we PLEASE go there at T-givs?
October 28th, 2009 at 4:07 am
You know I've heard that gluten and lactose are both things that a lot of people are at least mildy allergic to or can't digest well but they aren't even aware of it. Thank goodness for all the good gluten free products out there now! And thank goodness you live in a granola area with plenty of gluten free stuff too
Hope you guys are all feeling better and that you're making progress with the weaning.
October 28th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Thanks! We are hanging in there, it was just a lot all at once but it is getting easier!
October 28th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
You know you can always get two cupcakes. We are getting some for Randy's birthday so I will let you know how they are. I am sure it just depends on the place that makes them. Yes, here I think people do eat gluten free stuff to be more health conscious even if they don't need to, which is great for me because I don't know if a stand of gluten free stuff at the farmer's market could survive otherwise!
October 28th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Yea, I've read three books on celiac disease / gluten intolerance now. There are people who make antibodies to gluten like I do but don't actually have the autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks your body. They have similar symptoms to me, just not the full range that can be caused by celiac – it is basically an allergic reaction but since it isn't the same kind of immediate allergic reaction Jake gets (a different type of antibody that causes hives, anaphylaxis, etc.) they call it gluten intolerance. It's actually different that lactose intolerance which is not an allergy but the body cannot break down lactose right due to a missing enzyme (I think). Also, a lot of people who have celiac are also lactose intolerant because of the damage to their stomachs, but so far I have not had that problem. Apparently a lot of people who have "irritable bowel syndrome" actually have gluten intolerance, or some other allergic reaction to other foods that they do not know about. I've also read that gluten is just hard for everyone to digest because it is one of the last things our bodies evolved to digest, so even normal people who cut back on gluten may feel like they have somewhat more energy, although I doubt it would be the same extreme results I have felt.
Anyway, probably more information than you wanted to know
You are right though, I'm really glad I live here where everyone is so health conscious that there are people on gluten free diets when they don't really have to be!
October 28th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Oh and by the way, Jake is weaned! Hooray! So glad that is done, he has been for a while now… it actually wasn't too bad. Have you started with Leah yet?
October 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I'm so glad you are feeling better Steph! No worries, I'm more than making up for your share of gluten you had to cut out!!
October 28th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Ha ha ha, I'm sure you are! I guess someone has to eat it.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
FYI: Jeff and I just had lunch at Protos and they had a sign advertising that they now have gluten free pizzas.
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