Human again and a possible answer
I am still lacking an official answer, but through elimination and trial it seems I have gluten intolerance (can't call it celiac since the often false negative bloodwork was negative). I have decided against the biopsy at this point and probably for good since it would require me to go back on gluten. I still have one more doctor to see regarding this, but don't expect anything to change. She is a newer endocrinologist focusing on metabolism and malabsorption so with my history of hypothyroidism my primary thought it would be a good direction.
It has been 1 month since I started the gluten free diet and what a difference. I have energy, the abdominal pain is gone, the weakness is gone, no more fatigue or headaches. I have even gained a few pounds and am back up to the low end of my training weight. I am a functioning human again. I've actually been really good at following the diet and have realized it really isn't too difficult with a little planning. GF food is getting better and we've found some pretty good options and some not so good ones, but you learn as you go. I've cheated twice, once on purpose: dang pumpkin pie and once on accident: duh breaded shrimp has gluten. Both times I suffered for it which tells me this really is my problem.
Over the last month I have taken to reading GF blogs and searching for recipes, it is quite interesting to me that a lot of these blogs are both GF and vegetarian/vegan. One of the surgeons I work with joked that there was a connection between vegetarianism and celiac since there is another surgeon we work with who is celiac and also a vegetarian. I'm also having fun experimenting and have found some good options. The hardest part has been quick foods since so many prepackaged things are gluten, in a way this is good as it prevents me from grabbing the cookies/desserts that are always sitting out at work. I do miss an occasional beer (still haven't tried GF beer) and have yet to find a good cereal to replace the Kashi I lived on.
Now my biggest worry is if this is something that has been passed to Ophelia. She is growing, but slowly and no matter how much I feed her she acts like she is starving. I'll discuss with her ped in a few weeks, but not worrying too much since she is getting much of her diet GF too now.
It has been 1 month since I started the gluten free diet and what a difference. I have energy, the abdominal pain is gone, the weakness is gone, no more fatigue or headaches. I have even gained a few pounds and am back up to the low end of my training weight. I am a functioning human again. I've actually been really good at following the diet and have realized it really isn't too difficult with a little planning. GF food is getting better and we've found some pretty good options and some not so good ones, but you learn as you go. I've cheated twice, once on purpose: dang pumpkin pie and once on accident: duh breaded shrimp has gluten. Both times I suffered for it which tells me this really is my problem.
Over the last month I have taken to reading GF blogs and searching for recipes, it is quite interesting to me that a lot of these blogs are both GF and vegetarian/vegan. One of the surgeons I work with joked that there was a connection between vegetarianism and celiac since there is another surgeon we work with who is celiac and also a vegetarian. I'm also having fun experimenting and have found some good options. The hardest part has been quick foods since so many prepackaged things are gluten, in a way this is good as it prevents me from grabbing the cookies/desserts that are always sitting out at work. I do miss an occasional beer (still haven't tried GF beer) and have yet to find a good cereal to replace the Kashi I lived on.
Now my biggest worry is if this is something that has been passed to Ophelia. She is growing, but slowly and no matter how much I feed her she acts like she is starving. I'll discuss with her ped in a few weeks, but not worrying too much since she is getting much of her diet GF too now.
my husband has celiac so i am gluten free by default.
ReplyDeletenew grist is a good gluten free beer made from sorghum. i used to be able to find it at the regular grocery store in florida. pennsylvania doesn't sell alcohol in grocery stores so i don't know if the brand is everywhere yet or not. of course, there's always wine =)
i love food for life brand millet bread. their brown rice tortillas we use just about everyday (you must microwave or heat them in order to use them as a wrap without falling apart).
snacks are hard mostly because they are so expensive. the snacks i have on hand are kettle brand chips, nuts and dried fruit, fruit and nut butters, string cheese, yogurt...
pre-packaged snacks at the health food store are gluten free cereal (chex mix is gluten free), envirokidz rice crispy treats, larabars, crackers by mary's gone crackers, kind bars, annie's homegrown makes some mac & cheese and bunny cookies that aren't bad.
you really can't replace kashi. i lived on their go lean cereal. the closest you can get are gluten free granolas. two mom's in the raw makes vegan granola bars that you can crumble and let soften a bit in milk and use it like cereal. bakery on main makes a granola but it's corn flake based...
now that i've written a book. i hope some of this helps. if you need more help. i have been doing this with my husband for 3 years now. he's a carnivore and i don't know what i am labeled but have a ton of vegetarian/vegan/raw vegan gluten free options as well.
speaking of raw vegan, a lot of their desserts are inherently gluten free. might be something to google.
Thanks Kathleen I'll have to check intosome of those products and the raw vegan foods.
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