Hello and may I be the first person to welcome you into the gluten free adventure. If you are like me, you weren’t too thrilled to find out that you won’t be able to eat bread, cereal, cake, and other such goodies again. I remember when my doctor looked at me and said, “Well, just don’t eat gluten for the rest of your life and you’ll be fine.” All I wanted to do was cry. It’s a devastating experience (especially if you love bread like I do!). I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this horribly negative life-ending event. Don’t despair, there is hope!
The purpose of this blog came out of my own gluten-free journey. I had been experiencing pain, extreme fatigue, mood swings and intestinal distress for years. I went through more doctors than I can remember (although I’m sure my insurance does!), being poked and prodded to the point of loosing all modesty until one day one of my gastro doctors finally said, “How about we have you do a food journal to figure out if your problems are food related.” My initial reaction was, “Yeah right. I doubt food to cause me this much pain.” Ah, how little did I know! After he looked at my food journal, he put me on a gluten-free diet for two weeks. My problems decreased exponentially within a matter of days and when I went back my doctor proclaimed me to be officially ‘gluten intolerant’!
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4 comments:
Did you get a blood test done too?
When I had my gut issues, the doctor gave me a test to see if I was allergic to gluten and it came out negative. After having my gallbladder removed and still having some issues here and there, doctor just said I have 'IBS'...then I spoke with this awesome nutritionist who told me about food sensitivities. It's different from an allergy because usually people with sensitivities can tolerate certain levels of foods/chemicals, but if they go over their limit, then they can get sick.
Anyway, the test for food sensitivities is $500, that's if the insurance doesn't cover it (and mine doesn't :P)! Crazy! But it's cool because they test your blood against all these different food chemicals and see how it reacts to them!
I'll be getting this test done when we switch insurance companies. I was just wondering if they go about testing for gluten allergies the same way they test for food sensitivities?
I did get a blood test for celiac and a general food allergy panel done. The celiac tested negative, but I was partially off gluten when I took the test and you have to have be consuming large amounts of it for the test to be accurate. Also, the blood test for gluten is not very accurate in the first place.
My general food allergy blood panel all came back negative. It tested for ~30 major things. You can get a scratch test for food allergies I think, but it's discouraged.
What's the name of the sensitives test? That might be something for me to look into because soy seems to be bothering me (I figured I would be mildly allergic, but it came back negative).
Unfortunately, the only good test for celiacs is done through Entrolab or getting an biopsy of your intestines. The Entrolab test is ~$300 so I feel your pain.
Most people just go a gluten-free diet and if it helps declare themselves celiac or gluten intolerant. I hate that there isn't a better system, but it is such as it is. It seems that the majority of people are diagnosed that way. Does that help clarify?
Hi again JJ,
Thanks for the speedy reply. The test is called a Mediator Release Test. To be honest, I have no idea how to explain this all because it's so sciency, so I'll send you the info. It's really mind blowing, though, in a really fantastic way! The nutritionist said that 90% of her patients have had success after they find out what their food sensitivities are and then have a special diet made for them. The entire program behind all of this is called LEAP.
I uploaded the info sheets for you:
here's one: http://irunpink.googlepages.com/Isyourfoodmakingyousick.pdf
here's two:
http://irunpink.googlepages.com/MediatorReleaseTest-Principlesandmet.doc
let me know if you're not able to open them :)
I found the site too :)
http://www.nowleap.com/
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