My Story (in a nutshell)

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in July, 2007.

My symptoms were not typical. Oh sure, I had the usual stuff like chronic diarrhea and bloating (which were misdiagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome), and mood swings.(they treated me for Bi-polar disorder) I also had the really annoying itchy, burny rash thing on the back of my head and occasionally on my elbows and knees. (I was treated for Eczema and Psoriasis).  Brain fog, fibromyalgia and arthritis also plagued me.

The big one, the one that signaled a real problem was the sudden periods of disorientation, when I didn’t recognize my surroundings or people I actually knew!! (can you imagine how scary that was?? – I thought I was losing my mind or had a brain tumor or something)

I spent a year, not being able to even sit on my front porch without someone with me.  I had signs on the exit doors telling me that this was my home and to call my boyfriend’s cell phone. (He would talk to me and clam me down)  It was lonely, in the house by myself, day after day, so we got a kitten.   (The kitten’s name was Sylvester because he looked like th cartoon cat, but became Buster because my little grandson could not say Sylvester – he called him Ballbuster LOL)

I was also having spells where I was extremely dizzy. (diagnosed as Labrynthitis)

Although I had been plagued by these symptoms for as long as I can remember, no one ever connected them. (I always thought it was normal to have pain in the upper abdomen after eating)

Finally, my mother saw a program on television about a boy who had moments where he just blanked out the rest of the world and his mother refused to believe he had Autism. His doctors finally put him on a Gluten Free diet and his symptoms disappeared.

The show I’m talking about is an episode of Mystery Diagnosis (2005) and the boy’s name is Eamon Murphy. Really interesting show!

I spoke to my doctors about it and a Colonoscopy/Endoscopy was scheduled. The results showed that I have Celiac Disease. At the same time, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

At first, I was in a panic. I didn’t have much information on the disease, and I began to wonder if there was anything out there for me to eat (that didn’t taste like cardboard)

After massive amounts of research, and trial and error with recipes, and searching the web, I have learned that living Gluten free is not so bad.  In fact, I have become so good at cooking gluten free, my BF prefers it and most people don’t know the difference!

What is more, I have met so many wonderful people because I have Celiac disease that I might never have even heard of otherwise.

Because of what happened with me, I wanted to help others who have been newly diagnosed – and this blog was born.

I count myself very fortunate. Life is good.

Would you like to share your story?

Love,

Aunt Jayne