Gee. Thanks. What a revelation. :) Last night as Matt and I were watching our brand spankin' new Blu-Ray of Avatar (which is amazing visually by the way), he turned to me and said, "Do you ever get tired of people asking about Celiac disease? I get tired for you!" In short: Yes but I'm touched they are curious. So, for all of you voracious wheat eaters out there...here's my story:
(Cue birds chirping and lovely music playing ala Disney)
It was late Summer 2007. I was preparing to marry the man of my dreams (M@ttyg) and working really fast and furious on releasing a full line of stationery by my self. I was feeling rough! I was nauseous, achy, exhausted, dizzy, and feeling kinda beat up. I chalked it up to work and proceeded with my life.
September 29, 2007 rolled around and it was my wedding day. Then the honeymoon in Kauai. Then we came back to work. I expected to be 100% better because the stress was over. Guess again. I felt worse than before! I went to the doctor and she said, "I'd be shocked if you weren't pregnant!" Having only been married for 2 weeks, that was extremely unlikely and I told her so. She ran all sorts of blood tests and it turned out I was not pregnant (Told ya!) but I was extremely anemic. She turfed me to the next doctor, a hematologist.
(Cue ominous evil music)
Now, unbeknownst to me, a hematologist also specializes in cancer. At least the one I was sent to did. Upon meeting me he went into cancer talk (real uplifting discussion for a 3 week old marriage by the way). While it was uncommon, it certainly could happen. He turfed me to the next doctor, a Gastroenterologist (or something like that). She was my lucky star. She instantly didn't think it was cancer but diet related. I didn't think it was that but hey! what do I know. We did an endoscopy followed by a colonoscopy on New Year's Eve (you've not partied until you've had a colonoscopy!). She was right.
Sometime in mid-January 2008 I found out that I had Celiac disease which meant that I was allergic to wheat, barley, oats, rye, and a bunch of other things related to wheat and gluten. The trick is, its more than just an allergy. It's actually a disease. Its really only an allergy in that I have a reaction. Its a disease in that if I have gluten, my body attacks itself. It's an autoimmune disease.
When I have gluten, sometimes it effects me in a way I can tell but it always effects me in a way I can't. The symptoms I feel are extreme nausea combined with chills and hot flashes. About 1 week later a joint will ache so bad I can't bend it. About 2 weeks later my iron takes a dive and I'm exhausted. Internally, all sorts of things begin to degrade and my body doesn't take in the nutrients it needs so I either lose weight (yeah!) or gain weight (nay!), get anemic, bloated, and a whole bunch of other really attractive features. Also, I've noticed that my allergies are magnified or I can't fight off sickness as well. Additionally, this year for the first time I've noticed that if I'm really stressed, my body just decides to act like it's had gluten by making me nauseous and achy but in reality, I'm okay. That one really stumped the doctors this week.
So, it has been one heck of a journey. Mostly, it's been okay. People always say, "I don't know if I could do it! I love bread to much!" Here's the thing: you totally could. It's like driving a stick-shift. If I can do it, anyone can.
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