Wednesday, April 2, 2014

With Bated Breath...

After 7 weeks of doctors, ER visits, tests, blood samples, and now a colonoscopy.... I'm still sitting on my bum waiting.  Waiting for the clear cut, no strings attached answer.  What's wrong with me?  I've just about gone bonkers with undiagnosed medical issues and this is not one that can just continue without a title, a name, a label, something.

Bill after bill, sleepless night after restless morning, pain day in and day out, I'm slowly doing what I do best.  I lose hope in the doctors that are caring for me.  Why are all the tests negative or clear?  I mean yeah! That's great but that doesn't explain the excruciating pain I'm currently experiencing.  I'm not able to work full shifts, I had to completely stop working out (including my small walks at work).  I am just going nuts in my own head.  All that I have is TV, reading or video games.  (while that's not at all bad in my vocabulary.... it's not what I should be doing or even need to be doing)

This week has proved to be the absolute worst of it so far.  My pain spread and tripled after my colonoscopy.  The doctor's advice?  Go to the ER if it doesn't go away.  Well what are they going to do for me?  Run tests.  Tests that have already been run in the last 7 weeks.  #frustrated

Through all of this, I have had a lot of friends inquiring, checking in on me, etc.  I am extremely grateful for all the love!  It may even end up being a lifesaver!  A friend suggested out of nowhere that I may have Celiac Disease.  *well what the heck is that? pause while I Google it...*  Hmmm fascinating!  It's a gluten intolerance that is an autoimmune disease attacking the small intestine.  Stomach/abdominal issues run in my family and to my knowledge no one has been tested for this before.  My mother sure hasn't and it's a genetic disease.


So while I wait, horribly impatiently for my results... I've decided to do a bit of studying on my own.  Boy am I overwhelmed.  With a lot of different feelings.  I am ecstatic that this disease sounds just like what I'm experiencing and that means it might actually have a label!  I am horrified because I want to be a chef, I cook constantly, and to give up some of the stuff that I incorporate day to day is daunting.  I am sad because my pantry will be empty once I ditch the gluten.  I am worried because of the money it will cost to stock the house back up with G-free foods.  I am stressed because I don't want to impose this new diet on my bf but I don't want to be around foods I can't have all the time.  I am hopeful that this may be an amazing solution to a lifelong abdominal issue.

I will be researching in more detail for the rest of the week and will give the G-free diet a go for a few weeks as a test run while I wait for those results to come in.  I've read that there are great benefits to adopting this diet even if you don't have Celiac, but I'll cross that bridge once I have definitive answers.

To any of you out there reading this, do you have words of advice, favorite G-free websites, great G-free recipes (sugar free if you share dessert :(  I can't have that either), or thoughts in general?  I am eyeball deep in materials but I'm getting horribly overwhelmed by the big picture instead of taking it meal by meal or even ingredient by ingredient.  I did however discover that 80% of my seasonings and herbs are G-free.  That was a huge relief!

So here's to information and a new journey that may take me all over the place but it may just save my life.

5 comments:

  1. I had a co-worker that would spend time on the couch at the office every afternoon, weak and exhausted. It turned out to be a gluten intolerance. Once he cut that out of his diet, he felt fine.

    In related news, the Mellow Mushroom on Mill Ave in Tempe has a gluten-free pizza. :D

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    1. Ooooo I'll have to check it out after work sometime! I'm honestly hoping this is the answer since it's such a simple fix. Horribly complex and mind blowing at first, but very simple and medication/procedure free! *crosses fingers for those darn test results*

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  2. My best friend has Celiac and so we cook gluten free when ever she comes over, which includes all major holiday meals. It can be daunting at first, but it really does become easier in time. I've even made her homemade gluten free pasta that was pretty good!

    Check out http://glutenfreegirl.com/ for some great recipes. And since I'm Canadian... http://www.celiac.ca/ it's a great resource website. I hope that cutting out gluten from your diet does help. Have none of the doctors even suggested this as a possiblity?

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    1. unfortunately not one of the 4 doctors I've seen so far have even suggested it might be an allergy. I came up negative for Celiacs but I'm still trying it due to how recent this issue occurred. Maybe the damage hasn't been done for the biopsies to tell? Who knows?

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  3. I hope you find the answer soon!!! Might try Reddit.com/r/glutenfree reddit.com/r/celiac
    Reddit.com/r/glutenfreecooking

    Idk if you have been to reddit, but it is an amazingly huge online community that has everything you could think of. Hope this helps!!

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