Sick of being Celiac

About 12 years ago I nearly died. My organs had been shutting down, one by one. It was so easy to ignore because I was anemic and "that could be due to any number of reasons."

As my body shut down (from being constantly attacked by gluten nearly every time I ate something) I became sleepier and sleepier. It wasn't until one day when I slept 23 hours out of 24 and was still tired that my husband finally said, "I think something's wrong." He's a very, very patient man.

I finally dragged my denial into the doctor's office and was diagnosed Celiac.

So many gluten attacks ensued. I learned that when you go off of gluten, your body lets down its defenses. Sure, it was a relief for my body to not be sick all the time, but like an unguarded fortress, whenever I slipped and had gluten by mistake, it was disastrous.

#1 ingredient = wheat

Example: One day I had a business meeting in Sebastapol, California (where O'Reilly, the best tech publisher is based). It was a tough meeting and I brought a Costco sized container of red licorice as my treat if I did well during the meeting. Pavlovian, but it sometimes works for me.

The meeting went well. On the way home I nibbled one Red Vine after another. I had a 1 hr drive ahead of me.

Within five minutes, my fever spiked, hot as a sick kid, but surely I was just stressed out from the meeting.

Within 10 minutes, I was sweaty hot, probably due to having caught a germ from one of the kids the day before, incubation period, right?

Within 20 minutes, I was feeling tired. Maybe I needed a nap.

Within 30 minutes, I was exhausted. Maybe I had a bad night's sleep the night before. Maybe, maybe.

Within 40 minutes, my eyesight was fuzzing out. I had to work as hard as I could to see the lines on the 70-80 mph freeway. It took all my concentration.

Within 45 minutes, still taking the occasional nibble of Red Vines, I had to pull over.

I called my husband and told him I couldn't see to drive. He asked if I had had any gluten, I said, "No, just red licorice." I looked at the Costco container next to me. First ingredient: Wheat.

No Speeding sign in NZ has a sense of humor

I took a nap parked dangerously on the side of the freeway. I couldn't even make it to the next exit ramp. But the 10 minute power nap was just intermittent panic. Every time a semi drove by the rush of air shook my car and woke me up. Being pumped with adrenaline was what I needed to help me get back on the road.

I took back roads to get home so that if I crashed, at least I'd be more likely to survive. As they say in New Zealand, "The faster you go, the bigger the mess."

Gluten Free Guide

That was 11 years ago, one year into my No More Gluten lifestyle. I've had other slip ups since: restaurants that make mistakes, cross-contamination at home, hidden ingredients that I don't recognize...

My husband wrote an app for me: Gluten Free Guide:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applicationstudios.glutenfreeguide&hl=en
which helped me identify ingredients while I was at the grocery store. It allowed me to look up specific ingredients that would have been impossible to remember on my own. Wheat is known by many names.

Now, after several more years and not enough healing, my beloved found another improvement -- Soylent. It may (or may not) help with some of the problems that have cropped up from being an undiagnosed Celiac most of my life.

Whether your interested in Soylent, Celiac, or general health, you may find some help in this blog (or at least commiseration) if you also have Celiac.