I don't know how many people know this about me, but I have quite a severe food allergy. I am allergic to wheat/gluten. I was diagnosed with it almost 4 years ago after becoming quite ill and after a blood test and biopsy of my intestines confirmed it. I felt awful everyday like I had the flu. I didn’t have any energy, my joints ached so bad, I had horrible headaches, my stomach constantly hurt, my hair was falling out along with many more agonizing symptoms. It was quite an ordeal for me, but I’m so happy that I found out what was making me so sick!

Gluten Intolerance or Celiac Disease is becoming more and more common these days, but to be honest I had never heard of it before I was diagnosed with it. So I decided to post some information about it to familiarize people with it. It's something that will never go away and once you have it you’ll be on a gluten free diet for the rest of your life.


What Is Gluten Intolerance?

Gluten intolerance is a disorder of the intestines.
Sensitivity to gluten causes gluten intolerance.Gluten is composed of the sticky, storage proteins found in wheat. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and most oats.
These proteins damage the small finger-like projections (villi) that line the small intestine and play a significant role in digestion. When damaged and inflamed, the villi are unable to absorb water and nutrients such as vitamins, folic acid, iron and calcium. This causes the body to be susceptible to a variety of other conditions related to malabsorption, including lactose intolerance.
Gluten intolerance is a lifelong condition that can be
diagnosed at any age. If you have gluten intolerance, you may be diagnosed with
celiac disease (CD), celiac sprue (CS), nontropical sprue
(NTS) or gluten sensitive enteropathy (GSE). People with
gluten intolerance may also have dermatitis herpetiformis,
a skin condition of itchy skin and skin eruptions.

What Are the Symptoms of
Gluten Intolerance?

Before diagnosis, each person with gluten intolerance has
his or her own combination of symptoms. Symptoms may
be related to the amount of damage to the intestines and
how long the individual has had gluten intolerance.
Some symptoms adults may have:

Abdominal distress, excess gas, and cramps
Diarrhea
Constipation
Nausea
Feelings of fullness
Anemia
Breathlessness
Weight loss or weight gain
Decreased appetite
Weakness
ADD/ADHD
Anxiety
Canker sores
Fatigue
Fibromyalgia
Headaches
Heartburn
Indigestion
Infertility
Iron deficient anemia
Irritability
Irritable bowel syndrome
Joint Pain
Osteoporosis
Poor Growth
Poor immune function (frequent illness)
Sinusitis

Children and adults may also have temporary lactose
intolerance (bothered by eating milk products). This
may make gastrointestinal distress worse.

How Will My Doctor Diagnose
Gluten Intolerance?

Your doctor can test you for gluten intolerance. Your
doctor may order a blood test that measures endomysial
antibodies (EMA), tissue transglutaminase (TTG), or
antigliadin antibodies. If blood tests show you have gluten
intolerance, your doctor should order a bowel biopsy. In
this test, the doctor takes a small piece of bowel and sends
it to the laboratory. This is the very best way to diagnose
celiac disease.


What Is the Treatment for
Gluten Intolerance?

The treatment for gluten intolerance is a diet without
gluten. When you remove gluten from your diet,
your intestines can heal. Healing time is different for
each person.

You’ll have to eat gluten-free even after you feel well.
If you eat gluten, it can:
• Damage your small intestine.
• Cause nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition.
• Make it so your immune system doesn’t work well.
You won’t be able to fight infections as well.
• Make it hard for children to grow properly.

You may also have lactose intolerance at diagnosis. For
lactose intolerance, limit the amount of dairy products you
eat or use lactase enzymes or lactaid products. Lactose
intolerance is temporary for most people with gluten
intolerance. After you’ve been eating a gluten- and lactosefree
diet for a period of time, you can probably eat dairy
products again.

Even if no symptoms return, if you don’t follow the
gluten-free diet, other problems can happen. Some of these
include osteoporosis and lymphoma and other cancers.

It’s okay to eat all plain fresh, frozen or canned
fruits, vegetables, meat and milk.

And there are actually so many great gluten free products out there today that I don't really ever feel deprived. I can still eat eat pizza although it can awhile to make, pasta that's either made from corn or brown rice, cakes, cookies and all of that good stuff as long as it's gluten free. I'll post some pictures of all of my favorite gluten free foods that I eat. Even my husband John enjoys many of the gluten free products. Some of it is really good and some of it is awful. You just have to try out different products and find out for yourself which ones are good and which ones you'll never buy again :)