It was February of 2006. I was a newly wed and due with my first child in August of 2006. Towards the end of my first trimester and beginning of the second, I started developing a strange rash. After a matter of just weeks, it had spread and turned into an ugly, painful dehabilitating problem. I tried a dermatologist and a naturopath to no avail.
Just weeks before my due date, I went to an OB (my regular care provider was a homebirth midwife) and they ordered some blood work. I said, "Please, please you have to find something wrong with me. At least if I know what's wrong, then I can fix it." However, to my despair, my bloodwork came back totally normal and I still knew nothing.
My little girl was born that August and my rash did improve, but did not go away completely. I continued on, living with the discomfort and wondering what in the world I could do to get rid of it. I tried the raw food diet and to my surprise, the rash on my hands cleared completely up. Not all of the rash was gone, but it was a good start. Finally my skin seemed mostly back to normal, when my daughter was around 19 months old.
Shortly after, when my daughter was 21 months, we conceived our second child. I was very excited about the baby, but not so excited about going through another skin rash! So when I was about 9 weeks along and my skin started seeming to go south again, I did the "desperation diet." I cut out all wheat, dairy, and most processed foods. I lived mostly on rice, beans, fruits, veggies, eggs, and foods like that. My skin was wonderful and my pregnancy was going great!
But inevitably, I got tired of the dietary restriction. I decided to try adding wheat back in. Within 4 days of adding wheat back into my diet, my skin started breaking out in the same place as my first pregnancy. I cut out wheat immediately and the rash immediately went away.
I went the rest of my pregnancy mostly avoiding wheat and after an extremely healthy and enjoyable pregnancy, gave birth to my son in February of 2009.
In August of 2009, I decided to try cutting out all gluten and did well at that.
My children started having some skin issues and I took them to my naturopath and we all got tests together. As it turns out, we all tested out positive for gluten intolerance. So my kids joined me on the gluten free path as of October of last year.
Since I had never had full medical celiac tests, I decided to do a gluten challenge in February of 2010 and then follow up with medical tests. I got swelling, fatigue, severe headaches, and ultimately wound up in the ER due to stroke like symptoms that were a complication of the severe headaches. I never did end up doing the celiac tests and I never will. My symptoms were severe enough for hospitalization after just 10 days of eating regular food, so that's good enough for me. I will eat gluten free for the rest of my life. Going on gluten for a full 3-4 weeks, as is recommended for celiac tests, is simply too dangerous for me. I have my kids to raise to adulthood, and it's not my right to do irresponsible things that could jeopardize my health. The numbness and speech difficulties that landed me in the hospital were terrifying. I thought that I was having a stroke. I never want to be in that position ever again.
I immediately went strictly gluten free after my release from the hospital and my symptoms started to slowly improve and go away. It took me awhile to feel completely normal, but after a few days off of gluten, I started to feel like myself again.
I know that there are many like myself, who will never be counted among "official" celiacs, and yet struggle with dehabilitating health problems as a result of gluten. My desire is to spread awareness on gluten intolerance and encourage people to keep pursuing answers until they are well and can live healthy normal full lives.
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