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Today’s post is a bit more serious in tone as I was waxing nostalgic for some reason during my morning commute and remembering how my food allergies came to manifest themselves.  As if being Celiac was not enough I also developed a shellfish allergy not that long ago so in the course of a few years my life became very interesting indeed.  When first diagnosed with Celiac it was a pretty big blow.  I mean I loved bread, pasta, beer – okay, I had a love affair with gluten and did not even realize it.  Yet, this was a one-sided love affair as I may have loved gluten but gluten was slowly destroying my digestive system unbeknownst to me at the time.  It is funny when you think back and the signs were so clear yet Celiac was not something that had mainstreamed so it was always a case of having a funny tummy or GERD (God, I was on Nexium for 3 years which I am sure is not a good thing).  It is amazing how something can be right in front of you yet without a little bit of knowledge it just goes unnoticed.

I often wonder what life would have been like having known I was Celiac all along and am glad that younger generations can spare themselves the damage and discomfort early on.  I am also still amazed that one can become allergic to anything at any point in their life.  Celiac aside, because obviously many of us had it our entire lives but just went undiagnosed.  My shellfish experience was a real wake up call because, once again, the initial warning signs my body was sending off were ignored because I did not know what was happening. I would eat shellfish and feel itchy or get small hives but never connected the dots until my body sent a clear message which led me to a fantastic allergist and in-depth allergy test to find out not only what I was allergic to but also to what degree.  I was amazed at how specific the tests could get (down to the different varietals of individual species).  I will never forget my allergist going over the results and starting to read the shellfish section – about half-way through, after being off the scale for every type thus far, he looks at me and said Just never eat ANY type of shellfish again because you are off the scale.  At the time I felt like, great, yet another entire food group wiped away.  But somehow the shellfish took a priority in the sense that 1) it would likely kill me and 2) the thought of having to jab my Epi-Pen into my thigh (which I had to be trained in) was really not appealing because I am essentially a big baby when it comes to any type of needle.

So where am I going with all this?  My lesson learned was to listen to your body.  No one knows it better than you do.  If something seems a bit off, get it looked into and nip it in the bud.  Also, you have to be comfortable with your physician – if you are not, find someone else.  I am lucky to have a brother who is a physician and I can bounce things off which comes in very handy.  But is important to ask questions and have a physician that does not seem put out in answering whatever (or however many) questions you might have.  It is your responsibility to take a proactive stance in your own health in order to keep living a full and fabulous life. 
 


Comments

karen

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:51:54

wow1 i am glad to see i am not alone.. i live in pa. not many things here gf. i also have fish allergies and have gerd. it really depresses me at times. i have like 2 of all appliances and its hard with having a non celiac at home.
the foods are so expensive and i barely eat.

 

Lori Baird-Turner

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:40:59

Hi again Mike. I am once again sympathizing with you on this one. I was still so sick after diagnosis 3 yrs. ago, that I still thought I was dying. I finally found a Dr. that said, "MAYBE YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO MORE THAN GLUTENS". I went to the allergist and lo and behold, foods that I had eaten for yrs. were off limits. I am intolerant and slightly allergic to: corn, eggs, pork, onions, tomatoes, cukes, celery, milk/dairy, nuts, pineapples, melons, molds, cats/dogs, mites, trees, grasses and this just a partial list. All of the above will at the worst, give me a really nasty case of hives and a sore throat. Now, how do I stay a chub and not starve to death? As I posted before, rice was the starter. Now I am used to the variety of flours/grains that are GF and I adapt them to take the place of other non GF items in my cooking. So,starving I am not. But, I can't even do the fried anything out usually because most of the oil is corn! To eat out for me was a trick as well, especially to make sure that the pans were super cleaned before the attempt to accommodate me was even made. I am a lover of the Chinese and Mexican cuisines because of their limited use of flour and their homemade approaches to cooking. To you I must say though that I feel bad that you cannot enjoy the true luxury of a steamed lobster or shrimp. Seafood is one of the few things that I CAN eat and that I enjoy at least weekly.
You are right, you are your own best Dr. You know your body and need to pay close attention to it. Too bad a lot of us didn't listen to the radar!

To the woman in the comment above, I would like to say to her that the web is the best option if you are in an area that does not have stores that are stocked with our stuff yet. And my food processor is my friend. I grind a lot of my own flours. Many dishes can be adapted, as Mike has shown, so that you can feed them to your family and you eat them as well and no one is the wiser. My husband and son are not GF and we all eat the same thing for dinner about 350 days out of 365 a year because I do not have the time or energy to be making separate meals for myself. I hope that you have been able to find this site as well as the rest of the webs GF sites helpful to you and the you are a little less depressed. God Bless and please cheer up, IT DOES GET BETTER!!!

 

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