my intro (sorry, kind of long!)

March 24, 2002

Hi everyone,

I have actually been a r to this list for about 6 months, but I have

never posted anything to the group. I have suffered from " intestinal

problems " all of my life, as long as I can remember. I only learned about

celiac on the Internet, I had never heard of it prior to doing some

Net-surfing a while back. I have been searching for the answer to my

question of what's wrong with me for forever, and I think maybe I have found

it, finally. I lost my trust for the medical profession a long time ago, as

no doctor has ever been able to help me with any problem I've ever had, save

for obvious infections which needed antibiotics, a very rare occasion for me.

Other than that, they always want to hurry up and prescribe some kind of

pills, and get you out of their office as fast as they can. So that is why I

have suffered for so many years, and have done most of my searching for

answers on my own. I know that I am the only one who can help myself, the

only one who cares enough to actually research and investigate my problems.

Sorry to sound so negative, but this has been my experience, maybe others of

you have had some better experiences.

Anyway, I have followed this group, and a few others I'm d to on

celiac, and I've done some reading on the Internet. Out of all the

possibilities I've read up on, celiac seems to be almost a perfect fit for

me, as far as symptoms go. The thing is, the reason I haven't taken it any

further is that I have such an attachment to wheat products, and I am

extremely resistant to maybe having to give them up forever I have been

vegetarian for many years, and have been vegan for about a year now, and it

really wasn't a problem giving up dairy products when I realized that I

needed to, to bring my life into alignment with my beliefs. I have never

regreted going vegan, and I love my life even more now that I am not

participating in animal cruelty through my diet. However, giving something

up by choice is far different than giving something up by necessity! I'm

sure all of you on this list can relate to that So this is something I'm

struggling with, and in the meantime I am in agony every day because of my

symptoms. It's gotten so bad now that my abdomen is constantly bloated and

distended, and I always have painful gas rumbling around in there, which most

of the time I am unable to expel; it just stays in there, causing me alot of

distress. My stools are always soft and loose, and I suffer from intestinal

pain almost every day. I also have a symptom which I've heard can be a sign

of celiac, due to nutrient malabsorption, which is hair falling out. I have

always lost more hair than the average person, but in the past few years my

hair has been falling out at an alarming rate. I used to have very thick,

pretty hair, but now it is very thin and dull looking. I guess my hair

follicles can't keep up with the loss anymore, so it isn't growing back as

fast now. Also, I have had alot of trouble with exzema at different times

throughout my life, starting in childhood, for which cortisone cream has

always been prescribed. I actually have been relatively free of it for quite

some time now, which I am so grateful for, but I know that it could come back

at any time. Mostly it occurs on my hands and elbows, when I have it.

I have a question, and would be interested your opinion: is it necessary to

get a medical diagnosis of celiac before going ahead with a gluten-free diet?

Due to my lack of faith in doctors, I feel like there's not much they can do

for me anyway, so why not just try eating gluten-free and see if it makes a

difference. If it does, then I must have celiac, and following the diet for

the rest of my life with help me regain my health. If not, then maybe I have

some other problem, and I will have to do some further investigation. Of

course, I don't know when I will actually have the willingness to give up

wheat, but I am rapidly reaching that point, because I can't take feeling the

way I do much longer. It's really affecting my life, and I know from reading

about celiac that if I do indeed have it, I am actually damaging my

intestines by continuing to consume wheat.

I am sorry this is so long, but I have seen how compassionate you all are,

and how helpful you have been to others, and I feel that you of all people

can understand what I'm going through. Please feel free to respond to any

part of what I've shared here. Thank you so much for being here, I really

appreciate this group, and I read everyone's posts with great interest.

Blessings,

Christine

March 24, 2002

Hi Christine, welcome! I understand your opinions about doctors and the medical

industry in general... I have MS and have found doctors and their medicine

pretty useless in my case, they don't know what causes MS or what to do for it

not matter WHAT research is showing, and they prescribe steroids and VERY

EXPENSIVE injection drugs for MS that I've been on and only got worse. So I've

decided to find my own way. I'm off all medications, watching my diet, taking

good supplements and doing MUCH better.

It is perfectly safe to go on a gluten-free diet on your own and see what

results you get. In my research for my MS and the diet I should follow, I found

papers and research about what I need to eliminate and why, gluten being one of

them. Because before man and machine came along and started processing foods,

these things didn't exist. Our bodies were not made to digest gluten, is my

understanding, and many people have a problem with it or an allergy to it they

may not be aware of. I know since I eliminated it, I no longer crave breads,

cereals, pastas or processed foods that contain it. They say the foods you

crave the most are likely the foods you are allergic to.

So go ahead and give it a shot - it certainly won't hurt you, and may make a

huge difference!!!

Donna

-

CATTZEYE77

Sunday, March 24, 2002 8:35 AM

Re: my intro (sorry, kind of long!)