Thought this might be the best place to share my experience with Celiac Disease so far and a good topic for my first blogging experience.

**** Warning, this may be too graphic for some. I tried to make sure it didn't get too detailed!! And it may get a little deep - sorry Hallie.****

So I've been gluten free for almost 5 months. I know that gluten sypmtoms/consequences can take different amounts of time for different people to disappear. But here's my observations so far.

My last known piece of gluten was a very yummy coffee cake I used to make for special occasions. I should have made it more, it's so good! I haven't tried it gluten free (gf) but I hope to some day!

I guess the biggest change for me is that I no longer have stomach aches after eating. I had sort of gotten used to having one so much that they didn't really bother me much. But I do notice that I don't have them now! Unless, of course, I stuff myself, but I stopped doing that even at Thanksgiving and Christmas years ago. I thought it silly to make myself uncomfortable!

When I was doing my gluten challenge in July and August, I almost always had a stomach ache. And one night I got really sick! I had gone to a housewarming party and then to my BIL's bday party. I got home and my stomach was a little upset. Thinking I needed to eat something to settle it, I did (that had gluten). I had to pick my son up at church and couldn't even make it home! I could hardly drive, it felt like I was going to passout. Thank goodness my work place was on the way home. I got out of the car, unlocked the door to the building and made it to the bathroom in just enough time to lift the seat! After that, I was fine to go home, but I'm convinced it was a gluten reaction. I'd had ALOT of gluten that day!

And not to get too, well graphic or personal here, but I'm a bit more regular than I have been in the past. Things work better, let's put it that way. Although I do notice that if I have alot of refined sugar (mostly cookies and sweets) then things tend to get a bit clogged up, so to speak! And I haven't had a reaction of the opposite kind since I went GF.

I suppose I've lost some weight. We don't have a scale, but I did weigh myself the weekend after Thanksgiving at a resort and I'd lost a few pounds at that point. What really helps me lose weight is to stay away from sweets and that's pretty easily done when I have to make them most of the time now! So as long as I don't buy the candy I can have, I'm good! But I do indulge sometimes! And Cookies are still my downfall.

I do feel as though I have more energy, but mostly I feel like I can think more clearly than I was. For a few years I have felt, well, not myself, not on top fo my game, so to speak. I haven't been as able to process things or remember things as well as I had just a few years ago. Now I know that some of that comes with aging, but I'm only just turning 40 this year! And I do feel like I can, well, use my brain better these days. I remember hearing a story from a woman who knew something was really wrong with her when she was at a stop light, it turned green and she didn't know what to do! The undx CD had really effected her brain!

I also seem to be able to "feel" more. For a while I have felt like I couldn't feel emotions, certainly not at extreme levels, but, sometimes, even a little! This may seem rather strange, but it is something I've been noticing about myself for sometime. Knowing that undiagnosed CD can lead to things like depression, I do ponder how much having gluten has affected my brain/psyche. True, that I've gone through some things in my life the last few years that could cause me to shut down a little, but I do wonder how much influence the CD has had.

I'm still on a quest to find more and more "portable" GF food. That's the hardest part for me - packing a lunch! But we manage to fill our tummies! Hard parts: Portable foods and the cost. But I'm hoping the cost will increasingly go down as the demand goes up! More and more people are being diagnosed and more and more people are eating an alternative diet to wheat (like eliminating white foods - white flour, white sugar, etc.), so, hopefully, the demand will go up and the prices will come down. Isn't it supposed to work that way? :-)

So things seem to be getting better. I certainly feel better physically. And I'm feeling much more optimistic about life than I have in a long time and feel like I'm feeling closer to people in my life.

And I suppose I'm eating healthier. Not as much refined sugar - alot of the GF foods use fruit juices and cane juice to sweeten. I discovered a new sweetener made from corn called Maltitol. I was worried because I had purchased a new product (an energy bar type food) at Whole Foods and they said it was GF. But it contained Maltitol which concerned me as most malts are made from barley which contains gluten (well sort of, but that's another discussion). So I looked it up and found out its made from corn (and it probably has nothing to do with any kind of malt). I just keep learning so much!

So, too the future! A happy and healthy one! (Sorry this was so long!)