I Want To Hear Some Good Healing Stories!

[breavenewworld]

i've been gluten free and lots-of-other-things-free for 4 months. but i live at a hotel in asia at the moment and think i keep getting cross-contam'd. so i've decided to fly home early, move in with my folks and heal my tummy - i'm thinking SCD... anyway i'm looking for some people who've been on the diet for a long time and had success. or, someone who's gone above and beyond gluten-free and really gotten their health back. anyone?? i know it's an up and down battle and no one's perfect, but i'd love to hear from someone who's a few steps ahead of me in all this

i also wonder if a lot of people post more when they're having trouble?? i know i get on here more when i get glutened or have weird symptoms - so it's possible there may be more posts by people when they're at a down moment that when ppl are doing fine u know??

ok holla back ya'll

[dilettantesteph]

I've been gluten free for two years now and I am preparing to do a mini triathlon this coming summer. Yesterday I rowed 8,000 meters and then ran 2 miles. Before diagnosis I was having uncontrollable diarrhea and pooping in my pants a couple of times a week, blurred vision, swollen joints, fatique, depression, etc. I could only exercise very mildly. I had to break up the lawn mowing job into one quarter of the yard a day and I only have 1/3 of a acre.

To achieve this level of health I have had to be very extreme with my diet. I sort, wash, and grind my own grains. I eat hardly any processed foods. I only eat nuts that I shell myself. It is worth it to be healthy.

[tarnalberry]

Been gluten free for six years, dairy free for five. It's going great. There are other health issues that I have to work with, but they are not - to the best of my knowledge - at all related to celiac (in my case, anyway). There's not a whole lot to say on it for me... I wasn't *that* sick, but the symptoms were affecting me. I stay strictly gluten free, and now I don't get them.

[jerseyangel]

Hi and welcome!

The thing about this disease is that you will get a lot of different approaches since gluten affects us all a bit differently. Same internal mechanism, but widely different symptoms and rates of healing.

My story in a nutshell is that I began having symptoms (nausea, persistant anemia) in my late 20's after the c-section birth of my second son. It was also at about that time that I began to get panic attacks and anxiety.

I lived with this for over 20 years, and in 2003, I got the flu and was sick with a fever for a good week. I never was the same after that--that spring I began to get tingling and numbness in my lower legs, left arm, and face. My face and feet would "burn"--seemingly from the inside. My anxiety grew to include depression, I experienced "brain fog" (at the time, had no idea what it was--scared the bejeepers out of me), extreme fatigue, weight loss, and urgent, at times uncontrolable diahrrea. For the first time, my thyroid and liver enzyme numbers were out of whack. I was a mess--quit my job and basically stayed in bed all day until it was almost time for my kids to get home from school. (always managed to pull it together for them--since no doctor up until then had any idea what was really wrong with me, I felt I just needed to somehow "suck it up") It was all I could do to get out of bed in the morning--more from the depression than anything else. I was petrified that something was seriously wrong with me, but was always told I was "fine". People around me thought I was "sensitive"--and I had relationships suffer because of my inability to be places.

Fast forward to finally being diagnosed in 2005 (another long story...). The D stopped almost immediately. I began to put weight back on and for the first time in so long, looked forward to the new day when I woke up.

A few other food intolerances showed up, and after identifying them and cutting out the offending foods, I really began to improve. No more depression, anxiety slowly lessened. The numbness/tingling/burning also gradually went away. Sometimes in fits and starts, but now are gone. This all took the better part of 2 years, but it had been a long time in the making, so it makes sense that I wasn't going to get all better overnight.

I live a "normal" life now--have survived moving twice in the last couple of years and as long as I watch my diet and stay away from cross contamination (I'm pretty sensitive to tiny amounts) I'm so much better than I was--that almost seems like a lifetime ago.

I'm still intolerant to legumes, coconut and tapioca...although I was able to add dairy back this summer. It's been a real process.

[missy'smom]

After being gluten-free for a couple of years, last year I was DX with diabetes and it seemed that we didn't catch it early. I have been on a strict very low-carb diet for a year and got the best milage out of it that I could, which was nothing to complain about. However recently I was retested for food allergies and eliminated all the ones I reacted to. Since then my BG has dropped down to beautiful low nondiabetic numbers! I still can't go back to spiking carby foods as I still have the same seemingly limited functioning pancreas, but I am getting the best possible milage out of my current diet and trilled with the results. The change in numbers is due to the reaction my immune system has to these foods, not the way the foods impact BG. I replaced them with other foods that my immune system doesn't react to and which have a similar impact on BG. I put in a lot of hard work this past year and made a lot of sacrifices but it's been well worth it! Still have some challenges to work out- but I'm doing the happy dance these days.

[breavenewworld]

wow this is great thank you guys. i'm especially grateful for delettandtesteph's story because i hope to run distance again one day! i've lost so much weight and have pretty bad GERD issues right now, but i think i will do what you did and just go super strict and safe with my diet - it's so hard because i travel for a living but i think i'm just going to have to find a way to bring like a mini kitchen with me! utensils, crockpot... anyway, i've just been down in the dumps lately because i tried to start traveling again right after diagnosis, and i think multiple food intolerances plus the constant restaurant visiting (no matter how many times i tell them to wash off the grill and use new utensils) are setting me back. so i'm heading home to get this stuff figured out, and i need patience! i'm sure i'll get my life back soon (minus the complex carb fests) and be able to encourage someone else like you guys!

thanks.

[dilettantesteph]

I stopped doing restaurants completely. For travel I got a cooler that can plug in to a car or wall. Now I see that they have come out with a travel microwave. It is a bit expensive at $300, but I'm very tempted.