Not Coeliac!

I am just sooo excited. I got my test results back from my last biopsy from after the gluten challenge, and WAHOO I am not Coeliac after all! I am SO relieved, I was not looking forward to being gluten free the rest of my life. I was looking forward to hopefully feeling better, but it seems my symptoms are not caused by Coeliac’s after all.

So now I am working on another theory, fingers crossed I am on the right track as it is relatively easily treated if I am right! It is just such a relief to be able to eat normally. I really hate having to be so careful all the time and the food while some of it is ok, just isn’t the same. I can’t wait to use my bread maker for REAL bread now!

Now I have to really start concentrating on getting my health back on track.. first I will work on getting better, then getting healthy and loosing weight. At least eating low GI won’t be as difficult now and funnily enough, my lactose intolerance bothers me less when I am eating gluten than it does when I am not. Either way I am glad you can take tablets to help with any lactose digestion problems anyway.

So that is good news!

Gluten Challenge Update

Another update on the gluten challenge I have been having to determine if I am definitely coeliac since my results have not been entirely clear.

My old joint pains, stiff and aching spine are returning. Last week I was making apple crumble for a staff social day for work and I had to rub the butter and flour with my fingers to make the crumble and my fingers ached, it felt like what I imagine arthritis feels like as does my other joint pain. I hadn’t had the joint pains for quite some months before the gluten challenge so it is looking very much like I am Coeliac after all. I have NEVER had joint pains in my fingers like that before.

The bloating is continuing on and off and despite eating not that much worse than normal, I gained 4 kilos in just over a week! That is just not normal! I did indulge a little as I had been missing my favourite gluten foods so much but I certainly didn’t eat 4kg’s worth! Thankfully the weight gain seems to have plateaued again and I hope I don’t start gaining any more again.  I had lost about5kg’s in the space of 6mths prior to the challenge without doing anything special, I was eating as normal and having treats probably more than I should.

So knowing that when I go gluten free again chances are I will likely once again loose weight without even trying does give me some comfort. At least now I know why I have so much difficulty with my weight when I am not a big eater and do for the most part try and eat healthy.

Update On Gluten Challenge

So far all is going well on the Gluten Challenge, no nasty side effects so far as I can tell. I have had some small amounts of bloating but I suspect this might be from having cereal on some mornings. Lactose seems to bother me much more first thing in the morning than it does later in the day. This has pretty much always been the case, I just used  to avoid having too much dairy in the mornings not realising I was lactose intolerant. I just knew my tummy didn’t like it first thing in the morning!

Yesterday I had toast and had no bloating.  I don’t feel any more or less tired, than usual and pretty much feel the same as I did before.

Of course this doesn’t mean I am not Coeliac, as some Coeliac’s do not get any obvious symptoms, so time will tell if I am or not when I have another biopsy in three months time.  In the meantime I intend to enjoy my little reprieve from the horrible gluten free diet. It is amazing how good food is tasting again! I am going to have to be careful I don’t put on weight. I lost about 5 kg in the last 6 mths and I don’t want to ruin that!

The fevers have gotten worse again, but that started before I was back on the gluten. I am having them every day again at the moment, usually in the late afternoon and evening. I can’t wait to get to the bottom of what is causing them as they are driving me batty! My gp was apparently having breakfast with an Endocrinologist friend of hers and was going to talk to her about me so I might give it another week or so before I go and see her, I need to see her again anyway.

It has been SUCH a treat to eat normally again. I really feel like a leper when I have all this special treatment because of my Gluten Free diet, I really hate it. If it turns out that I am Coeliac I will just have to learn to live with it I guess, I know I wouldn’t mind so much if I actually felt better from it, it would be worth it to actually feel healthy for a change. Since there is something else wrong with me (fevers etc) anyway I would rather just deal with one thing thank you very much. It has really got my gp stumped as to what is causing the fevers. I take my temp every night when I am feeling off, and every night it is around 38.1 degrees give or take.

Work is incredibly busy at the moment. We have just lost a second receptionist after our brilliant one (the best they had ever had) left to have her baby and so all the admin staff have been under quite a load taking up the slack as well as dealing with the rush before the tax deadlines. I am falling further and further behind in my own work because of having to do so much other work. A new ad went in the paper today with a deadline of 22 May so it is not going to change in the immediate future. I have brought some work home this weekend in the effort to try and catch up some. Will see how I go!

Update & YEAH Gluten!

Poor little Kyan has lost his best friend at Kindy. We knew it was coming as his family was moving to Abi Dabi (sp?) but Kyan didn’t quite understand and last week was Kyan’s first week without his best friend at kindy and it is finally starting to hit him. The poor little fella was so close with his best friend and he has been a bit sad this week. Dean took him out to pick up some takeout during the week and sat him on a chair while he ordered, when he finished ordering he turned around and Kyan had a tear in his eye and told him that he wanted William. I broke out in tears when I heard that. My heart just breaks for him but thankfully he has started playing with another little boy and girl in his class. Hopefully in time he will miss his best friend less and less.

One of his teachers was VERY sweet and did a beautiful scrapbook page for them each with photos of the two of them together and framed them for them. They were really lovely photos and the page was just lovely. I also left my camera at the kindy for them to take photos of the two of them and have put those on CD for William and gave it to him on his last day. I am hoping they might email us when they settle in to their new home.

On a brighter note.. I am SO excited! I just got back from the specialist and I get to go back on gluten for 3 months! Yeah. Basically it is a gluten challenge. My last gastroscopy was normal and so now I go on the gluten for 3 months, and have another gastroscopy to look for new damage. If there is new damage then the Coeliac diagnosis is confirmed, and if there isn’t then I am free from this awful diet! YEAH! So for lunch I am going to have a ham and salad roll and we are having La Porchetta for dinner. Pizza is my favourite food so I am REALLY looking forward to it.

Now I am going to go and have a biscuit with my coffee and dunk away! YAY!

This article really spoke to me…

Firstly, I have been a bad blogger… with the silly season approaching and busy weekends I have had several gluten reactions thanks to eating away from home, causing me to be extremely tired and subsequently zonked for most of my non working hours.

Dean bribed me into coming along to a golf resort (I wasn’t really interested in going and leaving the kids for the night) for the Ozgolf Champs by offering a Spa Treatment while he was out playing. He dutifully rang in advance to make sure they would able to cater for my Gluten Free dietry needs. Of course we got there and there was NOTHING for me to eat on the menu except for salad. I have never been one to eat salad and certainly not for an entire weekend! Had we known we would have brought meals for myself and lugged along our microwave to heat them up if need be.

So rather than starve on lettuce (why is it that people consider this a acceptable single menu choice for gluten free diets?) I asked them to make me steak and salad. Of course, steak was cooked on a likely to be contaminated grill, and later I asked for a steak sandwich without the bread and sauce and cooked in a seperate pan to prevent contamination. Well I reacted even more severly to that meal. Of course at night there was VERY slim pickings from the menu and I opted for the closest to gluten free I could find which was lamb roast and vegies.  I strongly suspected that they were however far from gluten free.

In any case, I had a strong gluten reaction to the weekend and was sick with diarrea, extreme tiredness & lethargy and also fevers, bloating etc etc.

Then this past weekend, I had JUST gotten over the golf weekend, we head off to Sea World Nara for a 5 day holiday, which was full on but loads of fun by the way - photos when I get a chance. We got a kitchenette so I could cook my own meals, and planned on eating some at quality restaurants there. That was a great idea, but I think I will trust the restaurants less and bring more of my own food next time. We went to a LOVELY Italian restuarant/cafe that went out of their way to be helpful cooking me gluten free meals on two occasions, but I think knowledge of the strictness of a gluten free diet is not as good as one would hope even in quality establishments. I suspect that either cross contamination or lack of knowledge of premade stock or sauces ingredients may have caused a problem. In any case, I was ‘fortunate’ enough to suffer another gluten free reaction, again lasting for more than a week, diarreah, fevers, bloating and extreme tiredness. I was falling asleep in our room after our busy days at 7pm.. even before the kids!

As much as I was in denial, thanks to only minor reactions if any when I first went gluten free, I am discovering that as time goes on my reactions are becoming more intense and lasting longer,  and that there are very few establishments in the hospitality industry which have sufficient knowledge to cater successfully for a gluten free diet. I will do just fine for weeks eating my self prepared food, or prepackaged food labelled as gluten free, but when I go out with friends for a meal, eat away from home or come along to a work ‘do’ where food cooked by others is involved, I inevitably 95% of the time end up with a gluten reaction.

I find myself with a dilema, I can either come along and eat nothing, bring my own food which frequently is not allowed, take a risk that they will know what they are doing, or just avoid food prepared by others altogether..which is to me a totally unsatisfactory lifestyle choice.

In a couple of weeks we have our work Christmas Party. The owner of the restaurant has assured me he will look after me and make sure he has gluten free bread for me etc. What should normally be something to look forward to is giving me a feeling of dread. What if the knowledge isn’t quite there, and I end up with yet ANOTHER gluten reaction. That will leave me feeling crook over Christmas which is something I have no desire to endure. I feel stressed every time there is a function or a reason to eat out with friends etc. I hate to miss out, but I also hate being sick. I find myself no longer looking forward to social occasions, and sick of feeling like a social leper.

I am having another winge, but I am sick of being labelled as a fussy eater, because I am SO not, I love food, I love a large variety of food, my diet is not a choice and has nothing to do with fussyness. I have had a workmate say to me I should be used to looking at other people eat food I cannot have (while I sit there hungry and eating nothing) by now. I don’t think I will ever get used to it.

Anyway, I just intended to post a link to this blog post by Gluten Free Girl because it really spoke to me, but once I started just kept going! LOL Anyway, a great read this article, it really speaks to me, have a read.

Topliss Tarts - Gluten free

Yay, I (or rather Dean!) just found out a shop here sells products from this company, and they hold a stall at the Eumundi Markets, so guess where we will be heading next time we go to the coast! They make lots of yummy gluten free goodies.. one of which I am just about to sample for dinner.