My Current Treatment

So what is my current treatment?? Now I am no doctor, so I am speaking from experience, from what I have learned from my doctor, and from what I have read. I will be adding sources to all of this.


Well I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease after being gene tested. I am a carrier of the gene.
Now this is important!!! I originally came out negative for Celiac Disease. When getting tested for Celiac Disease they will look at your gliadin levels. Some labs have cut offs for what level of gliadin they will test for. Some cut off at 20. My gliadin level is currently a 5. This is *actually* very low. But I am still sick. I am very sensitive to gluten. My doctor is very sensitive to gluten as well. When he is a 5, he is very, very sick. Some people are very, very healthy when they are a 5. So the gene testing is much, much more reliable. There are other forms of testing for Celiac Disease, but the gene testing although expensive is the most reliable. If you carry the gene, you carry the gene. :p


So naturally I would be treated with a gluten free diet. Unfortunately I have struggled with many, many different allergies. I was allergy tested, but I have found allergy testing to be somewhat unreliable. I'll get into that later. Some of what I am allergic to caused outward and obvious reactions (rash on entire body, numbness and tingling around lips or throat). Others were not causing such obvious reactions. So it is hard to tell what I am allergic to exactly. Allergies cause an immunological reaction. If my immune system is going to get better I need to cut out what is weakening it. For me it is pretty obviously allergies. For instance after I have an allergic reaction I am very, very tired. It just weakens my whole system. The best way that I have found to recover from an allergic reaction is to take a Clariton (gluten free- at least it is at the moment), stay up for a while to be sure that I do not react anymore (obviously if the reaction is serious enough- affecting the airway and breathing one should definitely go to the emergency room), and then just sleep and sleep. 

Because I do not know what I am allergic to exactly I have worked to simplify my diet. My doctor told me to  just eat beef and rice. I eat white rice because it is higher in Omega 3's (I will get into that later) and grass fed beef because my body type will not allow me to eat corn and soy fed beef for some reason. When I eat non-grass fed beef I find blood in my stool and become INCREDIBLY fatigued after about 10 mins after eating the beef. So I was pretty happy when I discovered that I can digest grass fed beef. I purchase it from a local farm in mass quantity. It is a bit pricier. I was drinking bottled water, but I was having stomach aches and problems with different bottled waters. I went to a celiac forum and discovered that other people were having problems with this. My guesss is possible cross contamination in the factory. I never would have figured this out, but when you are just eating rice, beef, and drinking water it makes it much easier to find the culprit. So I bought a safe, metal water bottle and only drink water from the faucet.

So I eat grass fed beef and white rice that is labeled gluten free. The label gluten free is integral. I was eating Minute Rice from a regular grocery store, but I was not getting better. There was a recent study that shows although a food may be inherently gluten free, if it is not labeled gluten free than there is  most likely cross contamination. I found this to very much be true. I also take supplements to compensate for all that I am missing from my diet. It is important to be monitored while taking supplements. You do not want to be overdosing on vitamins, that could be very, very bad. And I drink water only from my water bottle and the faucet water. I also use Dermassage dish washing liquid (as of now it is gluten free- there is a small chance of cross contamination apparently :/- I called the factory.) I use separate dishes from everyone else and keep them in a big plastic container to avoid cross contamination. Naturally I wash them with a separate rag as well. I also take an antibiotic for strept throat.

Every person is different, every celiac is different. As my doctor says, "Your body is smarter than I am." But in general eating beef and rice works for most people. The difference for me was that I NEED to eat the grass fed beef for some reason.

So yes, this means that I do not eat at any restaurants!!!
...yes, yes :p this does effect my social/dating life (believe me there will be a blog on this)...It also makes it nearly impossible to hide my illness. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. People care, they ask questions, they want to know. People feel "bad" eating in front of me. But honestly after a while eating out with other people (rather them eating and me hanging out) is really not a problem. You just get used to it, you don't crave the food any longer. I just hate that it makes others feel awkward. I mean a lot of society revolves around food. I really realize this now. But hey I definitely think good health is worth the sacrifice and that there are many other pleasures in life aside from food. And the rice and beef does not taste bad!