Getting UNsick

Well, I'm now on my 3rd week of living gluten-free. Wait... maybe I should give you a little back story here, so you can understand exactly HOW much this gluten-free lifestyle has impacted me.

I've always been sick. All my friends were used to me saying, "I feel sick." all the time. And not the "I'm gonna throw uuuaaaagghhhhhhhh" kinda sick. The "my lungs hurt and I can't breathe" kinda sick. I had asthma, but I was always having trouble with it. I had rotating bouts of pneumonia, strep throat and bronchitis all throughout high school. I missed 63 days of my senior year. I got pregnant after high school, had a baby and my body went from bad to worse. Over the following 9 years, my lungs became progressively worse, my immune system just seemed to shut down. My body ached, my brain was depressed, my lungs hurt. I was a mess.

Last year, I finally graduated from college with a degree in healthcare, in the field I've dreamed about for years. I got my dream job at a children's hospital (my DREAM job), and being around all the lovely little germ factories made me even sicker. I'd only been at my job, working in the hospital for ONE MONTH before I was hospitalized. They attributed my symptoms to my asthma, my exposure to all kinds of flora in the hospital and poor medication control.

Following my hospitalization, I was put on seven NEW medications, and my existing four were increased in dosage. I started seeing a chiropractor to be adjusted 3-4 times per week in my rib cage and sternal area, just so I could breathe. I continued on working at the children's hospital, in hopes that my doctors would discover why I felt so horrible.

In March of this year, I fell while doing yard work and broke my left ankle. Because of this traumatic break, I wasn't able to use my leg, or work. I was let go from my job, and that's about when I hit rock bottom. After a month, my insurance was gone, my money was gone and I was still awaiting a determination from the unemployment office as to whether or not I qualified for benefits. Being practically broke, I started slowly cutting my medicines out of my regimen slowly. I was SICK. I'd even stopped taking my Zoloft for depression, my Nexium from GERD (reflux), and my Metformin for my Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I was off almost all my meds except for the ones over-the-counter I could still afford.

I was SICK, mentally and physically. I slept 14 hours per night and still needed a 3-4 hour nap every afternoon, and I was STILL exhausted. I attributed most of this to depression and brushed it off, saying once I got a job it would be better. I continued looking for work, but after a couple months I decided my health was too bad to continue working in healthcare, so I started looking for something else.

My first day working at the electronic company, I got on the internet during my lunch and decided to get on a medical journal website, just to browse. The first article was about a recent research study about the link between PCOS and gluten. After reading through the entire article twice (just to be sure I didn't misread anything), I was convinced trying a gluten-free diet would be the first step towards finding a cure, or at least some symptom relief.

We were going to Houston on a road trip, so I decided the taco carts, with all the yummy corn tortillas would be a great way to start on my gluten-free diet. Once I realized I just needed to avoid wheat and barley it wasn't so bad. but then, I realized the ingredient "caramel color" found in most sodas, is made from Barley. It was pretty discouraging to have been eating no gluten, but still having bowel troubles and not knowing why! So no brown soda. I could do that!

After the first 24 hours, I woke up feeling better than I'd felt for a LONNNNG time. I'd been doing breathing treatments at least 4 times per day every day for almost 3 months, since I'd stock piled them while I had insurance. I'd been chewing Tums like candy to relieve my heart burn, and Beano to relieve my gas pains before every meal.

After about a week, I had only needed a breathing treatment ONCE. From 4x/day to ONCE per week??? After talking to a few colleagues, I determined that I'd been responding to my gluten allergy with an anaphylactic-type reaction in my lungs! Really???? I'd been diagnosed with CHRONIC BRONCHITIS in just the months before. And now I've been asthma-attack free for over two weeks? I was even out working in the yard in 102 degree 99% humidity, hauling 400-600lbs of dirt in a wheel barrow UPHILL. I didn't have a single problem.

After all the evidence gathered, using the scientific method at home, I've drawn my conclusions, and I have a theory. As long as I continue feeling good, having energy and keeping that desire for life, I'll keep avoiding the bread. Don't feel bad for me, though. Saying you're sorry I can't eat bread is like saying, "I'm sorry you don't have gas, constant diarrhea or chronic bronchitis anymore." That's silly... Feel happy that I've found my Achilles' tendon.

I know I don't have insurance, I know I don't have a medical diagnosis, but I have results. I have feelings, and I have a desire to LIVE my life for the first time since I've been living it.