My Gluten Free Story

I’ve come to find that the way a person has come to be gluten free is as unique as the person themselves. I often get asked “my story” so I thought I’d share it here.

I’ve always had a minor sensitive stomach. It would be annoying but not often enough to think about seeing a Dr for. I’d have migraines here and there, maybe once a month or so. I had actually seen the Dr for migraines, had a full work up but with no specific diagnosis just an rx that I never filled.

Around 2008/2009 I started to get canker sores. I had had them before but they started coming in multiples at a time. In 2009 I started to get them completely covering the interior surface of my mouth. In 2010 I got them 3x very close together getting worse each time. Think quarter to half dollar size open sores on the inside of my cheeks, throat, roof of my mouth and the worst being on the inside where your jaw hinges. It hurt to eat, drink water, talk, and to just be awake. I was miserable. It affected every part of me. I wasn’t a good wife, mom or friend.

(Swollen lips and cheeks from the sores)

I needed an answer so the search started. After several specialist visits I was told they thought I had an autoimmune disorder and that stress caused the sores to erupt. Great so every time I, a full time working, blogging, mom of 2 boys got stressed I would get a mouth full of sores not eat and lose 10 lbs and 4 weeks of my life. Not going to accept that!

In this time I had a friend tell me that all symptoms of her auto immune disorder go away when on a gluten free diet. Another had her kids on a gluten free diet (at my suggestion) and were all doing great. I think it was one of those situations that I just didn’t want it to be me.

I did some research and started to see LOTS of connections between gluten and autoimmune disorders, gluten and canker sores, canker sores and celiac disease etc. So I started on a gluten free diet. Mind you at this point I wasn’t eating much of anything but I usually did eat a couple of noodles a day.

10 days into my gluten free diet I woke up with a clear head like I was in a fog my entire life. I felt better than I had in years. I woke up in a good mood and wanted to work out. I felt so good I had to call my husband at work and tell him that it was gluten. I knew it.

3 years later I have had the sores and migraines two or three times and all 3 times can be linked back to consuming gluten. I haven’t been officially diagnosed with celiac disease because I have been off of gluten and it needs to be in your system for a proper blood test. I don’t really care what the test says because there is no way I am eating it again.

I also wanted to share something I started eating when I had sores – smoothies! If I push the straw back far enough it doesn’t sting too bad and the ice helps numb just a bit.

This one has cherries (fresh or frozen), bananas (fresh or frozen), raw cacao powder, raw cacao nibs, chia seeds, sometimes some Amazing Grass Amazing Meal chocolate powder (since I’m not eating anything), a little raw almond milk and/or ice if needed

Edited to add – I just realized that photo of me is from a year ago at Easter. It’s been a year since I’ve been “glutened” Wohoo!