Hey folks!
May is Celiac Awareness Month! Which is really, really, ironic... because I suddenly seem to be gluten-intolerant.
What the what? Yeah, I asked the same thing.
In early April I began noticing that I'd have brutal cramping and bloating around midday and then again in the evenings. It was gross! It felt like my prior gall bladder issues... an entirely pointless, radiating crunchy, burning pain under and around my ribs that nearly nothing but time would subdue. Since my gall bladder has been biowaste for nearly two and a half years, I knew it couldn't be that anymore. So what's the deal?
It took a bit of sleuthing (and a few nights of going to bed at 7pm to lay there moaning until 9) to figure out that this pain most certainly was eating related; then came the fun of narrowing it down to either dairy or bread. After a particularly brutal run in with some delicious Donato's pizza followed by a very pleasant experience with frozen custard, the offender was confirmed: BREAD. And bread means... *shudder* GLUTEN.
*unless it's yeast. something in my brain still hopes it's just yeast. is that even a thing?*
Cheerios make me burp. Bread makes me die. Pizza... well, we won't even talk about that. Even just eating the delicious crispy crusts from a homemade PBJ left abandoned by Elena sent me into a food coma not unlike coming out of full anesthesia. I've gotten no official testing done, and my self-diagnoses is backed up simply by agreement from a friend who has serious Celiac disease and seems to know her stuff.
What is Celiac Disease?
Excerpted with permission from author Jules E. Dowler Shepard, from The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten Free (DaCapo Press 2008). [and yanked from http://www.1in133.org/info/]
One in 133 Americans has Celiac disease (also known as celiac sprue, coeliac disease, non-tropical sprue or gluten sensitive enteropathy), a chronic and permanent sensitivity to the food protein gluten, found in the grains wheat, barley and rye. Developing the disease requires three things: a genetic predisposition; exposure to gluten through digestion; and a trigger to start this atypical immune system response. It can occur in people of all ages once exposed to gluten, and is the most common genetic disorder in North America and Europe, although it is found in populations all over the world.
….[C]eliac disease (CD) is classified as an auto-immune disease, which simply means that the body attacks itself in an inappropriate immune system reaction. In CD, the reaction is caused specifically by exposure to gliadin, a protein of the food molecule gluten found in wheat, barley and rye …
Gluten intolerance is another condition that requires adherence to a gluten-free diet but does not rise to the level of an autoimmune disease. Food intolerances occur when the body is incapable of metabolizing certain foods, typically because it lacks certain enzymes necessary to break down particular food components. Those with gluten intolerance often have the same overt symptoms as those with CD, but they test negative for celiac disease by bloodwork and endoscopy. They learn through trial and error that gluten is the culprit for their uncomfortable symptoms, and once they adopt a gluten-free diet, live an otherwise normal healthy life.
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Per my celiac friend, symptoms can range from "owwie tummy" to headaches and brain fog. I've also read diarrhea, bloating, and gas... and then in severe cases of actual celiac disease, anemia and signs of malnourishment like brittle bones and infertility.
My sister was diagnosed at a very young age with a wheat allergy. In 1967, my poor parents (poor in the sense of struggling economically AND young and clueless- not a good combination) had few options beyond rice cereal and bananas. She's (TMI alert) always been prone to yeast infections. She's slightly anemic, and often in a bit of a fog. Her allergy to wheat seemed to go away once she grew older, but smacks of the "genetic disposition" mentioned above. Flash back two generations to my great grandmother, who suffered horribly throughout the last years of her life due to gall bladder and other stomach issues that sound awfully gluten-related nowadays. Now flash forward (what is this, an Old Spice commercial?!?) to her daughter, my grandmother, who alternates between being lactose intolerant and... who knows... but her gall bladder was also removed, yet she still has digestion issues. Then her daughter, my aunt, was told her IBS would be with her for life and she should simply watch what she eats.
One in one-hundred and thirty-three Americans has Celiac disease, and 18 million are gluten-intolerant. That's 7% of the population. (thanks,
Sasha Cagen for that info)
I wonder how many still don't know it?
Today the "Gluten-Free" market is exploding with options for replacement foods that otherwise might be just a fond memory for celiacs and folks with allergies. Waffles, bread, cookies, gluten-free oatmeal... even sauces and such that have hidden wheat can now be found in gluten-free versions. I've gorged myself every morning for a week now on the delightful gluten-free-ness of Van's Waffles (topped with two eggs! - a girl's got to eat!) and discovered via trial and error that chocolate milk is bad, but strawberry milk is good. We went to a Thai restaurant last Friday, which was awesome on so many different levels, but mainly because I ate three courses and had nary an issue thanks to the rice- and coconut-based goodness of the cuisine. The shift towards eating gluten-free has not been difficult thanks to the availability of substitutions and our own non-traditional dietary preferences; south Indian, Thai and Mexican can get you very far with the prominence of rice, corn and alternate flours like chickpea and rice. Yay!
Being a natural skeptic and cynic (read: judgmental bitch), I'm typically not a fan of "Awareness" months that range too far from things like "bacon" or "the usefulness of smoke detectors." But considering that 7% of the population is, in the best case, not feeling their best, and in the worst case, being slowly poisoned to death by what they're eating, this is a month I can actually get behind. I don't know for sure if I'm going to become an official member of the 7% yet, but the exposure, genetic disposition, and stressor (sudden, vigorous exercise?) all seem to align perfectly for a Mayan Armageddon in my tummy.
But it certainly beats lactose intolerance!
