Carito71
Hello Erica,
I’m a Celiac disease (CD) patient and a GD patient. I was diagnosed with CD before I was diagnosed with GD. For years I had really bad stomach problems and many many tests were done. Finally a Dr. mentioned Celiac and ran some tests. This was around 2005. I was told all kinds of things before. I was even told I probably had Lupus but after two Rheumatologists ran tests, it was ruled out that I didn’t. Anyway, finding out that I had CD was a blessing. I felt so sick before that I’m so glad I’m gluten free today. I’m so used to it that to me it is just normal day to day way of eating. People get so amazed about what I tell them I don’t eat it … is funny. The people around me, coworkers, friends, etc., know now about making sure to include gluten free items when they invite me to a party.
Being gluten free is so easy now a days. When I started the diet I had to search for things on line and order that way. Now I just go to my local stores and they have what I want.
One thing I do have to mention is that when I first started the gluten free diet, the first thing I removed was bread and pizza. Not long after starting my gluten free diet I was still very sick. I went to see an immunologist (he passed away 3 years ago), who encouraged the gluten free diet but who also told me that I was allergic to yeast. Now, bread contains yeast. I was recommended to go yeast free as well, which I did. So I went gluten free and yeast free almost at the same time. Yeast is something that we eat a lot as well. I guess what I’m trying to say is that some of the benefits of being gluten free might come from more than being gluten free. They might also come from being yeast free. My immunologist was doing research on this area. He believed that yeast could overgrow in our gut and then spread to other organs, even including the brain. He explained that one way this could happen was from taking antibiotics. We know that antibiotics will kill the good bacteria in our gut and this could allow the over growth of yeast. I have to say that I felt a lot better after his treatment and that the ANA that had come back positive previously (reason I was told I might have Lupus) changed to negative. I haven’t had it tested recently but now that I’ve been diagnosed with GD I wonder if it is back to being positive. I was recently diagnosed with GD (in June) and I have to say that it could have been yeast related. I had been yeast free for all this time until March when I had “gluten free” pizza at a restaurant. The pizza had yeast and I knew it but I didn’t think it would harm me b/c I had been feeling good for so many years. I ate there 3 times that month. I said that it could have been related because I also went through some hormone therapy to get pregnant and that could have done it too. Who knows. It could have been a combination of the two causing stress to my body.
Being Gluten free (GF) might not fix my GD but it might help me from having to get as sick as I would if I wasn’t GF. People can have an allergy to it or just be sensitive to it. I’ve read that sometimes people who don’t have CD and try the GF diet feel better. It doesn’t hurt to try it. We have so many options out there to make sure we supplement ourselves well. As for me, being GF helps with absorption of what I need and keeps me, hopefully, from getting intestinal cancer (another risk with CD).
Good article!!! Please keep sharing the information and learning. Only if we intelligently inform ourselves can we make a change. You mentioned the medical library. Are you a med student?
You might find this interesting:
http://www.celiaccentral.org/thyroid/
Caro 