It All Makes Sense Now!

by Melissa L
(Deltona, FL )

I'm a 36 year old female with no health insurance.

I have had issues for many years, yet no one seemed to be able to connect the dots.

Since my early 20's, I have had health insurance on and off and admit that many times I was unable to get the lab work and testing done that was prescribed. The amazing thing is I discovered on my own that I have a severe gluten sensitivity.

Do I have Celiac Disease....I don't know. Why? Because I have no insurance currently.

Although my symptoms span across many years, the real life changing relevancy started about 2 years ago. I honestly feel my body had just had enough.

In early 2011 my boyfriend and father had advised me that my eyes kept crossing as I spoke to them. It was very scary. It went from mild to significant in a very short period of time.

I made an appointment with my eye doctor, who I had been going to for years. She referred me to a specialist that had me spend thousands of dollars on MRI's. No diagnosis.

In October 2011, I got a huge tongue sore. I had never had anything like it. At the time, I had been eating cereal every day when I got to work. It was inexpensive and made my morning routine easy. I spent $400 at a fancy oral surgeon's office to get a biopsy. Guess what? Nothing. No diagnosis. Just a "You don't have cancer" speech. It took 3 months for the sore to go away completely.

I kept going to my primary care physician complaining of various issues, from my vision, my aches & pains, bloating, constipation, weight gain, headaches, to hives. I really think he just thought I was a hypochondriac, and he told me the aches & pains were from depression. He would spend 5 minutes with me and come up with this diagnosis. After 15 years, I stopped going to him.

At this point, I had given up and just decided to live with the problems. I had spent $7,000 out of pocket that year.

I had a new group of co-workers, and after work we would go have a few beers. I would break out in hives all over my neck and chest. Everyone thought it was hilarious.

On Thanksgiving Day 2012 I had vertigo so bad after eating the turkey and stuffing, I had to be rushed to the Emergency Clinic. Once again....no diagnosis. The vertigo lasted 2 days.

January of 2013, another bout of vertigo at work that caused me to fall to the floor and whack my head. This was followed by 4 months of what I describe as aches and pains. Feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. I quit my Jazzercise membership because I could no longer work out without feeling like I needed to use an entire bottle of Icy-Hot. Just crawling out of bed in the morning felt like my feet were going to break.

In March the headaches started. I had never really had headaches. Not on a regular basis anyway. All of a sudden they were frequent. My father was getting angry with me because I kept hollering for him to lower the volume on the TV. The dogs barking would bring tears to my eyes.

In April the severe night nausea started. Family and friends kept joking that maybe I was pregnant. Here's the irony in that......I have NEVER been able to get pregnant. I have tried many times throughout the years. No luck, no reason given. All the blood work appeared "normal".

My good friend who is an Esthetician told me that my face appeared very "white" and maybe I had an iron-deficiency. I found this strange since I hadn't had my period in months. This was no surprise since I never had regular periods my whole life. I started taking Iron supplements. Still exhausted and pale.

One night my father ordered Chinese food. I had 2 eggrolls. Within 1 hour I was in the bathroom telling my dad I had food poisoning.

By May the constipation and diarrhea was starting to dictate my days at work. As I sat at my desk complaining one day, a co-worker changed my life. She stated that her daughter had Celiac Disease, and it sounded like my case was exactly what her daughter had gone through.

That night I did my homework. I spent the next few days on the internet. I was in shock, yet relieved when I saw the symptoms and realized that was me!! I have self-diagnosed myself FREE OF CHARGE! I stopped eating gluten all together and you know what.....ALL my problems are gone. ALL of them!

It has only been a few weeks, but the change in my health is dramatic. My bloating is gone. The eye problem is gone. The severe hunger is gone. The nausea is gone. I actually have energy! I go to the bathroom like a normal person.

Do you know what I ate before going gluten free? Lean Cuisines, cereal, pasta, bread several times a day, beer, fast food. I am Italian....what can I say?

I now eat fruit every day. Gluten Free bread and Boar's Head meat and cheeses. I feel like a new person!

The last thing I would like to mention is quite personal for me. My mother passed away in 2000 of Lung Cancer. She was 65 years old. She had me when she was 43. I was her only child. She could not get pregnant practically her entire life. No one was able to answer why. Finally, in 1976, she went on a fruit and vegetable diet because her doctor told her she was going through her "change of life" and she was gaining weight quickly.

During this time, my father took her on vacation to Las Vegas. Keep in mind she had been on this diet for about 2 months. I still recall a funny story she had told about how angry she was because she couldn't eat at the buffet. She got pregnant on that trip!! Doesn't that seem a little ironic? No one could ever figure out why all of a sudden, after years of trying....I somehow became a miracle. Maybe the miracle was a gluten-free diet. I guess we will never know.

I felt the need to write this because my life has changed. If you are suffering these same issues, make a change in your diet and see if in fact this simple modification in your food choices can change your life for the better. It was the best decision I ever made!