Celiacs in the House began in December 2008 as a place to find the positive side of living gluten free. My son was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2005 after a 5 day hospital stay for severe anemia. The diagnosis was ulcerative colitis, but I pressed the doctors to test for celiac due to my own research into my son’s symptoms, our British and Irish heritage, and suspicious health problems of the grandparents on both sides. A month after the biopsy and blood test results showed he did have celiac disease, the hospital shared the results and referred us to the hospital dietitian. After going to different doctors for years trying to find out what was wrong with my kids who seemed to be allergic to everything and my daughter being diagnosed with GERD and IBS, we finally knew what was wrong.
The whole family went gluten free to keep the house safe and because my husband also had IBS symptoms. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (though the blood test came back negative) in 2006 and spent a summer with my hands swollen into a painful claw-like shape. My alternative doctor suggested going gluten free completely and not just when eating at home and following a strict ‘Blood Type’ diet which eliminated my symptoms completely without any medication. In 2009, I finally did the CeliacID DNA test. I had assumed my husband and his side of the family were the source of the celiac, but my test came back with a high risk of celiac and the results of going gluten free full time and not just when I ate at home, convinced me that I did, indeed, have celiac disease. The one time I have been accidently glutened, I had the same RA reaction and my joints were painful and swollen, my hands started to swell and curl up and it took about a week with 5 days of bed rest to recover from one supposedly gluten-free sandwich from a local cafe. I had been low-grade depressed for years, suffered a series of miscarriages and was diagnosed as peri-menopausal in my mid-thirties. I believe all of that was due to undiagnosed celiac disease.
Our family is now pretty much symptom free and as gluten-free as we can possibly be with very few accidental glutenings. There is no cheating in our house. We are all convinced that avoiding gluten at all costs is imperative to our health. I have been lucky that my kids were vegetable lovers and ate a pretty healthy diet before diagnosis. My silent celiac, the oldest can tolerate all grains and has no obvious food allergies or sensitivities. My youngest, still can’t eat a lot grains and has reactions to raw fruits and vegetables. She eats her veggies lightly steamed and has frozen fruit in smoothies. I try to use only a few processed gluten-free foods that we all really like and to keep the rest of the diet based on naturally gluten-free, unprocessed foods. Having the youngest so sensitive to the healthy grains and flours makes it tough and I do use a baking mix that is the one she tolerates for her occasional baked goodie treats. Celiac disease affects everyone differently. I try to be healthy, yet flexible, in my gluten-free cooking with an emphasis on local, organic, unprocessed, and nutrient-packed foods with the occasional treat.
For more of our history you can read my post from last summer.
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