getting diagnosed with celiac disease is not straight forward, apparently. My blood work is not normal, but biopsy results are normal. you can get false positives with the blood work (especially since i have thyroid troubles), but you can also still have celiac even with normal biopsy results. doctors won't diagnose celiac without abnormal biopsy results, but there are others who think that biopsies aren't the only way to diagnose this disease. There's such a large grey line, and unfortunately, it seems like I'm on that line. so, how to get a diagnosis and what should we do?
so, what if it is celiac? there are no meds for curing it, just 100% gluten free diet. 90% gluten free doesn't do me any good. left untreated can lead to other GI problems, some serious, including cancer somewhere in the GI system (hmmm) or neurological problems. it also causes malabsorption of essential nutrients and minerals which is maybe why i'm deficient in vitamin d, despite taking a rather large dose of a supplement. of course my troubled thyroid doesn't help with the vitamin d deficiency. It's all related, I'm afraid. really, anyone with one autoimmune disease has a larger chance of having more than one.
regardless of being a celiac or not, a gluten free diet can benefit ANYONE with an autoimmune disease, and has shown to specifically benefit Hashimoto's hypothyroid. I don't need a definate diagnosis to change my diet. I think it boils down to that I would like to try a GF diet for a while and see how I feel.
After thinking about it a lot, I don't think eating gluten free would be that bad, despite missing out on some of my traditionally prepared favorite foods. There are a lot of GF substitutes for things like bread and pasta, and truthfully, they really are pretty tasty! we tried a pasta made from brown rice the other day and you couldn't even tell (rice is on the ok list!). but the bottom line is that the GI system doesn't do well with a lot of grains (in general, not just for celiacs) so my guess is that I would be focusing on eating less grains and refined carbs and more fresh meats, dairy, fruits and veggies with the occasional baked goods (using almond flour? or other gluten free flours?) or pasta made from rice or sorghum. And know your farmers! Also beware that just substituting gluten free alternatives with your traditionally prepared foods (in particular baked goods) because most of the GF flours used in baking have higher calories that wheat flours. Our local Wegmans and new Trader Joe's has a nice selection of GF foods.
we do a decent job with that around dinner time, but we'll need to modify breakfast cereals and sandwiches for lunch, etc. maybe focus more on eating eggs or yogurt at breakfast and salads or leftovers at lunch. i think the trouble is with the foods that are supposed to be GF but have cross contamination problems because they are processed somewhere with wheat. i may or may not be sensitive to that, we'll just have to see. Not sure if this is going to be a family affair or just me, there is research to suggest there is a strong genetic link for celiac.
there's a local celiac support group which has been supportive and knowledgable, and a coworker's wife has celiac too, so i've already been given lots of info and support. I've also updated my blog roll to include a few gluten free food blogs that I'm enjoying. Haven't taken the 100% plunge yet. Want to enjoy my favorite cake for Carter's birthday celebration this weekend, and make pretzels for our "superbowl snack" party that we'll also have this weekend since we missed out for the actual superbowl with sick kiddos. But never fear for the future. There's always this and this.
And related indeed, chances are that part of my skin trouble could also be related to wheat and sugar sensitivities. The more i read about all of this, the more I'm realizing what a big impact a diet can do on your health!
And, thank you, by the way, to the internet for feeding my hunger for information about all of this.
No comments:
Post a Comment