I wanted to share a bit of my journey and the various ailments I suffered from before going gluten-free in February 03. This is the first of several chapters…

I remember eating Cream of Wheat as a child. I hated that stuff. It always made me queasy and so incredibly sleepy. I was practically comatose after a bowl of this covered with, of all things, Grape Nuts. My mom would make this several times each week in an effort to provide us with a hearty breakfast to get us through the day. I’m not sure if I was exhibiting small signs of celiac disease then or if it was my wheat allergy that was making itself known. Whatever the case, I was no wheat lover.

However, it was not to be avoided. We regularly ate homemade whole wheat bread with wheat we’d grind at home. This combined with alternating bowls of Cream of Wheat and Oatmeal, made for pretty miserable mornings…

in January of 2003, I found myself at the allergist to be tested. I was suffering from a myriad of symptoms that ranged from chronic hives to bloating and aching joints. Of course, I had no clue these were all related. My hives ruled my life and I’d developed dermatographism to go along with the constant itching and burning.

My family thought it was funny how I’d swell and turn red if I was scratched, stamped, or scraped on any limb. I saw no humor in the situation… everytime I would swell and turn red, it would itch like I was on fire. One day we were out shopping and I tried a diving mask on. I sucked in to hold it to my face to make sure it fit correctly. A few minutes later I ran into my mom who looked at me and immediately gasped – what happened to your face?! It felt a bit warm to me and was starting to itch but I had no idea what she was talking about. She led me to my husband who burst into wild laughter and led me to a mirror.

To my horror, there was the perfect outline of the mask on my face. A bright, angry red line that accurately traced the exact shape. I covered my face and ran to the car in tears.

An episode like this would take me 30-60 minutes to recover from. The lines would slowly fade to pink and the itching would subside to eventually dissipate.

And so, I waited nervously in the “poking room” at the allergist. I was waiting for the nurse to come in and poke my back dozens of time with different allergens to see what I reacted to. She came in and after a bit of chatter did a test poke on my arm as a control. It immediately swelled, turned angry red, and of course, began to itch like crazy. That is not supposed to happen…

The Dr came in and informed me that I was too sensitive for the poke tests and they would need to run the tests with blood instead. I left that day, a few vials of blood lighter, and with instructions to come back in 2 weeks.

The time flew by at the speed of garden snails. But finally, my appt was at hand and again, I sat in nervous anxiety in the Dr’s office to find out what was making me itch so badly.

“You are highly allergic to grass and a few other outdoor pollens. This could be what is causing your hives and dermatographism. You are also highly allergic to wheat – you need to immediately eliminate this from your diet and stay away from it from this point forward.”

Shock. Dismay. Depression. How could I live w/out wheat? It’s in EVERYTHING! No more bread! No more cereal! No more cookies or cakes or Twinkies! I left with a prescription for Allegra (for the hives) and a world that was turned upside down..

More to come in a few days…