Ok - here's mine as it was posted back then. I am moving up in the world tho - I was on Page 2

Official Diagnosis: Idiopathic Sensorimotor Neuropathy, Chronic Reflux, High Blood Presure, Diverticulosis
Self Diagnosis: Gluten Intolerance
Manifestations: Gastrointestinal and Neurological
Gluten free since: Sometime in May 2003
Other intolerance’s: none know at this time

My journey to Gluten Free land has been a pretty smooth road compared to most of you. I do feel lucky. My heart goes out to each of you that has suffered the trials & tribulations far longer and much worse than I have up to this point.

Oct 2001 - After a round of Prednisone & Vioxx to clear up a gout attack, I was having trouble with major reflux, excessive gas & abdominal pains. For a few years previous, I had been experiencing minor reflux and excessive belching on and off - usually connected to food I've eaten - those belonging to the greasy & spicy food groups - some of my favorites!!!

November 2001 - I had had enough and went to the doctor. It was dx'ed as Gastritis secondary to the Prednisone & Vioxx and given samples of Nexium for 1 week and then placed on Prevacid. The Nexium helped almost immediately! But after awhile...I started have problems again. I was having problems w/ nausea, flushing - at the time I was blaming the Prevacid. Started doing research on my own as to my gastro problems. Found Gastro board at www.medhelp.org

December 2001 - Still having gas & abdominal pains. Blood tests, ultrasound & Upper GI series were done. Blood tests were all within limits. Ultrasound conclusion: fatty infiltration of the liver. Upper GI conclusion: Reflux, distal esophagitis, duodenitis. Started a food journal

June 2002 - Registered on MGH PN board (now www.Braintalk.org)in effort to find out nature of my numbness & tingling. Stumbled across posts by JCC (Cara) about gluten related PN and other symptoms. She emailed several articles to me. Thanks Cara, you GF Goddess you!!!

October 2002 - Still having gastro problems. Have lost 28 lbs at this point. Numbness & tingling in feet & hands now becoming worse. Visited PCP he did basic sensory, reflex & position tests. He suspected PN and scheduled an EMG. After much begging, B12 & serum folate blood tests were done by PCP. Blood test were within limits. End of Oct I was feeling overall quite ill (chills yet flushed, nausea, shaky, lightheaded). Extremities are hot & tingly. Concentration & focus are foggy and difficult, lightheaded. I can remember laying on the living room floor, covered up, shivering, feeling very ill wondering what was wrong - expecting to die...after eating a can of clam chowder and a pile of soda crackers. It was a very scary experience!! A comprehensive metabolic panel was done. All within limits except Amylase (a pancreatic function) was high normal. Chest Xray - no abnormality found. Finally got referred to Gastro Doc after an angry visit to PCP. Took food journal to Gastro Doc. He briefly looked at it and dismissed it.

November 2002 - Still losing weight. Had EMG performed. Found mild to moderately severe sensorimotor polyneuropathy. EGD & Colonoscopy performed. Colo was done only due to my request. As requested a couple of biopsies were done for celiac. Villi was normal. EGD conclusion: Mild chronic inflammation. Colonoscopy conclusion: Found and removed 25 cm polyp - benign. Still doing research on my own and seriously starting to consider a gluten free trial.

December 2002 - I've had it!! I've had enough of feeling like $h^t!!! I decided to start a gluten free diet. I decided that it would be best for me to start reducing all the big offenders first - bread, pizza, crackers, cookies, etc. If I felt improvement, I'd continue working my way down the list. On the neurological front - I had been through all the usual blood tests to determine the cause of my PN. They were all negative - imagine that!! So I thought that going GF might also help with the PN. Still losing weight

January 2003 through April 2003 - During this time I went back & forth between eating gluten and not eating gluten. Was it all in my head or was it really a problem? After getting to a point where I was feeling pretty good - I'd eat small amount of gluten and monitor myself to see how I felt. The amount of gluten I was consuming did not bother me...so I thought "Ah Haaa - it is all in my head!" and that I'd try eating enough gluten to do a gluten challenge. If I remember correctly I had to consume about 30g of gluten (1 bagel) for about 5 weeks. Well, I lasted about 5 days before I started having problems again. Needless to say, I called off the gluten challenge.

May 2003 to March 2004 - I decided to continue on the gluten free path. With continued research, I was slowing weeding out all forms of gluten. Making mistakes along the way. Buying food, thinking it was safe...double checking it and then giving to the food pantry. This was driving my wife nuts. I don't know who this diet is harder on, me or her having to deal with my issues. Eating a certain food thinking it was GF when in reality it wasn’t (For those of you at home...repeat after me "Twizzler's are not GF"). Stomach pains have vanished, no burping or expelling gas by any other means, no heartburn. I have not been back to the doctor with those type of stomach issues or abdominal pains since. I was dx'ed in Nov 2003 with diverticulosis (pockets in my colon where "stuff" can get caught). This landed me in the hospital for 1.5 days with a major infection. My neuro problems - that's another story...My neuro symptoms seemed to decrease or almost disappear for a number of months. As of Nov 2003, I felt that my symptoms have been spreading to unaffected parts of my body & worsening. I'm beginning accept the fact that stress is magnifying my symptoms. It's not that I don't know that stress is a factor..because I do - I'm just starting to accept & acknowledge it. This is difficult for me. I will be making a concerted effort to deal with my stress levels. My weight loss has stabilized at this point...having lost 40+ lbs.

2004 and beyond - This is a work in progress. I have had a chance to update it yet.

Commentary:
This has been a very interesting journey to say the least. Would I have chosen it? No. Do I like it? No. But since I can not do a lot about it, I try to make the best of it. As strange as this sounds, I have found many positive things. I had to look for them, but they are there. As long as I celebrate & embrace the positives - I'll be alright! We all will.

I would recommend keeping a food journal for anyone who is just starting out on their GF journey. I also had a rating system as to how I felt overall (10 normal - 0 half past dead). Luckily I didn't have too many Zero's. I felt it would help chart my progress/decline. Before this I was not a sick person. I rarely went to the doctor - once a year to get my BP meds renewed and that was about it. One of the things that I learned through this is that the medical institutions definitely do not have all the answers. At least for people like us that maybe fall "outside of the box". I don't blame them for not having the answers, I do blame them for A) Being closed minded about other possibilities. B) The seeming lack of interest to find out about it. Actually I felt very alone and helpless - no one had any answers, no one could offer any real help. Except those of you on this board and the others like it!! I suspect that'd I'd still be suffering if it weren't for all the kind and good hearted people that frequent these places. So...to all you out there I offer my utmost thanks & gratitude for making my life better again!!! I try to give back what I have received, but sometimes all I can offer is maybe a smile, a chuckle, or hopefully a pants wetting laugh!!

God bless & Good Luck