Quote:
Originally Posted by busybusy
I have a question. I always thought I had a sensitivity to gluten due to the fact that when I eat any type of grain my nose would start running. It would be just like I had a cold. So, I went out and bought a lot of reading material on gluten intolerance. I was diagnosed a few months back with MG. What made you think that you had intolerance to gluten. Just curious because I am trying to figure out how to go about it. A few years ago I went to an allergy specialist to see if something was going on and paid him $250 cash up front for him to tell me I was depressed. He didn't want to even talk about my problems only my life's problems. So I am like you, I thought I would venture out and research it myself but my perservance is very low. I give up easy. I am glad you are well. I know that took a lot of hard work and perservance. Blessings to you. busybusy
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Hi busybusy-
In my case it was more after the fact that the problem became clear concerning gluten intolerance. Meaning that my symptoms were so mild and vague that there was no clear cut association. Don't get me wrong, I DID suspect that there was a problem for twenty years or so but nothing was so bad as to make me want to quit gluten to find out for sure. Always thought it was just too damn inconvenient to stop eating gluten containing foods to find out for sure. What a fool I was! I would notice that if I ate lots of homemade whole wheat bread that my shoulder joints would ache a bit. As time went on more of my joints got chronically worse but I was attributing that to arthritis of some form as both my dad and his father suffered from it in their mid fities up. Interesting that you mention a runny nose. When I was younger it didn't bother me, but as I got older I noticed that when I drank beer it would make my nose stuffy. As if the soft tissues were swelling closed. There's gluten in beer.
When I came down with MG and realized that my immune system was wacky/overloaded/ out of balance that's when I decided to stop eating/drinking anything I thought my body was interpreting as invaders. Within a week I noticed that my bowel movements had changed(for the better) and that my joint pain/swelling was diminishing. That was the only immediate diet change I had made so to me there was no doubt that the symptoms were gluten related. Oh and in addition my 30+ yr chronic sinus problem has improved by about 90%. I no longer get my regular sinus infections. When I think of all the money, doctors, drugs over the years I could have avoided by giving up gluten 20 years ago..........
You've obviously read up on celiac disease/gluten intolerance, so you know that symptoms can be next to nothing all the way to life threatening and can mimick symptoms from countless other diseases. That's why it's so hard to diagnose sometimes.
As for the inconvenience of giving up gluten? Hah! It's not that big of a deal. Easier than I thought and I'm better off for it. I do miss some of my favorite foods that I can never have again, but it's well worth it to be disease and pain free. No big deal. Anyone can do it. You just have to WANT to. Hang in there.