[dbellsworth]

Hi! I'm Dotty and I am interested in sharing information as well as needing some help. I am a 65 year old widow (recent 5 mos) and have just been told that I have gluten intolerance. This is new for me and I am having a difficult time, not knowing what to expect of my body and wanting to get information from some of you who have or ae experiencing this intolerance.
My background is: Married at 21 yrs. have childen ages 43, 38 and 31. After the birth of my second child I was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. I was treated by an exploratory surgery, removal of my spleen and massive doses of radiation (twice the amount of that which is given today). The effects of the radiation did not bother me at first, but over the last ten years my neck and back has lost a good part of my muscles. I have a severe curvature of my neck and weakness in my back. The radiation also caused scar tissue to form in my veins requiring a 3 way bypass and replacement of my aortic valve. It was closed 90%. Because of this problem my lungs have been affected, and I have had respiratory distress in the hospital two times. I wear a neck brace all of the time.

What I am really looking for is someone to talk about their experiences with Gluten intolerance. How did you feel when you first started removing gluten from your diet? Did you have problems with stomach pain; over-all fatigue; depression, etc? How did you hande it? What are some of things you did to reduce some of these symptoms?

I know this is rather vague, but I really need to talk to someone about this. This is the first time I have entered the internet for dialogue regarding a problem. Can anyone out there help me? I would be tremendously grateful.