Sharing My Story: Part Four
Shortly after my diagnosis, I actually visited another doctor. I was simultaneously searching for a relatable friend and a doctor who was familiar with other celiac . I had already been eating gluten free for 7 years prior to my official diagnosis, but I wondered what could have increased my pain and symptoms this past year. I wondered how I was still sick and broken. A regular gluten free diet was obviously not cutting it for me. I knew I had been experiencing intense cross contamination and the occasional slip-up. And I also knew my body needed to heal and repair the raw, leaky parts of my gut, but the continued pain lead me to believe there had to be more.
For those of you who are new to celiac disease, here’s a little explanation of what it does to the body. When gluten enters in, the healthy little hairs that line the stomach are eaten away. This leaves the stomach raw. Imagine a healthy stomach looking like brand new plush, soft, thick, and fluffy carpet. Now imagine a carpet that’s rough, dull, cut-up, shagged, and exposed. The old carpet is a stomach after gluten exposure. The healthy stomach lining is removed which causes extreme pain and an incapability to absorb any nutrients. Everything that passes through the stomach is dragged along the rough, shagged lining. This is why weight is normally lost and blood is leaked. That is why there’s constant pain and discomfort because it takes some time before the stomach is fully healed. This raw state had been my stomach for 7 years. Always in pain.
I knew this about celiac prior to my diagnosis but I didn't give it much thought because I did not think that’s what I had. So I knew I needed to get my stomach healed in order to reform the healthy hairs, but I didn't know if that could be possible with a disease. I didn’t know enough to wrap my mind around a life that’s pain-free. I didn’t know the next steps to take to heal my body. Because it had been 7 years, the doubt outweighed the hope.
My new doctor believed in me. She heard my story and right away knew I was capable of getting my body back to its best functioning state. Instead of masking my symptoms with loads of medication and further procedures, she ran an intensive blood test which gave me even more answers than we needed. She heard the pain and dug deep to figure out the steps to heal instead of mask. I learned I had multiples levels in the “red zone” which was not allowing my body to function property. I was also hypoglycemic and extremely sensitive to grains and dairy. I learned I would have to boost many levels including my iron and IgA. I had bacteria and viruses living in me and other fungi I needed to cleanse myself from. I had a raw stomach and a poor ability to absorb. My body needed levels in the green so that other parts of my body could heal and begin restoring. I couldn’t just focus on my stomach, but instead had to focus on the little stones that gathered around the center of celiac.
I started taking 16 pills a day. 8 in the morning and 8 at night. Large pills that needed to be swallowed one at a time. Then I started an intense hypoglycemic project and diet without grains or dairy. Dairy inflamed my stomach and actually slowed things down, while grains had a very similar structure to gluten so my body treated it the same.
Out of all the new discoveries, cutting out grains freaked me out the most. I could take pills, watch my sugar, and stay away from gluten, but what about my daily oatmeal for breakfast, snack of chips and salsa, and rice pasta? If the blood and frequent trips were a result of the grains, I was willing to do it. Especially for a doctor who believed in me. But who was with me? Who was a few steps ahead? Finding different alternatives, staples in my kitchen, a new grocery list, and a stocked pantry was going to be an adventure where I had to believe in myself and trust my friends who didn’t have the disease to champion and encourage me.
