Why is it that everything that is good for you in the long run, is the worst thing in the short term? Think, exercise and those early days of forcing yourself up and out of your warm bed, into your unflattering gym gear and off to the gym/ park/ your living room for an hour or so of throwing yourself around the place, gurning, and producing more sweat than Lee Evans. But, still, we do it, safe in the knowledge that, in the long term, our bodies, health, minds and holiday snaps will thank us for it.
This is the current situation regarding gluten/ wheat and me. After months of negative blood tests they've finally decided to do a biopsy. Of course, one of the provisos of said biopsy is that I need to be eating the allergen in order for the tests to work. Now, the advice given to me from the Consultant was to make sure I eat gluten/wheat for 4 days before the date of the biopsy. However, being active on coeliac forums and having looked on the Coeliac UK site, it seems that most people have the best success rate of diagnosis when they have been eating gluten/wheat for 6 full weeks, with 2 meals a day pre- biopsy. Here's the advice from CoeliacUK
So, it's with a heavy heart and, what's going to be an even heavier stomach, that I've embarked on my 6 weeek journey. It's important to note that I have a number of food related problems. I cannot eat anything containing animal protein. So, no eggs, milk, cheese, meat: you get the picture. The problem with animal protein started long before the problem with gluten. I also have pernicious anaemia (a b12 deficiency). I'm not entirely convinced my problems stem from coeliac disease BUT I always willing to be proven wrong. Since gluten causes an adverse reaction for me, I'm kind of holding out in hope that it is coeliac disease because, otherwise, they've pretty much told me they have no idea where to start looking next. Coeliac disease can cause damage to the ilium which could have lead to the animal protein problems along with the b12 deficiency. I'm hoping the biopsy will give me the answers I desperately need. In the meantime, here's my account of reintroducing gluten into my diet.
Week One
I'm now at the end of of first week of eating wheat and gluten. I expected it to be full on hell from the start but, in all honesty, the first few days were not so bad at all. I didn't notice any discernible symptoms. By day 3 I was eating my words. Or rather, I wish I was, because they'd be causing me a lot less trouble than the food I was actually eating. The first thing that struck me was the gas. Oh, dear Lord, the gas. Honestly, and forgive me if we are entering into too much info territory here, but, since going GF 10 months ago, my gas/ wind/ farts/ toots/ windy pops have been totally normal. No terrible smell, nothing. By day 3 that familiar 'rolling and rumbling' feeling and none stop need to pass wind was back. And there was no way in hell you can let these bad boys slip unnoticed. There are only so many smells you can blame on the cat. That horrid almost rotting rubbish like smell is back. Eugh. I'm so glad I can share this with you all over the internet because my daily toilet habits aren't something I regularly share with loved ones. It's the kind of thing I'd rather keep bottled up. Although, there's no chance of that at the moment. Around the same time as the rotting gas came the bouts of diarrhea. Ah, my old friend, how I've missed you. Now, having had a plethora of reactions to food over the past few years, I've learnt to differentiate between the different types of bowl habits. I know, it's a gift. With egg (my absolute nemesis and causer of anaphylactic reactions) it is like molten lava pouring from me. With gluten/ wheat it is just explosive. The decorate-the-toilet-basin kind of modern art look. As I'm eating gluten with 2 meals, that's pretty much the majority of the day where gluten is being put in my mouth (I eat 3 meals a day and no snacks). This means that I'm pretty much pooping at any time of the day and at least 2 of them are diarrhea. I have found this week that eating gluten with my evening meal means I WILL wake up in the early hours with a very urgent need for the toilet. Trying to hide it from the husband means there has been a lot of bathroom coughing and tap running going on at 3am. Either he knows full well what's going on and is too polite to say, or he thinks I've taken up a 100 a day smoking habit. Ah, man. When your husband calls you 'baby' I don't think he means it in the literal sense: his very own 27 year old farting and pooping machine. Who said romance is dead.
I've also had constant stomach cramps and a feeling of my throat being pushed down on around 30 minutes after eating gluten. That is really uncomfortable.
Like I said, I've mixed up which meals I have gluten with but from week 3, I think I'll stick with breakfast and lunch and give myself a rest in the evening as I'm definitely not loving the early hour toilet runs. Unfortunately, I'd already bought things for this coming weeks dinner so I'll have to put up with it.
I'm taking peppermint tea constantly throughout the day. I can't say if it's helping, but I'm going to keep on going as recommended as I'm absolutely not willing to test the theory that not drinking it will make symptoms worse.
So, that's it for this week. Stay tuned for next weeks instalment. In all honesty, though, I hope this helps any of you about to do it :-)
Meals this week:
Breakfast: malted shreddies (Lidl's Shreddies)
lunch: baked beans on white bread
Dinner: Spaghetti (for days when I've had a none gluten lunch or dinner)
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