So, whose to blame?

Just joking!
On the serious side, lets look at genetics.
My mother has diabetes, IBS and a multitude of other symptoms such a mind fog/fatigue/the weight game. Both her parents suffered from diabetes. Her mother was massively obsese and had an insatiable appetite (even though she was constantly on the go). Her dad, bone thin and rarely ate. How likely is it two coeliac sufferers hook up? Mum's sisters both have diabetes. One now, after decades of the D is finally diagnosed about 3 years ago with Chrons Disease and had a total colosoctemy and will now enjoy using a colostomy bag for the rest of her days.

My dad doesn't suffer the classical symptoms but suffers chronic depression, nasty joint pains and osteoarthritis. His sisters suffer from Thyroid disease (let's be fair, maybe it is the lack of IODINE in the soil here in Southern Tasmania). One was the kind of obese you cringe for when seeing them struggling to move their bulks across the room. It wasn't until 6 years before she died she was diagnosed for Thyroid disease and poof! Weight gone in 6 months. My father's mother, is a nasty little story. She had a Goiter the size of a golf ball in her throat when she was 28 induced from a Thyroid disease. A miscalculation of general anesthetic caused her to wake up early, while they were still stiching her throat back together. She screamed, split open her stitches and bled to death on the table.

Both sides bring medical conditions to the table which can coincide with a coeliac condition. My misdiagnosis is not uncommon, as I'm pretty certain it's happned on at least one side of my family already.

At least my mother is now going GF, I hope she can save herself the problems that her sister has. I really hope she can stick to it because she certainly doesn't keep to her diabetes diet. I asked her yesterday what is she going to do now? Will she substitute or buy things pre done?
She told me she's too old and can't be bothered with all that learning and cooking, so now she will just eat even less. I really hope she gets some energy and inspiration back! I can certainly give her some GF meals, but hopefully she'll be more motivated when she feels better (if she has CD - which is pretty certain.) My sister whom I said was pretty positive CD will be moving with her family thier soon, so when she goes GF that will certainly help mum.

Positive Updates:
My energy levels are definately on the improve. I was running around and walking and still felt good at the end of the day! My mind is waking up from its hibernation and I'm remembering stuff I'd thought long forgotten. My voice is improving. I feel like a new woman! I feel like I'm going to be able to lose weight and do all the things I need to do like experience that new learning curve in cooking so I can do lots of GF from scratch so that I will be able to afford to put my children onto the new diet and they will really enjoy the food!

I've been scrapping, and no longer feel its too hard. I feel positive, less depressed, less fatigued. No signs of hay fever/asthma (I didn't even know they would ever improve).

I can sing! Yeah! I can LIVE again *)

What this Blog is to Me

I am recently diagnosed (finally) with Coeliac's Disease. I was recently glutined and am still suffering its affects.

I do not look like your typical CD sufferer. I am not stick thin and short, I am morbidly obese (I so hate that label). I do suffer from some of the classical symptoms: joint-pain, lactose intolerant, bloating, diahhrea, gripping stomach pain, fatigue, depression (who wouldn't be?), thin hair, anemia, acid reflux. I, after much research, now find that much more of my symptoms are Coeliac related. I am asthmatic, I have suffered from the parallel illness Dermatitis herpetifomis, horrible dibilitating periods, memory fog, I have had underactive thyroids, swellings around my body, itchy scalp, miscarriage, itches without rashes, tingling hands and feet.

After the birth of my first child, I have 5, I had chronic D. Given the colonoscopy only gave the diagnosis of IBS. An endoscopy which I didn't recieve would have diagnosed my Coeliac status and saved me a decade of pain and suffering.

So this blog is about my recovery - my life without gluten. Unfortunately on the eve of my diagnosis I went out for a meal. I was accidently glutined - even though I informed the chef of my gluten free needs. I suffered several of the symptoms I haven't for a long time.

You see, I've been gluten free for 6 weeks now. I am still on anti-depressants, but right now my IBS symptoms are gone, my periods are basically those of a normal girl, I have only lost 2 kilos, but my muscle tone has improved, my double chin has halved in size. Howver, my stomach hasn't started to flatten out yet, it still bulges like I'm pregnant. I'm told this may take a year or two to settle. Reading up on fellow sufferers who have my symptoms and are morbidly obese, they are all finding they are shrinking, slowly or fast at varying rates, some are actively trying and others are just going gluten free, drinking coke and eating high fats.

So far this is my positive results: I am slowly losing weight. My face looks half the size, my legs are getting a more muscled tone. I no longer have IBS symptoms - except for the recent glutening which was bad, 6 days to recover. This is normal, apparently. People have said I'm looking like I've lost weight. My periods are settled (I no longer bleed mostly to death each time and take 3 weeks to recover just to go through it all again a few weeks later. I no longer have aches and pains. I no longer get acid reflux. I am still fatigued, depressed, have memory fogs, have the look of a pregnant woman but no longer suffer the bloats, still lactose intolerant but improving.

Weight: 131 KG.