2 Years Later...

This April 30th will be two years since I gave up gluten. It's still hard to believe sometimes. When I started this journey I didn't think I could do it. I had convinced myself that this would not be something I did long term. I can recall the night before "go-live" when I was grocery shopping in Publix, trying not to cry because I had to say goodbye to all of my favorite foods. I don't think you really ever get over having to give up Pop-tarts and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

The first few days were tough. I walked around feeling like I needed a fix. I called my doctor and asked him how long I had to stay gluten free (GF). He very nicely tried to explain, for the foreseeable future. What I realized was that I was just going to have to tell myself that I was only going gluten free for 30 days. However, by the time I made it 30 days, I felt better. In fact, I felt good enough to give it another 30 days. After another 30 days, I felt considerably better. So I stuck with it.

My reason for going gluten free can be found in my bio, but the main reasons are that I was diagnosed with two auto-immune conditions, ITP and Pernicious Anemia. For several years I tried to understand what these conditions were and why they were happening to me. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. I questioned my doctors, I came to them with new ideas for tests, and I even switched my hematologist because he was set on having me take cancer drugs and steroids to boost my platelet count.

For me, it just didn't make sense and I wasn't going to accept it.

So, how did I learn about a possible food allergen? I was home sick one day and had the Dr. Oz TV show on. They were talking on the show about gluten allergies and leaky gut. Since they said these could wreak havoc on your body I decided to Google it against low platelets. When I did this, I was stunned. There was article after article linking low platelets to gluten allergies.

I called my doctors right away and while they were skeptical, they humored me and ran the tests. They were blown away when the results came back showing not only showing 73 food allergies, but among those an allergy to gluten (gluten sensitivity), and severe intestinal permeability (leaky gut).

So what were the results?

Well in the first week I lost 5 pounds. In about 6 months, I lost 25 pounds. This wasn't the reason I gave up gluten, but it was a nice perk. My platelets however went from an average of 37K-42K to normal. That's right. NORMAL. My hematologist's lab says normal is 140K. My highest count to date is 175K. No drugs. Just GF.

Yes, I have times when my platelets are affected, but this is usually when I am accidentally glutened. For example, over Thanksgiving I accidentally ingested gluten and my count dropped 80K. That's the thing with an auto-immune condition. It never goes away. Once your body attacks itself, it never really recovers. What I can do though is manage the triggers. For me, gluten is the trigger.

Some other added perks of going GF:

1. My hair stopped thinning
2. My legs don't cramp all night long anymore
3. My eczema disappeared
4. My anxiety decreased
5. My memory improved

Little by little my health has improved. As I have gotten better my doctors have become excited. They have expressed that testing for food allergies are not a part of their normal testing so they never considered it to be the cause of my health issues. This is because of their training. They are re-thinking this now. That part makes me feel happy because I know I have made a small difference.

Recently, my hematologist said to me "Congratulations, you figured it out yourself. You are a smart lady." That was a good day.