Hi there, I like to share my battle with gluten and how I discovered on my own that my system cannot tolerate gluten! Growing up in Guyana, I along with my siblings were fed white flour in the from of bread, roti and cakes. We had roti for breakfast, sometimes toasted white bread and roti for dinner. Lunch was some rice and some kind of stew or curry. I can remember when the school nurses check me out without any blood test by just peeping into my eyes and mouth, declared me anemic and ordered me to get milk, biscuits and cod liver oil capsules! You can imagine  the reactions of my fellow students because my family had a small store and we were considered rich!

I grew up, got married and had four beautiful children and lived with sickness such as flu, colds, itchy skin headaches, allergies, tummy pain and pain in the joints. I thought nothing of gluten intolerance and it association with some of my troubles. It was only when I was hospitalize for colitis and put on IV for a week that I realized I had a very serious problem because four doctors could not diagnose what was ailing me. So I left the hospital and came home very weak a lot slimmer (which made me happy,I mean to be slim) and when about my happy life.

I started to blame my troubles on peanuts after getting tummy pain and diarrhea and so I stayed away from peanut, but my pain and diarrhea continued my hair got thinner, joint pains, headaches, itchy skin, weight gain and coughing and elevated thyroid was added to my troubles!

On a visit to my primary doctor, blood test was ordered among the many tests they usually do for folks my age and I also have high blood pressure.My doctor want to get me checked for high cholesterol and what not. On my next visit, my doctor informed that I (who thinks I eat healthy and cook my own food) is anemic! I was stunned! How can I be anemic? She told me that she got to do more testing because I am bleeding somewhere in my body, meaning cancer!

One day I was watching the Dr. Oz show and he explained  how gluten prevents the small intestine from absorbing nutrients from the food we eat, (well for some people like me). You can imagine my relief! This is my problem-GLUTEN! I am of those unfortunate people who cannot tolerate GLUTEN..So bye bye GLUTEN, so long see ya!!I also did my own research on gluten to be convinced even though I trusted the good Doctor.When I went back for a visit to my primary doctor, I asked her what she thought about gluten. She said she wished if she could get on it but she is not that disciplined to do it. So there, that was that.

Since I change my diet to gluten-free, I lost over 20 pounds, my hair is thicker, I do not have itchy skin, no bloating in my stomach, coughing eased, I slept better and I felt better!  But then I put on more weight! I continued to watch more of Dr. Oz shows on probiotics and discovered what meat do to your intestines. The antibiotics from the meat kill the good ones and so the fat is accumulated and thus we put on weight and get bloated!  For the past couple of weeks I am  vegan as well but I have fish, shrimp and dairy and I began to lose more weight!

Friends, my story is just like other celiacs (CD) who suffer from digesting gluten. The book I am now reading about a woman who suffered for decades was told by one of the doctors that she needs to see a physiologist! An aunt of mine who questioned her doctor about gluten, advised her that those people who are talking about gluten are not doctors! There are a lot of people like me who are suffering from gluten and do not know it! Most of their stories are just like mine. I do not wish to scare anyone into not eating gluten but to share my story. Thank you friends for lending your sympathetic eyes. God's Blessings

PEACE AND LOVE!