A month after I turned 18, I got very sick. I remained sick for years with many exploratory abdominal surgeries. I had severe lower abdominal pain that no one could stop. I was told at 21 that I would spend the rest of my life on prescription painkillers and bed rest. I was unwilling to accept that answer so I decided to use my bed rest doing research on what could be causing my problems. I had been diagnosed with endometriosis and came across an article stating that 100% of women with endo tested for food intolerances had tested positive for a food intolerance to wheat and/or dairy. It was worth a try! I found a wonderful physician who found out I was very intolerant of wheat/gluten and in two days of giving up gluten, the pain I had had daily for four years magically disappeared. I was exceptionally skeptical but it was a miracle. I felt a million times better and got my life back!
I have now been gluten-free for about eight years. For the first 3 months I was a full-time student with a full-time job. I lived on nothing but Snickers bars, hamburger patties and french fries. Who had time to figure out what to eat? It was just before the big push of gluten-free products made their way into the stores. The selection of GF products was slim and as a student I couldn't afford any of them! Please know that I am not promoting my original GF diet! It got me through until I could take the time to figure how to eat healthy AND GF. In fact, hamburger patties are probably one of my least favorite foods after so many years of relying on them. In the past, I would figure out a few things that worked for me and stick with them until I couldn't bear the thought of eating them ever again.
Over the years I have become intolerant of many different foods at different times including: rice, soy, corn, dairy, nuts, seeds and probably a few other things I can't even think of! I still struggle with pain and spend a lot of time adjusting my diet to figure out what is currently causing problems. However, the pain is significantly better than it was in the past!
