Celiac and Me

I am a Celiac.  This means that I can't digest gluten.  The gluten destroys my body from the inside out.  The pain from having gluten is insidious, effecting ever aspect of your life. The symptoms are myriad, which make diagnosis difficult.  Celiac Disease is an immune disease that causes inflammation and damages the small intestine's lining, causing other complications.

Like many people, I was diagnosed later in life.  I don't know how long I've had Celiac Disease, but I suspect it's been a good chunk of my life.  I was diagnosed in my late 40's.  My life before and after this diagnosis has been night and day.  I have energy and endurance now that I just didn't have before.

Diagnosis was difficult.  Through most of my late 30's and early 40's, I struggled to find what was going on.  I had constant stomach pain that woke me up in the middle of the night.  It felt like that scene from Alien - where something was trying to rip it's way through my stomach.  My joints ached constantly.  I was always tired.  No matter how much I worked out, I couldn't lose weight.

I went to Weight Watchers.  I followed their diet to the letter.  I couldn't lose weight.  I was working out an hour a day, 5 days a week - and still no weight loss.  My leader told me to log everything - exercise, food, blood pressure, and GI symptoms -  for two weeks.  I did.  She read it, and then told me I needed to go to a doctor because something else was going on.

And thus began the journey from hell.

My Family Practitioner - whom I had been seeing for years - and who had told me to go to WW in the first place - called me a liar to my face.  "If you'd really been doing this, you would have lost weight.  Stop lying about what's going on and blaming other things for your failures."   TRUE STORY.

Same practice, different doctor - took a bored glance at my log (which filled most of a composition notebook at this time, and included food I'd eaten, workouts, and symptoms.)  She told me "I don't deal with fat people.  Find a different doctor."  TRUE STORY

That's some quality medicine for you.  Hey, this practice is located in Maryland.  I know I'm not the only one who's had issues with them.  If you hear this from your doctors in Central Maryland, find another doctor!

Next practice - when I had been dealing with yet another case of bronchitis and pneumonia - third time in two years.  I got the lecture about losing weight, but this doctor actually mentioned the word "allergies".  He then prescribed me mega doses of allergy medicine.  Claritin and Flonase were my staples, and in the spring, I got to supplement with Benadryl.   This wonderful combination left me a zombie most of the time, but I felt a little better.

Third Practice - My Current Practice -
Walked in for my well person check up with my food log.
My nurse practitioner took a look through my log, looked at me and said "This looks like a food allergy.  I don't specialize in allergies.  Let's send you to people who do and get you some answers."

I was stunned.  FINALLY - the help I needed.

The answers have been coming over the past few years.

First was the Celiac Diagnosis.

Next, we found the Dairy Allergy.

And then, Soy.

I now know what "normal" feels like.  I have stamina.  I have energy.  No more stomach issues.  I sleep through the night.  No more boils.  No more canker sores.  No joint pain.  (Well, except the arthritis in my left knee that bugs me on occasion.)

And all of those prescription grade allergy medicines?  Gone.   During my high allergy time - tree pollen season - I take over the counter Zyrtec for 3 weeks of the year.  That's it.

Oh, and the weight?  I haven't changed my workout habits at all.  If anything, I'm working out less now than I was years ago.  I'm down 40 pounds.  40.  No Weight Watchers, no extreme liquid diets - just eating food I can tolerate and getting to the gym 3 or 4 days a week.

I'm not sharing this for the hell of it. I share this for anyone who might have a health issue going on and has the frustration of doctors not listening to you.  You know what's right in your body and what's not.  You know your normal.  If your normal changes, get yourself to the doctor.  If your doctor doesn't listen to you, find another doctor.  Change practices.

Being a Celiac makes life challenging.  Long distance flights are a nightmare. Food on an airplane?  Yeah, that's not going to happen.  Airlines don't really care about your food allergies. Eating out is a challenge.  Travel is a challenge.  There's no "grab and go".  You have to plan excursions before you leave, making certain you have food with you.

But, when you know what is going on, and you understand how to take care of yourself, you can make the world work for you.  

A Nose Job

I went to my primary care doctor back in November with a concern about a weird looking bump on my nose.  I've got a lot of bumps on my nose, but this seemed to be a little bit different than the rest.
I went to my Dermatologist back in December, and he took a biopsy of that weird little bump.  At the time, he told me that he thought it was a carcinoma, and we scheduled a follow up surgery for early January.

And so, a couple of weeks ago, I had the margins removed.  And then, he removed more.  Remember when I said I had a lot of bumps on my nose?  Turns out all of them had to be removed.  So, I had a large chunk cut out of my nose.  He stitched it up with 6 stitches.  And it hurt. Because it was on my nose - pretty much running the length of my nose, from just below the bridge of my nose to the end.

I even got to wear a big huge bandage on my nose for two fun filled weeks.  At work.  Remember, I work with the public?  It was memorable.

The stitches are out now.  My nose is slightly smaller than it was before.  I have a wonderful scar running the length of my nose.  But that's okay - it's better to be here with a scar.  I can wear make up on it if I really feel the need - once it's completely healed.  But honestly?  It adds character!  And - it's a reminder to people to get their skin checked - and if anything looks weird?  Get it checked!

So, this is a reminder to you, too.  If something seems wrong, get it checked.  If your doctor dismisses your concerns, find another doctor.  You know what your normal is.  If something isn't normal, find a doctor who will listen to your concern.

I'm glad I got that weird little bump on my nose checked.  My nose hurt, and it looks a little odd, but hey, that's okay. I just tell people that I had a nose job! 

Calisthenics

Now that the doctor has proclaimed my ankle to be healed, and I have been released from physical therapy, I have joined a gym.  I seriously need to exercise, and I need to be careful so that I don't injure my ankle or anything else.  So, I am working with a personal trainer.  Have you ever worked with a trainer?  You pay them good money to have them help you exercise beyond the point where any sane person would stop. 

My trainer is a wonderful girl.  She's not that much older than my oldest kid.  She's very smart, funny, and knows what she's doing.  She has a degree in Exercise Science, and she is the person who gets the clients coming off of Physical Therapy.  She very gently pushes you to safely do more than you thought you could. 

The problem with Personal Trainers is that they're not content to work on just one part of you.  They want to work with ALL parts of you.  Not just your ankle, noooo.  Your abs, your glutes, your triceps, your biceps.... egads.

Do you know she tricked me into doing 60 sit ups last week?  And that they were on a ball?  One of those big exercise balls?

I can hear you thinking now "How does anyone trick you into doing 60 sit ups?"

Actually, it's easy.  She had me do 15 sit ups a week earlier.  3 sets of 15 sit ups.  It seems like a small number until you realize that you've done 45 sit ups.  And you haven't done 45 sit ups since you were in high school.  (And that was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away.)

So, there we were.  She'd had me lunge the length of the gym.   Yeah right, lunge.  I can't lunge.  I give credit to the people who were in the gym at the same time but did not break out in laughter when I stumbled past them on my way down to the end of the gym and back. 

Dear God, the burn.  My legs burned EVERYWHERE.  Muscles I didn't even know I had were protesting the unaccustomed exercise.

She had me sit on the big ball, and I was so thankful that I got to sit down!  I did my 15 sit ups without complaint, because I wasn't lunging!

"You're going to do 5 more"  she tells me.

"What?  I can't do 5 more!  I can barely do 15!"

"It's only 5 more.  You can do 1 more.  Just try 1 more."

I did one more.  And then another.  And then 3 more. 

And then, we lunged the length of the gym again.  I didn't think I could burn anymore than I was before, but I was wrong. 

Back to the ball, back to more lunges, and back to the ball.  I got to 10 sit ups, and I swear to you, I was done.  And then, that evil witch, she smiled at me and told me "how easy the next 10 were going to be."  And she convinced me I could do them.  She had faith in me, even though I was ready to roll off that damn ball, onto the mat and use a hand weight as a pillow while I curled into the fetal position and nursed my wounded pride.

Slowly, very slowly, I managed to pull off 10 more sit ups.  The last one was something.  It wasn't pretty, but I did it.  60 sit ups.

Thank the good lord, we were done after that.

I hauled myself out to the car, and drug these old bones home.

The soreness the next morning was unbelievable.  Every part of my legs burned.  Every single muscle let me know that it hurt.  My stomach hurt.  Everything hurt.

I got to work, turned on the computers, pulled myself up on the stool and sat down at the information desk.  I was determined not to move until my shift was over.

Of course, things don't work that way in the library world.  Patrons need books.  Sometimes, you need to walk out into the stacks to look for a book that someone can't find, and sometimes, you like to help them find the section that books are in, so that they can find similar titles to the one that they are searching for.  This involves walking.

The worst part is our nifty little section of books that we have roped off.  A Staff member must accompany students back there while patrons are looking for books, or else we just grab the books for them and check them out.  Staff usually just squats and ducks under the rope and gets the books.

Not this day.  This day, that section became the "self-serve" section.  I had two people who needed books from this section.  Fortunately, the section is less than 6 feet from my perch, and I can see everything.  When the they asked for the books, I gave them permission to cross the sacred line and get the books themselves.

The worst part was when I had to go back into the stacks to help someone find a book.  As I hobbled down the aisles and hauled my sorry ass up a step stool to get to the books they needed, I noticed an inquisitive look cross their faces.  They were too polite to make any comment, but as we were slowly meandering our way back up to the desk to check out the books, the patron politely asked "Are you okay?  You seem to be a little... ummm..."

"Oh, I'm fine.  I'm just suffering the after effects of a unique for of torture called 'calisthenics'." 

The smothered laughter from the assorted people sitting in the surrounding area was just a little mortifying....

Book Review: Brain Maker

Fascinating look at the impact our gut has on our health.  Medical Science is now beginning to refer to our gut as our "second brain".   The microbiome that we have in our large and small intestine impacts our body's ability to fight infection and remain healthy.  The health of our microbiome also has a direct impact upon inflammation in our body.  Many chronic diseases begin with chronic inflammation.

Perhaps what struck me the most about this book is the author's claims about the effects of inflammation and your gut health on Alzheimer's Disease.  I'm not claiming one way or another that what he says is true- research is beginning to come in that supports some of these claims.  Having a healthy microbiome and eating correctly is not as sexy as a popping a pill - the long term effects could be worth the time and effort of cultivating good gut health now.  What does it hurt to invest in eating right now?  If you never get a chronic disease, you'll never know that it worked.

Seriously, there is a lot of hard science in this book, and it is broken down into terms that a lay person can easily understand.  And a deep hard look at how the typical American Diet is killing us.  We also get a look at what steps we can immediately take to counteract the effects.

I've seen research coming out about gut health and the effects our gut health has on all of our other body systems.  We have been ignoring this side of our overall health for far too long, with devastating effects on our health.  If you're looking for a fascinating read with enormous potential impact upon our health, this book is for you!

Preventative Maintenance

You know, we stress preventative maintenance on our cars to keep our investment running longer and more efficiently.  But, do we stress preventative maintenance on ourselves?  It's a lot easier to catch problems early and take care of them than to wait until it becomes a chronic problem that dominates your life.

Honestly, I have done a half-assed job of keeping up with my health over the years.  I go to the dentist every 6 months.  I get a check up every 5 or so years. And I got my mammograms. Other than that, I tend to stay away from the doctor's office.

This is the year I turn 50.  In anticipation of this momentous occasion, and my decision to have at least 60 more very productive years in my life, I have decided that it is time to start taking my health seriously.  To this end, I had a colonoscopy today.  (end---hahahah---- yeah, I'm still a little loopy from the drugs!)

The prep was not as bad as I was expecting.  My Doctor gave specific instructions on when to stop eating things.  High fiber foods- raw fruits and veggies, nuts, etc, were to be pulled out 4 days before.
Three days before, I stopped eating beef.  Two days before, I ate as light as I could.  Well cooked veggies, tuna, salmon.  And then came the fun of the clear liquid diet yesterday.  I won't lie, I was hungry and grumpy and headachey most of the day.  I powered through by remembering my Mom's surgery.  I swear, I can still close my eyes and see the wound and the damage caused by a colon that had ruptured due to colon cancer.  

Funny thing is, the colon cleanse was pretty darn easy.  I have problems with gluten.  BIG problems with gluten.  Honest to goodness, the colon cleanse was more gentle than what happens if I happen to have something with gluten in it.

Today was simple.  Went in, changed into a gown, laid down on a bed.  Rolled on my side, chatted it up with a nurse, and then went out like a light.  Woke up 30 minutes later.

I did have polyps.  3 of them were removed.  One of them was big.  1.5 cm. 
That big one?  It was in the EXACT SAME SPOT as my mother's tumor.

That polyp would have sat there, slowly growing for years, unknown by me until the only options were ugly, life changing options.

The peace of mind I have this evening is unbelievable.  There was something that could have been a problem, and now it's gone.  Granted, I have to go back in 3 years, but I will gladly go back, knowing that the procedure is easier than getting a root canal.  (Yeah, there's a joke there, too...)

Colon cancer is one of the most treatable cancers, if it is caught early.  I'd like to hope that the polyp wasn't cancerous.  If it was - hey - it was caught when it was small.  And it's gone. 

So, I'm asking you - what kind of preventative health measures have you taken for yourself lately?

This is the only body you've got.  You need to take care of what you have!

Skin Check

Do you check your skin for suspicious moles?  Have you checked your skin for suspicious moles?
On your arms, your back, your face, your legs? 

Did you know:

• Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States.  More than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people are diagnosed annually.
• Each year, there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.
• One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.

(Source: http://www.skincancer.org/)

Skin cancer can grow not only on the areas that you expose to sunlight, but also to areas that never see the light of day.

All of my life I've had three really big freckles.  One on each arm, and one on my behind.  I've always freckled very easily, so now I tend to stay out of the sun.  I didn't do so well with that when I was younger.  Remember the 80's?  Remember slathering yourself in baby oil to get a good tan?  Remember going out to lay out in the sun and get a really good burn to begin the season?  While I never used the baby oil, I did get several "good burns" through my teenage years.  None were intentional, but I had friends who did it on purpose every spring.

For the last 15 years, I've kept a very close eye on the freckles.  I don't get out in the sun as often as I used to, and I do apply a moisturizer that contains sunscreen daily.

I had one mole and one of the big freckles cut off five years ago.

I went back to see my dermatologist earlier this week.  She took a look, and off came the second of the big freckles, and another "thing" on my head.

Everything will be sent off to the lab for analysis, and I'll get the results later this week.

The actual removal process isn't horrible.  The doctor gives you several small shots of pain killer around the area that they will be removing.  I don't actually watch them take things out... I did see an X-acto knife.  (okay, a scalpel).  The doctor dug wide around the freckle in order to get out any cells that might be cancerous, and she dug deep, to get at the root.  She dumped it into a container to send it off to the lab.  I didn't feel a thing until after the pain killers wore off!

All in all, I'm glad that those spots are gone.  Skin Cancer is deadly, and it kills people every year.  But, if it's caught early, it is treatable. 

I'm hoping that it isn't cancer.  If it is, I'm hoping that it was caught early enough.

What I'm finding as I get older, is that staying healthy is a matter of vigilance.  I need to take my own health in my own hands, and be vigilant.  Mammograms, skin cancer screenings, colonoscopies, losing weight, eating right... it's all about vigilance.

Because we all know that we're going to die.  But what if something horrible happens and we don't die? 

I really want the quality of my last years on this earth to be as amazing as the rest of my life.

Have you checked your skin lately?