Who ever heard of this?

Ok, so up until about a month ago, I had never heard of Celiac Disease. Now I'm becoming an expert. Ok, not really, but sort of.

Nearly 3 years ago DH mentioned he had been having some sort of pressure on his side. Not pain per se, but pressure, uncomfortableness. He went to our doctor, who couldn't find anything wrong. Over the course of the next 2 1/2 years, DH has tried numerous different meds, to no avail. It's been a roller coaster ride. The one good thing that came of this, we were at Six Flags July of that year, and he had an anxiety attack. As a result, he was hospitalized for observation, and decided to give up smoking. Hasn't smoked since. No idea if this was related, but I'm thinking in some way it was.

So fast forward to early Feb 2007. He goes to see a gastroenterologist, or something like that. The doctor thinks he might have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which sucks. But he wants to do one more test, a biopsy of DH's lower intestine, as he suspects an intolerance to gluten. What the heck is gluten I wondered. So I went to the mother of all info, Google, and found out. Simply put, gluten is a protein in wheat. Intolerance to it is Celiac sprue, or Celiac disease.

DH was scheduled for the procedure right before we went to NYC. He ended up rescheduling that appt, and the doctor had to reschedule the next 2 appts. So that brings us to last Wed, when DH finally had the procedure, without any sedative, btw.

Monday the doctor's assistant calls, and tells DH that he has Celiac disease. He doesn't have a severe case, but it is definately positive. So now begins a lifestyle change for our family.

I, for one, am happy we finally have a diagnosis. Now there is something I can do! Thanks to some friends from OT, and more googling, I've found out a lot more about Celiac Disease.

One thing that concerns me, it is genetic. So it is possible the disease could manifest itself in DS or DD. There is a gene that if you have it, you have a propensity for this disease, but not guaranteed. So we've made a decision to eliminate wheat products from DH's diet, and limit them with the kids.

We have an appt with a nutrionist next week. In the meantime, I've begun reading labels. Turns out that many companies are aware of this disease, and have taken steps to remove wheat from their products, or at least label them properly. The one questionable item is "Modified Food Starch". Turns out that most companies use corn, but it needs to be verified first.

Did you know that most of Lay's snacks (Doritos, Stax, Wavy Lays) are gluten free? Most food manufacturers address this question right on their site. However, licorice and jelly beans often have gluten in them. Go figure.

Makes me VERY happy this is happening to us now. It must have been horrid to try to deal with this before all the proactive labeling was required.

Did you know that an estimated 3 million Americans have Celiac Disease? Many of them don't even know it!

I've found a few sites that give good info, and am hoping to find out more.