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        Hi.  My name is Kathy.  I live in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  I am 43
years old and I am fairly new to this list.  I'm looking for advice and
HELP (support?) in the area of high cholesterol and weight gain which
occured after my celiac diagnosis.  First some background:
        I had most of the typical CD symptoms (stomach cramping, constant
diarrhra, the evil gas, and very low hemoglobin - 6.9) for 10 years before
any doctor figured out what was wrong with me.  I did not have any weigh
loss during those years and that is what the doctors used to rule out CD.
I ate like a horse, however, and maintained a normal weight.  Finally, one
doctor suggested (reluctantly) the biopsy which gave the CD diagnosis.
        There is a long history of high cholesterol in my family so even
though mine was always low (101 during my sickest years) I decided to be
careful and watch what I ate and how I cooked foods for my family.  I
haven't cooked with egg yolks or red meat in over 20 years.  My teenaged
sons have high choesterol (350 range).  Anyway, almost immediately after
going gluten free my weight began to rise rapidly (60 pounds in 5 months),
so did my choesterol number (up to 305 in the same five months) and my
hemoglobin went up to about 12 very quickly.  I was in a panic, but my
doctor wasn't one bit concerned.  He said, "This lets us know that your
gluten free diet is working and you are absorbing things again." No
kidding!!!  That was 4 1/2 years ago and no matter what I do the weight
stays put and so does the cholesterol.  Several cholesterol-lowering
medications have been tried but they all made me sick.
        I've been told that during those ten years that I went undiognosed
my body thought it was on a starvation diet.  Therefore, my matabolism is
probably messed up.  Doctors have been no help to me with any of this so
I'm left doing my own research.  I know that exercise is a good way to
increase your matabolism.  One year after all of this weight gain, I had to
undergo surgery on my knee which has really limited the kinds of exercise I
can do.  I have had two knee surgeries since then and will probably need at
least one more.  I swam every day for a year and didn't loose  a single
pound. I'm extremely frustrated!
        I eat low fat, low calorie foods.  I love to cook so it has not
been a problem for me to develope gluten free foods that are low fat and
taste good.  Learning to cut my portions was a problem at first because I
was so used to eating large portions before dioagnosis.  I am at a loss for
what to do next.  Please help. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
        Direct e-mail to the address below.  THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!  Kathy
 
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adios