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From:
Mary and Jack Hamann <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 17 Feb 2001 18:02:47 -0800
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I want to thank all those who send info and recipes to this site.  It
has helped a lot.  I want to share my experience as it is slightly
different and I think I have come out of it okay.

I am a 56 year old female who was biopsy diagnosed with CD about 12
years ago.  My symptoms started when I was about 12 years old.  I had
stomach aches, funny tasting "burps" and gas resulting in diarrhea about
12 to 24 hours later.  This would happen every couple of weeks and I
would be so sick that I would lose about 5 pounds each time I was sick.
Then I would feel better, gain back the weight and then get sick again.
I would see the doctor even during the middle of the attack and they
would never be able to tell me what the problem was.

This continued into my adulthood with the doctors blaming my stomach
problems on stress, greasy food, being a woman!, irritable bowel, nerves
etc.  I was anemic and started taking iron pills.  I could take 2 a day
but if I took 3, they made me sick (they probably had wheat in them!).
I had a miscarriage and 2 healthy pregnancies in which I wasn't as sick
as much.  I still had stomach aches and the resulting diarrhea at least
twice a month.  Finally when I was about 45 I developed fibroids and
needed to have a hysterectomy.  My doctor said that I would never have
to take iron pills again.  She figured that the anemia was from heavy
periods (I had quit complaining about the stomach aches & diahhrea!).

About 6 months after the hysterectomy, I was so tired I could hardly
manage to cope with my job and family life so I went back to the doctor.
I was very anemic & had 0 iron stored in my body.  The doctor decided
to do more tests and sent me to the specialist.

The first test came back indicating that celiac was a possibility but he
figured that I was too healthy to have celiac's disease.  The biopsy
proved that I do and it did not take long for me to start feeling
better.

When diagnosed, I thought that the good news was that I would never be
over weight.  How could you gain weight on rice cakes and lettuce!
Within three weeks I gained weight and soon gained 30 pounds!  I hated
this and revisited my doctor.  She told me that my metabolism was so out
of whack that it had really slowed down.  She said exercising might
encourage it to speed up but that at least I am healthy.

She is right.  Other than the odd accidental dose of gluten, my stomach
is good,  I do have one problem which some of you may be able to relate
to.  If I am late eating lunch and get really hungry (sometimes this
happens if we are travelling) I end up getting a stomach ache/crampy
feeling with diarrhea occuring shortly after I have eaten.  It seems
like the acid in my stomach gets out of whack and it causes my stomach
to hurt (my guess).  Does anyone else get this.  I will ask my doctor
when I see her next.

I had a bone density and I am very dense!  My doc. has done a few other
tests but feels that I have come out of this okay.  I am physically
active and curl, golf and go to the fitness centre, as well we walk
alot.  I would like to lose weight but I know that being heavy and
healthy is better that being lean and sick!

I would like to thank the person who sent the Spanish translation of the
GF card. It helped us immensely when we were in Spain.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Mary

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