Thursday, December 13, 2012

~Celebrating A New Me~

Beautiful Wheat Field

Life has a way of taking twists and turns, and sometimes a complete 180*, all without our consent.  We certainly aren't any exception to that rule.

With all of the changes I've gone through over the last 7 years or so; losing my home, ending my job with the fire department (which I truly didn't want to leave) and all THAT situation involved (not lacking incredible drama, the local Sheriff Department, and a lie detector test to strengthen and state my allegations are true to my fellow "brothers"), our financial difficulties (which is a whole-nutha-story), and now enduring the final stages of my career change/nursing school endeavors, I KNEW it was inevitable that an ulcer had claimed residency in my stomach that had yet to show it's ugly face.  I've had multiple issues over the past few years, most of which I blamed it on stress, diet, soaps, age, or whatever.  It wasn't until this year that things would eventually come to the point of "I don't care how much it costs, I'm getting this checked!"  Through tear filled eyes, I told my husband that it's one of two organs: My stomach or my pancreas, and I don't know which one it is.

On October 12th (I believe), I visited with one of the GI Nurse Practitioners that I work with.  I told her all about my symptoms and issues, as best I could, in relation to the abdominal pain.  She scheduled me for an EGD with the Dr.  On October 17th, I was admitted for said procedure and spoke with my physician about my symptoms before the anesthesiologist sent me to La-la land. Afterwards, the Dr. came in the recovery area telling us that there was no ulcer and that I have a hiatal hernia, other than that I was normal looking as can be. He told us that he took a biopsy in a random area and the results would be ready in a few days.  Once he left, I felt a little defeated.  I KNOW there is something going on in that area.  I KNOW that it's not an ulcer now.  I KNOW that I have to figure this out ASAP.  What in the world could it be?  A week went by and I ran into the NP at the elevator at work while she was making rounds on patients.  She told me that my results are in and is suggestive that I have Celiac Disease.  She told me that she'd catch up with me in the ICU as she was headed that way and I was going to grab lunch. 

Celiac disease...? What the heck is celiac disease?!?!

I started to look up the info on my phone and immediately found answers to a multitude of symptoms that I've had over the years, but the one thing that I couldn't stop paying attention to was miscarriages and infertility.  Josh and I have been going through numerous tests to find out why we haven't been able to start our family. We've had some answers but we've also been told that there's 'nothing wrong' with us and to 'keep trying'.  This diagnosis lends us so many answers! 



Once I had the opportunity to talk with the NP, she told me there are many issues with false positives and false negatives and that I needed to follow up with a blood test to check for antibodies.  She set me up to get the lab drawn which I had done the following Friday.  On October 24th, she called me at work and told me that the results were in and that My IgG and IgA antibodies came back positive, but that it’s still not a definitive diagnosis.  She said that this shows that I may be gluten intolerant and not have full blown celiac disease but to know for sure, I would have to have another blood test, a TTG antibody screen.  If this comes back positive, it means that I am genetically predisposed for celiac disease.  On November 13th, my DNA test results were called to me.  Again, it was positive.  By this time, I was already eating gluten free for 3 weeks.  I felt AMAZING!  I had no idea how bad I was feeling until I felt GOOD!!  I had energy, the edema in my hands, face and legs were noticeably gone, the pain in my side was at a minimum, the itchy skin that I had was gone, the tooth sensitivity was gone and I could use my electric tooth brush again... I could go on and on but here's the thing: My Dr. told me that "in every aspect of medicine, be it cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, psychology... there's a place for CD."  After reviewing this list, I can see that he's right!  Out of that list, I can say that I have dealt with or deal with 73 of these symptoms.  

73!! 

 Well, long story short, my purpose in sharing is this
 According to The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, today, one in 133 Americans have celiac disease. Because celiac disease runs in families, when someone is diagnosed with celiac disease it is a good idea for other members of the family to be tested to see if they are genetically at risk. If a person is diagnosed with celiac disease, the risk of developing celiac disease is one in 22 for other members of the celiac's immediate family. If your grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin is diagnosed with celiac disease the risk is one in 39.
Celiac disease may lay dormant or it could literally bring your knees to your chest in pain.  With it being genetic, I want my ENTIRE FAMILY to know what I've found out about myself!! I don't want ANYONE to feel like they're crazy like I did, going to my Dr's office for 4 YEARS complaining of abdominal pain without anything even remotely close to a diagnosis!! 
 

Literally, One Month After Diagnosis

I have found this, this, this, and this to be helpful to my Gluten Free ventures.  Some helpful books are this, this, and this