Gluten Free Choice RN Consulting

Many Happy Rewards of a Gluten-Free Life

Dealing with gluten intolerance is a life-long journey, with uphill battles, calm plateus, and a few precipitous downhill slides. Hopefully our lives also include many periods of vibrant good health. The good news is that for each of us, living gluten free gets easier over time. Recently it has also become easier to eat gluten free - gluten-free foods are the fastest growing segment of the new foods market, having surpassed the low-carbohydrate trend of the last decade. That is really good news for us. 

Like anything else in life, the gluten-free diet becomes less of a challenge with practice, and we are encouraged by our improving health. Here are some recent success stories from clients I have worked with or met through the gluten-free community. I have had personal contact with all of these individuals and have verified their stories.

• A woman in her late 50's had attributed most of her body aches, as well as fatigue, to simple aging. But a gluten-free diet changed her perceptions and helped her regain her energy and vitality. No more pain medication for aching joints!
• A 3-year old with a history of tummy troubles tells his Mom, "I'm a happy boy, now!"
• A gentleman with a history of hypothyroidism for 15 years regained normal thyroid function in six months on a strict gluten-free diet. While his results may not be typical, miracles do happen in the gluten-free world.
• What do a six year old girl and a 54-year old man have in common? A history of seizures, which were responsive to eliminating gluten from their diets. No more seizures, no more meds, and another gluten-free miracle for modern medicine.
• An older man with life-long health problems and 42 years of misdiagnosis is beginning to recover his health after finally receiving a correct diagnosis:  celiac disease! He had to diagnos himself and demand the test, despite having a slew of autoimmune disorders, including type I diabetes, chronic nausea, depression, and profuse diarrhea and malabsorption. He recalls first feeling that something was very wrong with him at age 10, over a decade before he was diagnosed with type I diabetes.
• A senior citizen misdiagnosed with a difficult-to-treat neurological disorder was wheelchair-bound and scheduled for surgery before discovering he could not tolerate gluten. On a gluten-free diet, he has recovered and has successfully avoided life-altering surgery.
• A young child with Autism Spectrum Disorder received two years of dietary intervention as a preschooler, and is now well enough to enter the regular classroom for kindergarten. This successful intervention has probably forever improved his academic and life outcome.
  
• A young preschooler severely affected in growth and development, and in constant pain from peripheral neuropathy, has regained all his milestones and recovered completely on a gluten-free diet with the addition of some key dietary supplements.
• An athlete is regaining her strength and endurance after several months on a gluten-free diet (with additional care from a naturopath), and now has the energy and clear-headedness she needs to pursue her dreams.
• A darling elementary school student lives a fun-filled life with lots of friends, participating in all the usual childhood rituals - free from the debilitating ear-aches she used to have prior to eliminating gluten. Would she trade her new healthy life for all the junk-food she could eat?  NEVER! She's loving her gluten-free diet!

On the Downside

• Despite testing positive for celiac diasease, and having several autoimmune disorders, and severe non-responsive iron-deficiency anemia, an active working mother declined to follow a gluten-free diet. She continues to need medical care to manage her autoimmune disorders and her anemia, and this is likely to continue indefinitely. It scares me to think what the implications down the road could be in terms of long-term complications of celiac disease. But, we are all free to make our own choices, and sometimes this is hard for others to understand.
• There are many more individuals, like her, who are not even aware of the effect that gluten has on the body, and who will continue to have deteriorating life-long health. So, spread the word...

Gluten Sensitivity and Urological Issues:  Gluten-Free is the Way to Go!

Many people sent emails in response to the article I wrote on Gluten Sensitivity and the Bladder, saying that all of their symptoms resolved on a gluten-free diet, despite doctors discounting a link between gluten and the bladder.  The respondents included:

• Children with bed-wetting issues
• Young women with Interstitial Cystitis
• Men with chronic prostatitis
• Older women with stress incontinence

Even some pet-owners wrote to me about their pets urinary incontinence problems going away on a gluten-free diet!

I have gotten emails from all over the country and the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. 

For urinary tract issues, gluten-free is the way to go. This association is now being closely followed in clinical trials and confirmed by thousands of anecdotal stories patients tell their doctors. 

For a large percentage of those affected, avoiding gluten is an important factor in helping to eliminate chronic urinary tract infections, interstitial cystitis, and chronic prostatitis. Read the success stories in   The Better Bladder Book - A Holistic Approach to Healing Interstitial Cystitis and Chronic Pelvic Pain (Hunter House Publishing, Nov. 2010)