Meet the Administrators
We felt it important to share our personal stories. It
gives a bit of insight as to why we do this.
For
more stories, check out
Our Diagnostic Journey
Forum
Anne aka ANNELB
I live
in Little Rock, Arkansas. I have been gluten free since
August 2003.
I am the manager of Gluten Free in Central
Arkansas, a branch of the
Gluten Intolerance
Group.
I was dying. My feet were horribly painful from peripheral
neuropathy (PN). I was fatigued. Although I still worked
full time, I spent many hours lying in bed. I had heart
bypass surgery in 2000 and felt that I had never fully
healed. I thought my heart was killing me. My doctors
offered me pain meds and antidepressants for my PN but I
knew there had to be something else. One doctor told me
“What do you expect, you are getting old”. I was only 59.
I started searching the internet for something to help the
pain of my PN and overwhelming fatigue, I, like Al,
stumbled across Cara’s posts and she pointed out Dr.
Hadjivassiliou’s articles linking PN and gluten. When I
asked my doctors to test me for celiac disease, they turned
me down as I did not have diarrhea. It may have been good
that my doctors turned me down. Celiac disease (villous
atrophy) is only one manifestation of the whole spectrum of
gluten intolerance. I decided to test for gluten
sensitivity through Enterolab . The day I received my
positive test results is the day I stopped eating
gluten.
For the first 3 days I thought I had made a mistake. I felt
worse, not better. On day 4, while walking down steps, I
suddenly noticed that my knees were not hurting. My PN
slowly improved. I still have numbness to temperature, but
the pain level is 0-2 instead of a 9. It is no longer
progressing up my arms and legs. My fatigue is gone. The
list of my health improvements is long. Looking back, I
have probably been gluten intolerant all of my life.
My two sons and their wives and pets are all gluten free.
My dog is gluten free. We are all enjoying better health.
Living GF can be a challenge in this gluten filled world. I
have found by staying connected with others through
national organizations, local support groups and online
communities I can continue to learn about the ever changing
world of gluten sensitivity.