I’m allergic to wheat gluten, but I’ve found some really cool things about living with it.  Who knows?  I’m thinking someday I’ll be totally free from it.  I really do.

My decision to unplug from the celiac community, i.e. to stay away from forums and lists, may not be your best choice.  I did it because I found it fueled my negative thoughts about the disease, and I know how hard it is for me to keep my mind in a positive state.

I’ve found that celiac affects people differently.  I have yet to found anyone like me. I have dermatitis herpetiformis, and you may have that type of celiac disease, but your reaction to wheat gluten, and the amount you can tolerate is probably different from me.

I find that I can tolerate more when I’m in shape.  That probably makes sense.

Wheat gluten is in a lot of foods but companies are getting much better about listing it on the ingredients that contain it – like modified food starch.  One of the best places I’ve found that lists ingredients well is Whole Foods Market.  Have you been there?

This place is crazy good.  Did you know you can walk to info desk and ask for a person to help you find gluten-free foods.  And not just those obviously marked!  They have lists of foods – just ask for it.

And did you know that the best flour in the world that is totally gluten-free and my “normal” family says tastes better than regular flour – is a brand called Pamelas?  Maybe you knew that, but I stumbled on it at a Wild Oats store a year or so ago.

So check ‘em out.  If you don’t have a Whole Foods Market near you, you can order Pamela’s online.

Last post I let the cat out of the bag on a life changing event for me and I hope that you can totally relate – either someone you know, or maybe even you – and these posts will help.  What is amazing is that with the technology we have at our fingertips, we can easily search the Internet and read what has worked for other people.  No longer are we bound to what the medical profession allow us to know.  It’s similar to the old church not allowing the parishioners to read the Scriptures; that only a man of the cloth could interpret the words.

Before I get too far with the concept of self-diagnosis and healing, let me say I have a great respect for many doctors.  A few are good friends.  Unfortunately, it is the medical training system that we currently have that seems to teach them more about easing symptoms than researching the cause.  And I don’t know this for a fact.  I’m writing out of my own experience, and that of friends.

Let’s take my situation as an example.

Yes, the doctors ask if you’re taking any medication, how do you feel, etc.  And I told my doctor in Arlington, Texas, that I was taking this “new” brand of antibiotic.  Why on earth he prescribed a synthetic cortisone that simply covered the symptoms…does anyone have an answer?

The “Prednisone” did cover up the reaction I was having.  But here is what happened – in my mind:  I was given an antibiotic to reduce swelling around a tooth.  A reaction to that careless drug flipped a switch with my autoimmune system.  Now I was allergic to gluten.  I suppose the doctor’s thinking was the reaction would go away, and the Prednisone would cover the horrible side-effects until it did.

But, it never did.

My doctor then referred me to a dermatologist who couldn’t diagnose the tiny painful blisters of Dermatitis Herpetiformis I now had on my knuckles, my back, upper knee area.  He took a biopsy of a blister on my ear and sent if off to the lab.  I wanted to know what was happening.  This was pre-Internet, so there wasn’t much I could research.

The dermatologist told me I had Dermatitis Herpetiformis and he prescribed Dapsone which is the common treatment for this.  It also masks the symptoms but does not address the cause of the disease.  I feel the reaction from the antibiotic triggered my autoimmune system, and that is where research should be done.  I could be wrong – but why keep covering over symptoms?

And here’s what I want you to take away from this.  The other choice was to simply stop eating anything that had gluten in it.

For me, the Dapsone was taking a long time.  I took it faithfully for three days and showed no improvement.  And then I made a life-changing decision.  I totally quit eating gluten.  And three days later all symptoms disappeared.  Pretty cool, no?

In fact, so cool that a ton of my allergies disappeared forever.  I used to have horrible reactions to Texas pollen, so bad that I’d be out of commission for days hurting.  Did gluten cause these?  I believe indirectly, yes.  As gluten is ingested, and I think largely because of the hybridized wheat, it lowers our immune system giving us less to fight with.

This was not a cure of Dermatitis Herpetiformis.  It’s simply removing the cause of the symptoms.  If I ate gluten then – I’d have those awful symptoms again.

Unfortunately, because my autoimmune system was now damaged, several other things began to slowly break down in my system.  Isn’t it interesting how tightly woven this whole tapestry of life is?  One system is dependant on another.  In my next post I’ll share the common disease this progressed to, and how I found a cure.

Talk soon.

P.S. Know someone with a allergic to wheat products or on a gluten-free diet?  Send them this site, and feel free to comment below on this story… I promise I’ll write back.

Imagine your feet firmly planted in the chocks, you’re so filled with anticipation you almost want to jump the cracking of the starter’s gun. You feel awesome and can’t wait any longer. The gun signals your start and you’re off.

Two weeks ago that was my position. But Friday I was hit head on with my biggest wall – my health. I’ve never shared my health with you, and with reason. I want the site to be more about helping you. And yet, maybe by telling my story you can benefit. So here we go.

I was born in Michigan, but soon moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas as my parents were called into the ministry. They asked their pastor where they should go to Bible school, and Texas was the answer. At around 11, my parents felt called to the the jungles of the Amazon in Brazil. As a kid, you can imagine, I was in paradise. I felt like Tarzan and Indiana Jones all rolled into one.

Most people ask about the food. And the food there was pretty good. Fresh everything. So I can’t attribute any health challenges to living in the jungle. I graduated from high school there full of life and dreams.

Back in Texas, where I ended up, I did need some dental work done. Not sure if this was because of the fact we grew up eating hard candy in the ’60′s, but I had a mouthful of trouble.

The dentist said he couldn’t help me that day. Too much swelling. He told me to take this new antibiotic out on the market that I would have wonderful results. Little did I know that small prescription would change my life forever.

I did take the prescription, but had a horrible reaction to it. I broke out all over in a rash that painfully itched.

So, I did like most anyone else would and headed to my General Practice doctor and asked for him to take a look at it. Naturally, and this is important to follow, he did not look too much to the cause but to the effect. His prescription (to counteract the first one) was Prednisone.

The Prednisone, if you’re not familiar with it, is a form of cortisone and it did make the rash disappear. But as soon as I ran out of the medicine, the rash came back! I went back to my doctor and he gave up… and sent me to a dermatologist. A biopsy later, I was diagnosed with Dermatitis Herpetiformis.

Dermatitis Herpetiformis is sorta like it sounds. Has to do with the dermis – layer of the skin, and the effect does look a lot like herpes. Thinking back, I never thought – great, I have herpes – I just wanted to find a cure. This isn’t herpes. What it is, is a form of Celiac. I asked the dermatologist, OK…what now? And he had two answers.

First, I could take Dapsone, or… simply stop eating anything that has wheat gluten in it.

What? Did I hear that right? No more wheat in my diet? That’s right – eliminate everything and the painful blisters that had made their way around my knuckles and joints would be gone.

You know, at this stage in my life, I wasn’t totally on board with healthy foods and living. I admit, I loved the high fructose corn syrup, fat filled foods. So I accepted the dapsone prescription, and went on my way – still not knowing what was happening in this stage of my life. I was simply following doctor’s orders.

In my next update, I’ll tell you the single choice I made that added years to my life, and my advice to anyone with allergies – a simple tip that could get your life back.