For the first three weeks of January Ben experienced some difficult symptoms.
-Bloated Belly
-Extremely Painful Gas (That would keep him up screaming and crying for hours at night.)
-Skin Rashes (Both Eczema on his arms and legs and an unidentified red rash on his belly.)
-Extreme Appetite, Never Full or Satisfied
-Irritability (With Ben this manifested more as an over all tension, which I didn't notice he had until we changed his diet and he was so relaxed and calm.)
-Several Bulky Poops per Day (I would tell Jared it looked like he just pooped out everything he ate...sadly, now we think he was.)
-Weight Loss (This was especially troubling because at the same time he was eating huge amounts of food.)
After much prayer, an accidental gluten/wheat free day, an answer to our prayers, many more on purpose gluten/wheat free days, an accidental wheat cracker incident :) and a phone call to our favorite medical doctor, Jared's brother Josh, we feel confident that Ben has a wheat/gluten intolerance. We can't be sure that it is Celiac Disease without an invasive procedure, but like Josh assured us, regardless of the reason why, since we are sure that wheat/gluten is causing the symptoms, the medical recommendation would be the same, no more wheat in his diet.
Which, my friends, is quite an undertaking. We are slowly but surely figuring out a new way of eating. We've bought new cook books, have made more than a couple trips to the local health food stores and are making phone calls to food companies to make sure everything we are eating is gluten free. Although it is difficult, Ben and Jared feeling better has been worth it.
Jared feels confident he also has a wheat/gluten intolerance. Jared's symptoms included the same ones Ben had (except no rash) with a couple of extra symptoms too...
-Extremely Low Energy
-Numbness and Tingling in His Hands (This was a daily occurrence. He could only hold a bag in his hands for a few seconds before his whole hand went numb.)
Although Jared hasn't completely regained his energy yet, all of his other symptoms are gone now.
We are grateful for answer to prayer and for a good Dr. we can always call. We'll keep you updated on our new gluten-free life style. :)
8 comments:
Man O' Man! This going to be a huge shift in lifestyle. I guess we will all have to be on board to avoid problems at family functions. Does this mean absolutely no wheat/gluten or can they indulge once in a while? Of course, Ben will be the more sensitive one and need to be on track all the time. Rice flour and Corn tortillas will become Ben's friend!
what next, eh! keep us posted on how it's going. sometimes i think maddy has a food allergy. sometimes i think she's just high maintenance. maybe it's option c: all of the above.
This is Em. I hope everyone gets to be feeling energized soon. Since Mom came backfrom SC, we've put the twins on the probiotics and it has helped their bowels tremendously. That and Papa adjusting Carter's out of whack coccyx. I enjoyed talking to the kiddos this week. I hope they enjoyed the circus. Sorry we had to get off quickly, but Carter and Brechin were being injured. Blood and tears. Hope you're doing well.
Oh my. What an ordeal for your family. I'm sorry this is something you're dealing with, but glad you've found answers that are helping Ben, and Jared.
We got to try gluten free bread for the Sacrament today. We have 3 families in our ward who are on gluten free diets and we happened to be sitting next to one of them today. The deacons have a special gluten free sacrament tray. The mom of that family likes to point out that at least chocolate is gluten free:)
we will be joining you in this effort. please let us know any good recipes.....we tried rice flour muffins and they were ok. we have also bought pb bumpers for cereal and they taste good. i guess we willeat healthier.. more fruits and veggies.. oh and clif kids foods are gluten-free.
I will get recipes/info from the Noall's. They have a gluten intolerant son.
Holy cow. Everyone is allergic to gluten these days it seems. I must be too. My mid-section is swelling all the time.
Seriously though, we have a neice on Sarah's side that just had a bunch of fancy tests done to determine she has celiacs. We have a special sacrament tray for someone in our ward too.
By the way, sorry I haven't visited your blog in a while. I forget that it is private so I don't get reminded by my feed reader when you have new posts.
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