My Doctor told me
look at Gluten as Poison For You
As an artist and a photographer, my work has always been influenced by my life’s experiences
How will Gluten Sensitivity affect me as a portrait photographer?
Do not know exactly how; maybe be a better person, therefore, artist and photographer
A large part of my work is to about empowering people
with portraits. It is thrilling to capture the uplifting experience of a woman being photographed underwater or a family connecting with one another during a photo session. Always known my photo shoots and images help people feel loved and special. Maybe sharing this can help others, too.
Menopause? Thyroid?
A decade ago, I began to gain weight. My body changed from having a athletic build with a flat belly to something different. I stopped feeling good, feet ached, skin broke out, and stomach bothered me. My feet really hurt a lot, they felt numb. This caused a tightrope of how much walking & activities I could do without them becoming painful. Less movement, weight gain or weight gain causing less movement. Being in the water helped and inspired me.
Was it hormones?
Different doctors, more tests, drugs, supplements, etc.
My belly looked like I was pregnant. Even when I was pregnant did I look that pregnant until the last month or two! My long hair thinned, a gradual shedding over the years. This year, it stopped growing!
Diagnosis - aging - again
My hair was often in braids or a pony tail, now a short bob with curls. Very much like my childhood idol the tomboy, read about in mystery books, Trixie Beldon. I hear “love that you cut your hair” all the time except my hair is trimmed every 9 months or so!
I knew something was wrong but what
Researching Auto Immune diseases still thinking Thyroid, an elimination diet began in late September of no gluten, dairy or sugar. I decided to not pretend to figure this out myself. Did not want a slew of different doctors telling me difference things; real help was needed and found with a (see this post) Functional MD.
I’ve heard the term, Leaky Gut before. Was it just another auto immune Disease that cannot be proved? Was an easy culprit gluten problems or auto immune, why?
When the tight junctions in the digestive system, which control what passes through the lining of the small intestine, do not work properly they could let substances leak into the bloodstream. Leaky gut syndrome is said to have symptoms including bloating, food sensitivities,aches and pains. It 's something of a medical mystery. “From an MD’s standpoint, it’s a very gray area,” says gastroenterologist Donald Kirby, MD, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic.
Is it diet, our food sources, has it been undiagnosed for years?
Dr. Miller said “your digestion is not working, it could be from many things so right now let’s treat this a reactions to gluten causing inflammation throughout your body.”
Diagnosis Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity
Common Symptoms:
Bloating, gas or abdominal pain - used to bloating, often had my hand was on my stomach due to pain
Diarrhea or constipation - thought aging?
Nausea - always present unless I kept eating junk, pretzels, ginger ale, chips, cookies
Headache - starting now, they say it is part of healthy is getting worse
Brain fog - scares me because my mother’s dementia hurt her, all my siblings & I - immeasurably
Joint pain - podiatrist “my high arches are a birth defect, nothing can help, aging means limitations & pain”
Numbness in the legs, arms or fingers - mom had it, thought it was expected
Fatigue - well, there was Superstorm Sandy, rebuilt a house, my mothers passing, being tired is expected
According to my doctor, the elimination diet 18 days prior to the blood test and the week prior to the stool tests may have given an optimistic result
Meaning - possible Celiac
Tests - GI Stool profile with three day collection. Series of Blood tests - lab technician, “your doctor is really thorough, I have never taken so many for one person before”
Results ; released online - my first thought relief Parasitology not detected.
My doctor helped me to understand the reports and I’m continuing to learn.
Fecal Secretory IgA high 3059 reference range <=2040 mcg/mL
Zonulin Family Peptide, stool result high 419.0 reference range 22.3 - 161.1 ng/mL
What is Zonulin
Huge indicators, in my laymen terms, of an inability to digest gluten. This causes inflammation in the digestive track and throughout my body. The ‘bad” bacteria grows excessively with very little good bacteria. So the reason my throat, stomach and to my (sorry to be graphic) anus hurts was something real is wrong. The hair loss and other systems may all improve in a few to several months.
More results in the blood profile
Celiac Disease Panel IgA is 3 states negative but 4 or above is positive for Celiac
IgA Serum high at 359
Oxide LDL high (even though my other LDL is low) 180 reference 10-170t
Uric Acid & Albumin for both high - indicating the liver is not working correctly
Ferritin serum is off the charts at 370 instead of 15-150
Higher than normal ferritin levels can mean you have too much iron in your body.
Conditions that cause increased iron levels include liver disease, alcohol abuse (haven’t had a drink in months), and hemochromatosis, a disorder that can lead to cirrhosis, heart disease, and diabetes.
Magnesium is high-thought the feet cramps were from low mag not iron
super low LDL may be not getting nutrients
Is all this because of gluten? Something I have eaten my whole life. How could this be happening at 59? Why
Then I guess the truth is, it is unlikely that I will know with certainty. I know this,