Muffy

I had intestinal reactions to formula as a baby.

I have always, since childhood, had anxiety, fatigue, muscle twitches, migraines, insomnia, asthma, and extreme PMS.

I developed Graves Disease at 21, it almost killed me I was in the hospital for almost a week. In my 20's I also started to get weird bumps and rashes that itched on my knees, wrists, forearms and hands. My migraines also started to increase in severity and frequency.

By the time I got to my 30's I was able to add muscle, joint, and nerve pain. The migraines were almost constant. I was dizzy a lot, often I was unable to drive and even walk from one room to the next without having to sit down on the floor for a minute. I started getting cloudy-headed in addition to the fatigue, and I was pretty depressed for a while. I was diagnosed with rosacia and started getting itchy rashes on my chest. I developed allergies/intolerances to tomatoes, kiwis, mangos, melons, ginger, agave, and bananas over a six year period.

2 years ago I started to feel discomfort in my stomach and intestinal areas that came and went for a few months, increasing in severity until I went to the ER and had to have my appendix out as well as part of my upper and lower intestine as it had turned to stone. The doc literally told me it clanked like rock against his tools and that none of them had ever seen anything like it. They offered no official diagnosis or suggestions for moving forward.

My cousin told me about the inflammation caused by refined sugars and I cut it all out in a desperate attempt to stop the headaches. And it did help some. Since I was transitioning away from processed foods in the process I started to notice that MSG was a migraine trigger. That got me thinking about gluten in general and I did some research. Once I saw the connections I cut it out and I haven't had a headache in months. Almost every symptom I discussed above is completely gone.

It was hard at first. My brain finally gets it though and I find it easy to stay both gluten/grain and dairy free (I also discovered how very sick all grains and dairy make me in this mess) - it's the cross contamination that gets me! I am what they call 'super sensitive', I react strongly to airborne VOC's and processed things that are supposed to break down the gluten protien so I suspect that in addition to celiac and gluten intolerance I have a full blown wheat allergy as well.

I am about a year and a half into recovery, My husband and daughter have gone gluten-free as well and they have similar symptoms that have decreased significantly.