missingtortillas

My name on here is "Missing Tortillas".

I do miss tortillas. I remember my mom making them in our kitchen as kids and me and my cousin running and stealing a pinch of masa (dough), running behind the couch and eating it while we giggle thinking we were super sneaky! I have not yet tried making them gluten free but I would like to try it. The ones in the store are NOT like my mothers.

I stopped eating gluten recently. On and off since January but indefinitely since June. Started with a wight loss competition with my cousins and sisters. I had gained so much weight and I was always sick. Sick since I could remember being an adult.

I had been sick since I could remember my adult life. The times it was the worse was my first year of teaching. I also left my high school sweetheart and father of our 4 children during that school year. I had D and C, didn't want to eat and lost a lot of weight. Doctors said I had IBS. Friends said I was just under a lot of stress. I grew tired of doctors bills and dead ends. IBS from what I learned was just a last resort when they don't know what the heck is wrong with you.

Crazy as it sounds, I was married and had my 5th child within a year and a half. This pregnancy was absolutely painful. I was told to increase my one a day Pepcid to 2x's a day for indigestion and pain. I was in so much pain. Sick all the time. I convinced the doctor to induce as soon as it was safe because I felt like my pain must be affecting my pregnancy. I just needed to see that she was okay and for my pain to stop.

After my pregnancy and recovery I was busy and stopped inquiring about my pains. Then, it would take me and beat the crap out of me any time I went out for drinks. I was never a drinker stopping at only a few because it always made my stomach so big and that's not sexy! However, one new years eve I drank quite a few of those bad boys and found myself sick as a dog. In fact, I had to go to the emergency room two days later and they told me I also had pneumonia. Other times (no alcohol involved) I had crazy pains in my stomach, back and nausea was out of control. I would dry heave and sometimes actually throw up in the mornings. My kids were tired of hearing me be sick all the time. Or they were stuck home on the weekends because I was moaning in pain on my bed all day.

Eventually, it hurt so bad I went to the doctor but I was already in so much pain he called my mom and she had to drive me to the emergency room. My mom had a very serious face and said, "Mija, are you drinking?" I laugh now because I can't even drink a beer without getting sick so it would be very hard to be an alcoholic. They thought maybe I had an ulcer but I wasn't convinced because they didn't see it. I was confused by there findings and they said to see your regular doctor again. So, I did and he sent me to a GI who said, "Sounds like Gallbladder". So out it went. It took me a year though because during this time I am a mom of 5, a teacher and I went through a divorce, court dates and custody disputes. I've gained weight lost money and me and my kids have been through hell and back. I pray to God every day that he gives me the strength to be a good mother and give them all that they need.

A new day is what I hoped for. The gallbladder was removed and it had been over a year....and to my dismay, I still hurt. "WTheck?" I thought to myself. My friend had said, "Maybe you are allergic to Gluten?" I looked at her like, "Dumb! What's gluten?" I didn't ever give it a second thought until January of this year.

January 2010. A new year and a Biggest Looser contest! My cousins, sisters and I all put in money and weighed in every other week. The one with the most weight loss percentage would win the pot of money! I decided to keep track with a journal. I wrote all the things I ate and looked up the calories on line. I decided that I should feel good because I'm eating healthy! It's right here in my book, WHOLE WHEAT BREAD, CRAZINS, OATMEAL, PEANUT BUTTER WITH APPLES, ORANGES, SALADS, ETC. wow! What the book told me was absolutely EYE OPENING! I tried to take gluten out of my diet but it was hard. I didn't know gluten was everywhere. I recorded how I felt after eating, where it hurt in my body, when and the consistency of my bm's and thought of myself as a CSI investigator! ha ha ha

Well, as I began to make all these revelations it finally clicked when I thought of one of my daughters. My daughter has been to the emergency room and has had pneumonia and has asthma and it's all getting progressively worse. Duh! It's genetic! So, I switched the focus off of me and just decided to go gluten-free for good so I can live a productive life for me and my 5 children. As for my daughter... I need a real diagnosis because she is so young. She is always in pain and I can't stand to see her that way. She already new about gluten-free because of me talking about it and she came up to me and said as long as it stops hurting. I don't want to stop eating gluten but I don't want to hurt anymore.

So here we are. Waiting on her biopsy. They are looking for Celiacs Disease or Eosinphilic. More testing to come I'm sure. My poor baby.