stillnotregistering

61 years old, male; not breastfed (thanks mom); age 10 had *routine* tonsilectomy and they grabbed the adenoids while they were in there (thanks mom); vaccinated with everything available then; our family ate crap, refined everything, hot dogs, kraft macaroni and cheeze; my father likely was undiagnosed celiac - had gut problems and was depressed his whole life until he suicided in 1969; i've been a strict vegan since 1970 (just plants!); I very rarely take any prescribed or otc drugs; I'm a moderate drinker (used to be just beer, now it's no beer, only vodka and kaluha); i'm regular cannibis user since 1968 - in calif i'm legal and it's a good thing because without it i wouldn't get any sleep at all; my health (esp my gut) was very good until ~2005 when I quit smoking and started to get cramps and diarrhea that wouldn't go away, then the blood (lots of it)appeared, and the weight loss (155 - 125, currently 127 and I'm 5'11");2007 colonoscopy endoscopy, misdiagnosed by GI specialist with Crohn's which I suspected was the problem based on my internet research. He never said a word about Celiac - I didn't even know what celiac was - but he was ready to sell me all kinds of expensive "treatments" for an incurable disease he knew next to nothing about. I pissed him off when I refused his drugs. I kept getting worse. I was troubled because I had a lot of symptoms not usually associcated with Crohns (DH, chronic sores in my mouth, peripheral nervous system breakdown - the shakes, dropping things, running into walls turning corners, etc.); i started researching those things and learned about celiac - about three years ago i stopped gluten - being vegan this was very hard because wheat was a staple grain; after a couple of weeks i started to feel better, but it took the better part of three years before my stools returned to normal, the way they were before I got sick; during all that time i never bled again, although i was never able to regain my weight, approaching 140 only once before I started bloating - and my DH symptoms lingered but improved - i rarely got sores on my face, none in my mouth - just the pattern rashes on my shoulders and thighs and scalp; then about 6 weeks ago i got sick again, diarrhea, facial sores, mough sores, bleeding again, fatigue, more weight loss; i've never been dr. diagnosed with celiac and thought maybe i had both celiac and crohns; i was getting pretty depressed when i read a label at the store re cous cous; it's made of wheat; i should have known that but didn't; i ate a couple of pints about 6 weeks ago right before i went down again; it's great to finally know what took me down and that it was wheat (confirming i have celiac); i've read in several places it can take three or more years for most symptoms to resolve (esp dh) after going gluten free, so hang in there folks - for the past several months i'm struggling big time with insomnia - i usually wake up 5-7 times a night - two hours of straight sleep is a big deal for me - three hours and i feel blessed;