Celiac? We'll see

For years I've had experiences I just attributed to allergies, anemia, blood sugar . . .

Like most symptoms of celiac (a condition where the person lacks an enzyme to digest the protein of certain grains, called gluten), they are easy to write off as something else.

• Why do my hands sometimes feel like I have arthritis, when I show no other signs? Why does that soreness and stiffness come and go?
• Why do I feel fine til bed some evenings; and other evenings feel overwhelming tired, sluggish, achy, irritable and like I can't think?
• Why do I have mornings after enough sleep when I just can't get into gear, even after black tea?

I never heard of any of these symptoms connecting to celiac until I happened across an article featuring a food blog, Gluten Free Girl. I went and looked from curiosity, and found great recipes that celebrate joyful cooking and sharing of healthy food - my kind of food culture. And some medical basics, the authors own story, plus anecdotes about others. That combination of recognizing myself and thinking, 'wow - I could enjoy eating this way' made me willing to dump denial and get tested for the antibody that indicates a likelihood of the condition.

And then came Sunday, with its increasing raft of unpleasantness (all of the above). By late afternoon and after 3 serious servings of wheat (toast x2, waffles x2, and a pupusa), I could barely hold my head up and walk around the house, much less finish a coherent sentence. It really feels like being drugged, beaten up, and heckled. A lost evening, sleep with anti-inflammatories, and a difficult Monday morning at work, trying to keep enough focus to be productive. Right then I started figuring out what I could eat without gluten. And the rest of this week has been, if not perfect, really good.

So we'll see what the blood test says, what my doctor says, and where I go from here. High hopes!