I finally decided to post my journey here for anyone interested in reading how one woman conquered this gluten free fickle lifestyle!

We can all agree to disagree, right? Life is just better that way isn’t it? I’ve learned over the years on this journey that everyone’s situation is different and what may work for one person may not work for another. This is my story of how I got the help needed to finally get well and understand what the heck was happening to me and how to live this gluten free way of life. And trust me I’ve been a fickle one for sure!

You see, none of the medical doctors I was seeing for years figured out the REAL issue of why I was so chronically ILL practically from when I was in my twenties! Fatigue in my teens, always napping, chronic tooth problems, depression, headaches, panic attacks, thyroid issues, chronic back and neck pain, sinus infections, ear infections, vertigo, migraines, miscarriage, then our younger son was born premature at 28 weeks in 1992, after which I started having serious debilitating migraines, joint pain, foggy brain, memory loss, barely able to walk or function at age 54. No medical doctor ever figured it out. I saw Endocrinologist and Internal medicine doctors for over 30 years. Their answer was always you have this or that issue and here’s more prescription drugs. I started on Thyroid medicine in my early twenties. They said I had Hasimotos. My thyroid levels would go up and down, up and down. In other words, I was wacked!

Then at the end of 2005 I happened to meet a Chiropractor who focused on Functional Holistic Medicine. She ordered blood work to check for food allergies. I thought what? I’m not allergic to any foods! Really? How come none of these medical doctors did that? Because they are trained in erasing symptoms with more drugs and they are not trained much in nutrition or wellness, at least the doctors I saw were not.

The blood test showed I was highly allergic to gluten/wheat. I was shocked to say the least and not interested in changing my diet until I got to where I could no longer function, work or care for my family. It was about a year and a half before I finally took her advice! Then my doctor told my husband, “Sue’s going to die if she doesn’t change her diet and stop eating gluten/wheat. This is serious and I’m not going to be her doctor anymore if she doesn’t listen to my advice!” Sue’s going to die?!! What?!! Well I felt like I was dying that’s for sure! That really grabbed my attention and besides I love my family too much and wanted to be able to care for them.  At this point in my life I wasn’t able to do that.  Instead they took care of me and had to see me so sick that I had to grab my husband’s arm just to walk a few feet!

But hey, I still had no clue where to begin, what to do or how to shop? I was madly upset, devastated, frustrated, and overwhelmed when going to the grocery store because it was taking so much time to read every frecken label! You see, I was still depressed and in panic mode most of the time when I had to go anywhere! Especially to the grocery store! People would get frustrated because I was standing there looking at labels like a deer stuck in the headlights! I finally grabbed some bananas and ran out of the store in tears. And don’t get me started on how it was when going out to eat anywhere! Oh my gosh the stares I got when trying to ask about gluten free back then! Not to mention having to go visit my family during the holidays or going on a business trip and everyone wanting to go eat Italian or pizza!! I would become so defensive and felt like a whiny little brat.

I still remember in the beginning when I was on a business trip to Vegas and the waiter brought me my salad with croutons on it. Back then in the beginning I didn’t want to cause a fuss so I’d just eat it anyway picking the croutons off.  Well….. you can probably guess how that night went! Another time I was on a business trip to Nashville and ate something, cannot remember what it was but I was in the bathroom all night and the toilet wasn’t working! Oh my what a mess and embarrassment. It was like those horrible bathroom nightmares. Ever have one of those?

Then one happy day my husband heard Elisabeth Hasselback (we saw her on one of the very first Survivor shows). She was speaking on a news program about her book, ‘The GFREE Diet’. My husband suggested I order her book, maybe that would help me get started. I immediately ordered it on Amazon because I was desperate and there were no support groups on Facebook back then, not much support at all really. Her book really helped me get the jump start I needed and help me to understand this way of eating. It really was my survival guide! I just begin slowly, day by day, step by step learning to shop, cook and eat gluten free.

After eliminating gluten/wheat completely and that means all the fast food I was eating, the migraines were the first to stop! Then the joint pain was gone. I dove in and decided to learn to cook REAL whole food at home. The first book my husband got me was the Gfree Diet in 2008 by Elizabeth Hasselback. It was overwhelming and frustrating to shop to say the least. Oh my gosh I’d cry! But I was determined not to give up because it was worth it to feel alive again!

I still wasn’t feeling great though, so I started the education process into all this and that’s when I met Dr. Tom O’Bryan about a year into making the diet changes and then learned about the cause of inflammation, leaky gut, etc. You see in the beginning after my FM doctor told me I was allergic to gluten/Wheat I still actually thought I could eat a little now and then and it wouldn’t hurt. My doctor kept saying NO Sue you cannot! Then I heard Dr. Tom say in one of his lectures mention that you cannot eat a little gluten/wheat, just like you cannot be a little pregnant. Very true, but we all must learn the hard way. For me it was always a painful learning experience and I’d have to hear my husband say TOLD YA so! After a while he stopped being so sympathetic because he KNEW that I KNEW what to do!

I dove into Dr. O’Bryan’s resources, lectures about Celiac and Gluten Sensitivity, CDs, website, got on his supplements to help heal my gut, and met other doctors like Dr. David Perlmutter (author of Grain Brain & Brain Maker) and Dr. Cynthia Foster who are medical doctors who specialize in Functional, holistic, natural alternatives plus other health care professionals that focus on Functional Medicine. I have learned a lot over the years from these health care practitioners and from my own personal journey. The gut brain connection all started to make sense too.

Personally, and I mean ME personally, not anyone else reading this… I didn’t and do not need or want some endoscopic test or a medical doctor telling me I have Celiac and need to get on another drug because that’s what they are doing now, coming out with another synthetic drug or vaccine for Celiac. No thanks! I will stay the course with natural methods and a clean diet! Whenever I deviate from that and start eating too much packaged gluten free foods, too much corn, sugar, I start feeling pain. So, I go off the offending food and the pain goes away. So I say to myself..duh, why do I put myself through this when I know the consequences? Maybe it’s because I’m human! Every lesson learned is another step towards feeling better!

I’ve been off all prescription drugs for 10 years including the thyroid medication and turned 65 this year. My Functional Medicine doctor suggested I take GTA Forte II for my thyroid and I’ve been taking that for ten years. You can google GTA Forte II to check it out but please note that I never suggest that anyone go off their medications. I have my blood work done by my FM doctor to keep an eye on it. Always check with your doctor. For me personally that means one that focuses on Functional Medicine, wellness, nutrition, holistic medicine and not prescription drugs.

Now shopping and cooking is a total breeze! I love cooking, it’s like therapy and really relaxes me. When stressed I’ll go in the kitchen and whip something up and the stress starts to melt away. Going out to eat at restaurants, pot lucks at church, traveling and visiting family is so much easier too. People’s looks or remarks just roll off my back like water on a duck! I’m not so defensive anymore like I used to be when someone, especially family says something smarty pants or gives me the look. You know… the look like we gfree people are weird or so deprived because we don’t eat wheat?!

I’ve developed Rhino skin so they can kiss my grits!

I use the Find Me Gluten Free APP when traveling and google everywhere we’ll be to find places I can eat safely because when I find myself in a pickle, like a place I haven’t eaten at I panic just a bit, so I really try to be prepared now. If it’s somewhere I haven’t eaten before I get just a little uptight, nowhere near like I used to but still just a bit outside my comfort zone.

I carry my foodie bag when we travel by car or plane with stuff we can eat. We never have to stop on road trips because I bring plenty of food. My husband eats gluten free too because that’s how I roll. My kitchen is 100% gluten free. I never eat wheat on purpose but have gotten contaminated several times when eating away from home. He still gives me crap when I do something stupid like eat somewhere when I know better! He knows because I’m in the bathroom most of the night! Probably too because I binged on corn too long or too much sugar!

Or the time I ordered a bloody mary at a restaurant when we were out of town and the next day flying back to Texas from Maryland I had a migraine so bad I threw up three times on the plane and on the way to baggage claim I just slumped down on the floor too sick to walk. Thank God he was with me because no one even noticed I was sick! When we got home and I was feeling better I checked the bloody mary mixes at our grocery store and YEP there it was on the label – WHEAT!! Lesson learned!! Suffice it to say I’ll not do that again!

Even both our sons love when I cook for them! It took some time to learn how to cook great tasting food and develop these habits but now it’s just my life. I love cooking for others, hacking recipes I see on cooking shows and sharing them on my blog. I’ve learned that I can hack just about anything gluten/wheat free. The only thing I haven’t made is pastry dough because that’s so labor intensive. I have however found a local place that is totally dedicated gluten free and they do pastry and cinnamon rolls. I haven’t tried their food yet but plan to and do a review on my blog. I’ve even hacked some of the fast food place stuff to be gluten free and much healthier. Even Chinese and grain free ==> Chick-Fil-a nuggets!

This is just my personal journey of how I was able to find my way back to being well and living my life with purpose! If sharing my story helps, blesses and encourages someone else then that’s a good thing in my book!  Never Give Up!

Living Life With Purpose!

For more information and resources, visit me over at ==>GlutenFreeLady