Something that may help FM pain
Have you ever been tested for Celiac Disease? I urge you to get tested ASAP, as many seemingly unrelated health conditions (Obesity, PCOS, Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Diabetes, acne, depression, arthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, just to name a few) can be caused by undiagnosed/untreated CD (researchers have found a compelling link between Diabetes I and CD). CD is a malabsorptive condition, and up to 40% of people who are diagnosed with CD are overweight, with 30% of that number being morbidly obese (this goes against what the medical community has been taught).
If you have CD (or Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity) and you go on a Gluten-Free (GF) diet, you will more than likely find that the pounds start to fall off without you doing anything other than eliminating gluten from your diet. Incidentally, a GF diet is MUCH easier to follow than Atkins, as it is much less restrictive on carbs - the gluten-containing carbs seem to be the ones that give people the most trouble. Many people find great relief from their FM pain when they go on a GF diet.
I know about CD because our youngest daughter was diagnosed with it last April (she had NO symptoms, it was picked up on a routine blood screening for kids with Down syndrome). Since then, I have been on a GF diet and have dropped from 275 lbs. to 237 lbs. while eating all of the foods that I love. It is, without a doubt, the EASIEST "diet" that I have ever been on! The other benefit that I have found - quite unexpectedly - is that ALL of my bloodwork numbers have improved, the arthritis in my knee disappeared within 24 hours of going GF, and I have more energy than I did when I was a teenager. The reason that all of this wonderful stuff happened is that for the first time in a long time my body was absorbing ALL of the nutrients that I ingested - it's that simple.
You may want to try a gluten-free diet for a while and see what happens. I have been amazed at our family's results over the past 10 months. Best of all, it doesn't "feel" like a diet at all! Some people who have excess weight have Celiac Disease and don't know it. There is a blood test that can be run, but if you don't have any other health issues, it is possible that you are just gluten sensitive.
The reality is that SO many more people are Gluten-Sensitive than have actual CD, but a person has to have a CD screen run first to determine if they do, indeed, have it. Only 3% of people who have CD actually know that they have it, yet almost 1% of the general population is believed to have it. That's a
If you go to www.celiac.com , there is a link there which lists all of the health conditions which are known and suspected to be associated with untreated Celiac Disease. If you have 2 or more of those conditions, you are more likely to have CD. Many people have their blood tests come back negative for CD, yet they still have problems, so they try a Gluten-Free diet. If their symptoms clear up, they can safely assume that they are gluten sensitive.
The best thing about the GF diet is that we have been able to eat ALL of the foods that we love - REAL ranch dressing, baked potatoes with butter, sour cream, and cheese, Snickers bars, ice cream, chicken-fried steak with gravy, etc. - the only difference is that the flours that we use when cooking are gluten free (you can find these in many different stores or online). We have been eating "full" fat foods (real butter, sour cream, cheese, etc.) and have actually lost weight and seen our bloodwork numbers come down significantly. My doctor (PCP) was skeptical, but the results don't lie, and now she is looking into the GF lifestyle as "the way to go" for all of her patients!
I don't know where you live, but chances are that you have a Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) chapter nearby. They can be a wonderful source of information, and most GIG's offer a Restaurant Guide that tells you what is "safe" at various restaurants. Now, be aware that if you want to have the same results as we have, you CANNOT eat any gluten whatsoever - there is no such thing as "gluten lite"......
My suggestion would be to request your doctor to run a Celiac Screen Panel and/or HLA Typing for Celiac Disease test on you, and then do a "trial" GF diet. You will want to do it for at least a couple of weeks, preferably for a month. Don't be discouraged if your weight "yo-yos", because what will be happening is that your body will be converting fat cells into muscle, and muscle mass weighs more. The weight loss will be slow, but it will be steady over time. I have "lost" 5 pounds, then "regained" a couple of pounds back over and over due to this process, but the net result has been a 37 pound loss over a period of 10 months. I would probably have lost more, but I like to drink Cokes, and I don't like to exercise.......
Some of the complications that I have read about several years after surgery sound EXACTLY like the conditions that are seen in people with untreated CD - it can't be a coincidence that both situations involve malabsorption. The main difference is that one of them (CD) is very treatable. Even with a reversal, someone who has had WLS will NEVER get all of their intestinal tract back, so there will always be some form of malabsorption - not something I want to do at all......
One other website that you may want to check out is www.junkfoodscience.blogspot.com - a whole lot of food myths are debunked there, including the one about dietary fat causing heart disease. There are LOTS of interesting articles on that site that you may find very interesting; I know I did!
CD is a genetically linked condition, and first-degree relatives are at a significantly higher risk of developing CD. If you do, indeed, have CD, the LAST thing that you want to do is have Weight Loss Surgery! You would be piling a treatable form of malabsorption (CD) on top of a surgically-induced form of malabsorption (WLS). However, if you have already had WLS, you may still find some relief on a gluten-free diet. Good luck, and please keep me updated! I am always available to answer questions. PM me, and I will send you my contact information –
Links to Obesity/CD Related Articles:
Obesity, Overweight & Celiac Disease
Link to Essay about Gluten Sensitivity: (This is EXTREMELY informative!)
http://www.baumancollege.org/pdfs/articles/Gluten_Sensitivit y.pdf
Link to Celiac Disease / Gluten Sensitivity Symptoms:
http://www.celiac.com/articles/1106/1/Celiac-Disease-Symptom s/Page1.html
Teresa Koch
It is funny that you mentioned itching when you eat wheat. I realized that I had what is known as Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH), which is the "skin" manifestation of Celiac Disease. I had an odd rash that had my doctors stumped because it didn't "follow" any of the known skin conditions. Most people with DH have terrible itching - my lesions only itched when they first formed; after that, they just wouldn't go away.
I have found since eliminating gluten from my diet that I can ALWAYS tell when I have accidentally gotten hold of it - I itch! Since I, too, tested negative for Celiac Disease, I thought I didn't have it. However, if a person has DH, they AUTOMATICALLY have Celiac Disease - about 10% of DH patients will have negative bloodwork!
You will want to be sure and let your doctor know about this, and you should have a genetic test to see if you carry one of the genes which are associated with CD. If you do, you will probably want to just assume that you have DH. You may also just want to be on the safe side and go ahead and eliminate gluten from your diet. You can go to www.celiac.com - there are articles about DH, as well as forum topics dedicated solely to DH. There are a lot of articles on the Internet, as well.
I would say "sorry", but it sounds like you are already doing well on a "Gluten Lite" regimen - it shouldn't be too difficult to go completely gluten-free from here.
If you do, indeed, find out that you carry a CD gene, you ABSOLUTELY MUST have the rest of your family tested for these GENES as well. The test you will want to request is HLA Typing for Celiac Disease - it will let them know if they carry the gene. They may want to request the Celiac Screening Panel as well, just to know if they are producing antibodies to gliadin and/or tTG. They can probably request these from their family doctor; there shouldn't be a problem "justifying" this request if you have a "confirmed" case of DH. If you are interested in finding a GI doctor who is knowledgeable about CD, you can probably find recommendations through their local Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) chapter.
Hope this helps!
Teresa K.
i know what you mean about your daughter - my oldest is 22, and doesn't want to hear any more about gluten! You may find it helpful to search the Internet for "Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity" - NCGS will cause many of the same health conditions as CD, just without the auto-immune component. The malabsorption that is caused by both conditions is what ultimately leads to those health conditions.
It sounds like you do well when you don't eat gluten, so you may have NCGS. But, yeah, just keep the stuff that you find available for your daughter - one of these days these 20-year-old know-it-alls that we have given birth to might just figure out that the "old bats" actually KNOW what they are talking about......
Have a wonderful weekend,
Teresa K.
