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"True friends accept us for the good the bad and sometimes even the ugly"

This blog is intended to be a place where i can vent about how many things in this world are making us all sick or killing us. Especially Gluten! 

I am going to share with you the different diseases i am currently dealing with, how i came to find out i had them and what research i did and am still doing to deal with them.  If you haven't noticed from the tabs one of the big ones is Celiac Disease.  The other sicknesses i am dealing with i believe stem from there.  

I'm hoping that this blog can be helpful to others who are tired of being sick either from gluten issues, Celiac Disease or even from all the chemicals, genetically modified foods, pesticides, off gassing of products etc.  You will come to find that people with Celiac Disease are often very sensitive or intolerant to chemicals and pollution around us.  I want people to learn from my experience and hopefully help them to become more aware of what could be causing some of their issues.  I'm hoping that i can share some products that have helped me and that may be of some help to you.    

I want this to be a place to help others that are tired of being judged for their illnesses instead of being looked at for their good and useful qualities.  I want to help all those that feel frustrated by losing friends because of their having to eat differently or avoid chemicals or because they have to avoid fragrances etc.  Although things may be killing us literally or figuratively this place should be an encouraging  place to come and let it all out but also to be positive because although we may be sick we can live rich and fulfilling lives, especially with the help of our understanding friends.  I'll share solutions and suggestions and ideas that i've learned from others as well.  I find this is cheaper than therapy and in some instances, not all,  maybe even more helpful. lol

Why should we have to feel like outsiders because we want to be healthy or because our bodies demand us to be healthy?  Why should we feel bad or hesitant when we have to ask our friends or family if they have something we can eat that doesn't contain gluten?  Or when we have to ask them exactly how they cooked it and with what?  Why should we feel guilty when we have to ask our friends and associates to avoid wearing perfume/cologne or smelly lotions and hair gel when they're around us?  Why do we have to put up with these things just to keep our friendships in tact, in order not to offend, or just so that we don't have to be talked about behind our backs and judged by them.  Then later we suffer the consequences of stomach pain,diarrhea, rashes, headaches, nausea, itchy watery eyes, body aches, exhaustion etc. Meanwhile they go on their merry way feeling great and then they wonder about us, "Whats wrong with them?"  "Oh they don't feel good, again?" not realizing their insensitivity helped to cause or exacerbate our symptoms. ugh!

So i hope this becomes a place where you and i can go to get away from all the ignorance and judgement in the world and we can learn from one anothers diseases.  We can learn not only how to get by but how we can cope and be happy and healthy.  I hope that you can learn from my disease and from my research and as i help you by relating my experience I'll be helping myself as well.  

Feel free to subscribe and  remember:  Different can be beautiful! Information can be empowering! Let's make a difference!

Just a side note:  blogging is new to me so please, be patient with me.  Thanks!

Disclaimer:  I am in no way a doctor or homeopath.  None of the information on this site is intended to diagnose or prescribe.  Any suggestions of products are all from my own experience and may not give you the same results.  You know your own body so use any supplement etc. at your own risk.  Always discuss with your physician any supplement, medication, diet or exercise regimen you begin.  If you have any need for medical attention seek out help from a medical professional as soon as possible. This site is just for informational purposes only always double check any and all information either by your own research or by contacting and checking it with your own physician or homeopath.  

About Me

Hooch & Bruiser  "Best Friends"

Let me introduce myself.  I'm Zetty and I'm 37 years old and i have a supportive and loving husband. We have no children unless you count our furry babies then we have two.  I have a 10 year old Chocolate Lab and a 9 year old English Bulldog.  My Chocolate Lab Hooch is dealing with cancer.  We just found out about 6 months ago and because of his age and because of our money having to take priority to my doctor bills we are doing everything possible to give him a comfortable life and treat him homeopathically.  He's hanging in there and I'm thankful for him everyday.  His brother Bruiser also loves him very much and stays very close to him.  I actually think they give each other the strength to keep going.  It's one day at a time for all of us.  

We currently live in Southern New Jersey near the shore but soon hope to move back to my home state of Ohio.  I seem to feel better there because it seems I'm not allergic to every single thing there.    

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, fibromyalgia, type II diabetes, thyroid nodules and now I seem to have developed a multiple chemical sensitivity.  I've always been a sickly type of person which i have learned goes along with the Celiac Disease but i've never had so many issues.  It seems that the Celiac going undiagnosed for so long caused a lot of these other problems.  I've had to change my diet, my bath and body products and even my husbands products just to survive. This has caused a lot of tension between me and my friends, family and associates.  Not everyone understands what the world around us is doing to us even killing us and most of them even if they do understand don't want to know or even think about it.  How sad.  If this blog helps educate, open one persons mind to the dangers that lurk all around us, if it helps to improve even one persons life just a little bit or give someone that little bit of relief be it mentally or physically, then its worth it to me.  

I am hoping to share my experiences with health and chemical exposure and how i've dealt with judgmental family and friends here on this blog.  I'm hoping to share the products i use and tips that i've discovered that have helped me and hopefully they will help you too! Please feel free to comment on any products that have improved your life as well and any tips that you feel may help someone else.  Here we go! 

Celiac Disease Issues & Helpful Tips

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2010.  I had seen seven doctors over the span of seven years. Finally i found a doctor who actually listened and cared enough to ask questions.  After a blood test and a Gene test performed by the Jefferson University Celiac Center in Philadelphia we discovered that i had this auto immune disorder called Celiac Disease.  

At first my family members seemed to be very supportive.  They were happy that i found the cause to why i was so ill and why i had lost so much weight.  This also explained my mood swings, constant exhaustion and skin rashes.  It seemed to be all good for awhile that is until i didn't get better as soon as i started eliminating gluten from my diet.  Everyone who was supportive thought i had to be doing something wrong or that i must not have Celiac because they knew others that had gotten better "right away".  They forget or just didn't realize that everyone is different and our body's react differently to things.  Another thing that i started to realize is that no one seemed to understand the difference between an auto immune disorder and a gluten allergy.  

An autoimmune disorder may affect one or more organs or tissue types. Organs and tissues commonly affected by autoimmune disorders:

• Blood vessels
• Connective tissues
• Endocrine glands like the thyroid or pancreas
• Joints
• Muscles
• Red blood cells
• Skin

Symptoms that often occur with autoimmune diseases:

• Fatigue
• Fever
• General ill-feeling

An allergy is an immune response or reaction to substances that are usually not harmful.   An allergy is not usually inherited where as auto immune disorders are.  However, if both your parents have allergies, you are also likely to have allergies.  You have a greater chance if your mother has allergies.  

There was a study done to define the difference between Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity.  According to the results, individuals with gluten sensitivity showed no signs of intestinal damage or increased permeability, but showed an increase in an innate immunity marker. This is different from the immune response seen in celiac disease, which is noted by an increase in an adaptive immune marker. Among gluten sensitive participants, this adaptive immune marker was lower than the level found in participants with celiac.

Researchers concluded that celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are “different clinical entities,” marked by unique immune responses.  I quoted this information about this study from the NFCA so that i would be sure not to get it wrong. The article is very informative i encourage you to check it out at www.celiaccentral.org.

So for all those family and friends who think you just have to go gluten free and you'll be miraculously feeling great.  It doesn't work that way.  We ask you to please be understanding and patient with us and to understand that we are doing all that we can.  The research that we are doing and all the information we're gathering about our condition isn't because we are hypochondriacs or because we are obsessing or even because we want to draw attention to ourselves.  We are doing the research because we are trying to survive and being informed is vital to us in order for us to live a healthy normal life.  We are trying to do everything possible to make our lives better and in effect you will benefit as well.  Please keep these things in mind next time you want to make a comment that you may feel is supportive but actually comes across as patronizing, unfeeling or just not so understanding.  

Ok, back to the research i did on this disease to learn as much as i could about it.  I found out what the best things to eat were and the not so good things.  I found many companies that were making gluten free foods and found many other people that were discovering that although they didnt have Celiac they did have a gluten sensitivity of some kind.  

This made me start questioning why?  Why are we having such a problem with gluten? First let me back up a bit.   For those of you who may be new to gluten issues you may be asking:  What is gluten?  

Gluten is a protein found in Wheat, Barley, Rye, Spelt and although not found in Oats they are often cross-contaminted with wheat because of them being grown in and around the same area as wheat. Oats also seem to contain a specific protein that Celiacs may find themselves having a problem with because it acts similar to the protein gluten.  

Now, as i did more and more research i started seeing that genetic engineering and hybridized food has caused us so many issues.  Let's take wheat for example.  Seeing as were talking about Celiac it only seems fitting.   Something that i have learned about wheat and something that doctors are finally starting to realize is that wheat is not good for anyone really. Whether you want to believe it or not. This could be why people may still feel crappy even though they are "eating healthy" by switching to wheat products. 

We can't properly digest it wheat.  Why not?  Back in the 1950's scientists began cross-breeding wheat in order to make it hardier, shorter and better growing.  Todays hybridized wheat contains a toxin called sodium azide.  I don't know about you but i get contaminated by enough toxins on a daily basis, why do i have to get it in my foods too?  Todays wheat even goes through a gamma irradiation process during manufacturing.  The hybridized wheat we eat today also contains proteins that aren't found in the plant or the parent and unfortunately for us it's very difficult to digest these, we just don't have the proper enzymes. Now some scientists are saying that gluten and other compounds found in todays wheat could be responsible for the rise in celiac disease and gluten intolerance and sensitivities in people in general.  That's just great!! 

All of this knowledge plus way more made me realize that we're screwing up our bodies and the damage that is being done in many cases is irreversible.  Ugh!  So, what to do? what to do?  Well, we have to learn how and what to eat.  (That's a subject for another time though).

Look for my article:  What foods are safe?  Why aren't all gluten free foods safe for us? coming soon.  

Celiac Disease Signs & Symptoms

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First let's start by defining what Celiac disease is:  

It is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.   Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barely, rye, spelt and sometimes oats can be cross-contaminated with gluten from being grown near wheat fields. When eating foods containing gluten our immune system responds by damaging the small intestine.   It does this by damaging the villi contained within the intestinal wall.  Think of them like little hairs that normally stand straight up and absorb the nutrients released from our food and then send the nutrients into the bloodstream.  

In the case of Celiac disease though, when gluten enters the body the body goes on high alert and attacks in order to save itself.  Unfortunately what it's actually doing is attacking itself, damaging those beautiful hard working villi.  Sometimes they become completely destroyed (this happens more when there has been very long term damage) other times the villi is damaged.  Those hairlike structures that normally start to stand straight up start folding over and not working properly.  The tips of those hairlike villi are also responsible for absorbing dairy and when damaged they can't do it anymore, and we wonder why many of us have dairy issues.  The damage to these villi also cause a person to become malnourished regardless of the quantity of food eaten.  We can seem soo hungry all the time but not feel well, have no energy, even not gain weight although we eat as much as we can, and this can all be from malnourishment.  Of course there are many other factors that help to cause many of those symptoms but a lot of it is from this. 

The damage done to our intestine can take a long while to heal in some cases up to two years unfortunately.  Something to keep in mind though is to remember that this damage in most cases has taken place over many years, so it stands to reason it would take a long while to heal.  Thankfully starting to eat gluten free gets you on your way to recovery.  As you deal with this disease you will see that being that this is an autoimmune disorder and the fact that we are all different, healing differs from one individual to the next.  Some may begin to heal more quickly and others will find that there has been damage to other organs in the body and enzymes that have been destroyed.   Which will take some more time and patience on our part and our physicians part to figure out just what else has gone wrong and how to begin to fix it.   This is especially when it is helpful to have support from our family and friends. Going through this is very difficult for the one suffering all of the symptoms below.  It affects our moods, energy and even zest for life at times.  We need to have patience with ourselves.  Our family and friends need to be patient, kind, loving and understanding with us.  Be our cheerleaders not mockers or murmerers.  Being supportive of your loved ones situation goes a long way in their healing process, it's important to recognize this.  More on support in a later post.

The body’s own immune system causes the damage in celiac disease because of this it is considered an autoimmune disorder. It is also classified as a disease of malabsorption because nutrients are not absorbed. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy.

This disease is considered a genetic disease.  It can be inherited from parents either one or both.  The gene can lay dormant for years and then suddenly be triggered or become active for the first time after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection or severe emotional stress.

Being that this disease is considered a genetic disease it is important that if you or a family member has been diagnosed your other family members, especially immediate family, should most definitley get checked for it as well.  

Celiac Disease Symptoms 

This list can also be found on the celiac.org website.  There is said to be at least 300 or more symptoms to this disease.  Even with all of that there are still some people who suffer from this disease and never have one of these symptoms.  

SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE:

• Abdominal cramping, intestinal gas
• Acid Reflux
• Distention and bloating of the stomach
• Chronic diarrhea or constipation (or both) (they may misdiagnose you with IBS)
• Fatty stools
• Anemia 
• Unexplained weight loss with large appetite (In my case this was when i had become so sick i was malnourished) or weight gain (In my case this seemed to happen when the disease became active)

OTHER SYMPTOMS:

• Dental enamel defects
• Osteopenia (another thing i developed from malnourishment and possibly from thyroid med they put me on), osteoporosis
• Bone or joint pain (they may try and misdiagnose you with fibromyalgia)
• Fatigue, weakness and lack of energy (they may misdiagnose you with chronic fatigue)
• Infertility – male/female
• Depression (they may say your bi-polar or just chronically depressed and treat with meds)
• Mouth ulcers
• Delayed puberty 
• Tingling or numbness in hands or feet (they may try and say you have carpal tunnel)
• Migraine headaches 

SOME LONG-TERM CONDITIONS THAT CAN RESULT IF LEFT UNTREATED:

• Iron deficiency anemia
• Early onset osteoporosis or osteopenia
• Vitamin K deficiency
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
• Central and peripheral nervous system disorders - usually because of unsuspected nutrient deficiencies
• Pancreatic insufficiency (many of us have diabetes type I or II)
• Intestinal lymphomas and other GI cancers (malignancies)- This alone should warrant further looking into!
• Gall bladder problems
• Neurological problems

I had many of these symptoms throughout the seven years that I sought out help from different doctors. I especially suffered from horrible worsening acid reflux and doctors fixed this nasty little symptom by more and more antacids that just made matters worse by blocking my very much needed B vitamins. UGH. 

None of them ever put it together that I had Celiac.  Instead they treated the symptoms as they often do. Make sure when seeking out medical help that you are thorough when explaining your symptoms and make sure that they look at you as a whole person and not as parts.  Ask for a Celiac Sprue blood test, check out my page with specific blood tests to ask for.  If your doctor doesn't listen to your requests or concerns, FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR WHO DOES.  DO NOT GIVE UP.  THIS LITERALLY CAN MEAN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR LIFE AND DEATH!

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