A few days ago I got really fed up. I have and have had severe acne since I was 16, I've been chronically underweight at 125lbs at 5'11". I've tried everything, from intense workouts, to eating 4 sandwiches in a meal (every meal was that size for months). I convinced myself that I just had bad skin, a high metabolism, that I must be normal.
I went vegetarian 5 years ago and my acne cleared up slightly, but it was around the same time I went on Proactiv. My skin never completely cleared up, and I had frequent outbreaks. I've been endlessly frustrated by everything because I do yoga 5 days a week, I eat healthy, but my skin/weight never improve. The other day a thought popped into my head, maybe I have a problem with gluten. It was then that I found the Celiac information and things started clicking together.
I read about how Celiac can happen in anyone, and typically activates during a stressful period in life. When I was 14 my parents got divorced, and I think that's when it started. My wife and I started pouring through pictures together, and what looked like a completely healthy, although thin, 13 year old begins to transform into a pale, skinny, tired-looking 14-16 year old. To top this off, my hair began to recede at 16.
We charted out my symptoms as follows:
- Severe Acne
- Underweight
- Canker Sores
- Undigested Food in Stool
- Blurred Vision in left eye (progressively worse since I was 22 or so, I think it's the toxins from the gluten)
- Hair Loss
- Excessive Thirst
- Dark Circles Under Eyes
- Fatigue
- Dermatitis Hepaformis (winter rash all over my legs)
Piecing all of this together, I decided to try going gluten-free right away. My wife has already planned to make veggie chili that evening, so we had that and I had eggs with veggies and banana/juice for breakfast. I got ridiculously hungry! It was as if someone had opened the floodgates and my body said FEED ME. I also got a headache all night. Today it was just as bad, I woke up famished and had to eat right away, and I continued to eat all day. I'm just glad we're vegetarian and had quite a few items already gluten-free.
Around 1pm my wife went to the health food store and got some liquid vitamins (to help detox) and some extra gluten-free foods. Well, we were eating some crackers/humus and we paused to take some liquid vitamins. I sat down, continued about my business, then got up to get some water. I'm still feeling a bit off at this point. Then, a flash of energy, and my entire face starts tingling and burning! I looked in the mirror and my face was completely red. I then took a look at my hands and they were red, as well as my joints. My wife made me strip and every joint was red and tingling. It was as if the blood had rushed to my injured body and began to work immediately.
The redness faded after 10 minutes or so, but my joints continue to have a dull ache as if my body is actively working on them. Also, after a slight stomach ache, my hunger subsided completely! I ate dinner and got full much sooner than earlier. It was amazing! I feel like my body is in the healing stages now, but just knowing that this is almost definitely my problem is so fantastic. I only wish this illness could be more easily diagnosed, as it could have saved me 10 years of misery.