Celiac and Me

Today, I woke feeling my Celiac Disease at its worst. Which means I feel like shit. Which means I can’t move too good, and my head hurts and is fuzzy and everything hurts, including Liver, Kidneys, and the artery in my left leg. Swelling hands. Joint pain. Nausea and migrainey… and there are pills for all these symptoms, but I still have to eat. lunch. I’m sick of yogurt and shrimp. I ate beef soup with ditalini last night – at Bridget’s..she made her mom’s soup. But I can’t eat gluten. And I hadn’t told her I’m back off the wheat and our dinner was already planned. A bowl of soup. So I ate it. And it was good. And today I woke sick. Really sick. Celiac sick, which is something I KNOW, like I know my name.

Celiac-sick feels like somebody punched you in the stomach. While you are severely hungover. Nothing makes it better really, but time. Time without gluten. Gluten is the protein found in wheat. Which is part of the wheat grain, and in pretty much everything. I was born with Celiac Disease. As soon as I ate cereal as a baby, a wee bairn., which in those days was as an infant. I had failure to thrive, and pneumonia’s (multiple) and a bi-afran-ish-baby belly, with skinny arms and legs. And all I did was cry. The classic celiac-baby. And five years ago I went gluten free, and it was better. So much better. (though I still cry.) And now I’ve been on a gluten-trial, through the doctor's at the Columbia Presbyterian Celiac Center, which means I put gluten back into my diet to prove it exists, which is a torture and ridicilous. and I am really sick from it. So no more. Back to gluten-free-me. But it takes time and planning and people have to know how to feed you and it’s not so easy for some but for me it was fine. Gluten hurt my belly my whole life, and made me feel hypo-glycemic, lightheaded and weird. And I was always skinny and now I'm fat. so back at it.

So no wheat, means a gluten-free diet. Which is really great, and really ok, as long as you embrace the fact that you are essentially cured by this diet. For once and for all. So no beer, no real pizza, no italian bread, no pancakes is a drag, but really…If I could only cure all my pain so easy.

Today at lunch I had Amy’s rice crust pizza which is the best frozen pizza out there. Gluten or no gluten. You can “doctor” it up, as Marylou says, which is what I did. And it’s great.

Amy’s Rice Crust Pizza Dr’d.Up.

Add some fresh mozzarella slices (whole foods) to your liking. Some portabello mushroom slices and a drizzle of olive oil,with a pinch of hot pepper seeds and cook it,at 425degrees for about 23 minutes, until it's crispy and melted. And add some good grated cheese if you want. or Garlic powder. (I bought the new personal pan pizza, which isn’t worth it financially. But was perfectly delicious anyway.)

I feel like I’m hallucinating. Is it the celiac? Or the pills? “I keep seeing a person in my peripheray…am I stoned, or is it a ghost? Or maybe it’s you?”

OK, going to lay down and watch another movie..Oh, I just watched “Juno” a very cute movie that mentiones Patti Simth. But Adoption? I don't get it. hmm. But that’s a dinner conversation.

Buenos Dias.