Gut Busting - The Mystery of the Undigested Lettuce

I've been off of wheat for almost 3 consecutive years. I have known that I have an issue with wheat for almost a decade, but it wasn't until I really felt crappy that I decided to go wheat free. I've also had issues with my Thyroid. I have always been low on energy with a feeling of constant lethargy. I always thought it was because I was lazy. When I stopped eating wheat I started feeling better. It helped with my bloating and gaseousness. And I felt less pain in my joints. But after 3 years my energy levels were still very low and my digestive tract seemed to be revolting against me.

After a lengthy discussion with my hubby about my inability to digest lettuce (which I thought was a universal problem, just like corn) I decided to Google it. I googled whether or not lettuce is hard to digest. Well, to my dismay I found out my hubby was right, most people do digest lettuce just fine. But those with IBS and other gut issues tend to have a problem processing the leafy roughage. This led me to a site called SCD Lifestyle. It's definitely a monetized site, with e-books and personalized treatment strategies, but the few articles I read got me interested in the SCD Diet.

I looked up various pins on Pinterest with recipes, and I looked at different blogs sharing recipes. I found the Breaking the Vicious Cycle web site and looked over the list of legal and illegal foods. Then I thought to myself, I need to try this. This is for me. Maybe I can actually start to feel like a human again.

But first... I need to do a gluten test and get blood work done.* So I did. I ate my heart out for 2 months. I ate donuts, bavarian cream to be exact. Pizza and beer. Bagels in NYC. More beer, and chocolate cake. Then more beer. I really missed drinking beer. And I thought to myself if I test positive for Celiac, I'm never going to be able to drink a real beer again! After feeling like crap for the two months of the test and having absolutely no energy I finally went in for my blood test. Not only did the Doc test me for Celiac disease, he ran an allergy panel and he tested my thyroid. A week later I called for my results... (To be continued when I feel like typing some more)

*From my research I realized that an earlier test that I had taken for Celiac's disease was probably not accurate since I had not eaten wheat for a year. My current doctor informed me that I would need to eat wheat for at least 6-8 weeks prior to the test for a more accurate test. The testing for Celiac isn't the most reliable, but it does help things if you eat wheat before you go in. Most of what I could find said to eat 4-6 servings a day for the 6-8 weeks. No wonder I felt so badly!