Gluten-Free: Seeing the Benefits

I have found it amazing that my mental energy seems to be through the roof these past couple of days. If it weren't for some slight stomach soreness, I'd be buzzing around the house like I'm on some kind of caffeine high. Is mental clarity a benefit of a gluten-free diet?

I'd also like to say I'm in a much better mood because I have been so irritable in the past (attributing it to stress and age-related problems). Perhaps my mood is elevated because I am finally feeling like I might have some answers. Or perhaps it is because I am not feeling sick and miserable and like my life is coming back, little by little.... or maybe I never really had control of my health in the first place, and so this is a new feeling. For lack of a better description, my insides feel like they are at peace.

The more I have researched Celiac Disease, the more various little bits of information throughout my life are beginning to fit into the picture. When I was a child, for example, I was always the scrawny one in my class. I was so skinny, I was usually one of the smallest. I was horrible at P.E. and the last picked for any team, because I had no muscular strength. I was not only the scrawniest kid, but also the weakest kid-- so much so, that my classmates often poked fun at me.

As a young adult, I was always told that my skin problems were a vitamin deficiency-- the skin on my fingertips would peel, or there would be some sort of rash on my arms or legs. I went to a dermatologist once to get a definitive answer once and for all. He came in to the room greatly bothered for some reason or other, took one look at my fingers, and said "wear gloves" and left.

During my pregnancies I was always on prenatal vitamins, but still had trouble keeping my iron levels up. And at my post-pregnancy checkups, I was told to continue vitamin supplements because I apparently still needed the folate and the iron. One doctor retested my levels and asked if I was taking supplements. When I told him yes, he told me to go back on prenatal vitamins because they were in larger amounts. Over the years, I have been told from one doctor to another to take iron supplements. To the best of my knowledge, I have not been tested for other vitamin deficiencies.

Some may wonder, what are you going to do if you get tested and it turns out you don't have CD? Well all I can say is that I know what works for me at this time in my life, and that is a gluten-free diet. Perhaps it is simply an allergy to wheat: the treatment is pretty much the same-- going gluten-free. If it is another kind of stomach disorder, at least I still know what makes it feel better-- at least for now. And I will continue my daily life, one ailment or symptom at a time, just as I always have in the past. I've always believed we must learn from our life, and live. Look for the bright spots, no matter how small.