Gluten Free Time Traveller

by Gae
(Nelson)

What a year this has been. This time last year I was getting ready for a trip of a lifetime - two wonderful months exploring Europe.

I had dosed myself up with all sorts of healthy immune defense as long plane trips don't agree with me and I have nearly always ended up with an extremely bad chest infection and a trip to the local hospital for an antibiotic.

This time as no exception and a London hospital was a first on our sightseeing list.

A couple of days before this we had relaxed at a little pub and I had a "Guinness" - bad move as this caused me some rushed trips to the loo. I didn't really think anymore of this and over the next couple of months travel had another couple of bouts.

It was very hot and a cold beer, most unusual for me to drink this, went down well. Food was ok as we normally had a cooked breakfast, fruit for lunch, and fish or meat and vege or salad for dinner. Nothing really fancy at all which I now know was great for me as I could have had a lot more bother trying to find the local loos.

However, all good things come to an end and we headed home again. Things started to get worse, I felt tired and grotty, aching back and legs, and trips to the loo several times a day became the norm.

When I reached the stage of not being able to leave the house unless I knew there would be a toilet close by I thought I had better visit my doctor. His focus was more on what nasty bug I could have picked up in my travels and I was tested for all of these things, plus put on some pills to try and kill whatever was affecting me.

My now almost nine miserable months had past and just a month ago, after a miserable week, and one particularly bad bout I analysed what I had eaten.

This was only soup for a couple of days, home made but with a packet of mix added. I suddenly realised that "GLUTEN" just may be my problem. Back to the doctor and a request for a blood test.

This came back negative but tomorrow I have a visit to a specialist.

I then went 'gluten free' for three weeks. What an amazing difference. It did take a few days to settle down but only needed to make a once a day visit to the toilet.

To prove a point, last weekend I ate at a chinese restaurant and also a piece of home-made fruitcake. It didn't take long for my lower back to ache and my legs to feel like they were fizzing, not to mention the loo visits of course.

Whatever the specialist has to say tomorrow I know that I will be staying 'gluten free'.