Gluten intolerance / Celiac disease

So I thought I should do an update on my last post about the Gluten Free lifestyle I was hoping was going to sort out my stomach issues, I wanted to leave it a few weeks before updating because I wanted to know the results were consistent and not just a day relief.
The effects of cutting out Gluten were not as instant as I had thought they would be but there is no denying that cutting out Gluten has definitely helped to sort out my health issues.
My stomach has finally deflated and I cannot express just how bloody lovely it is to not look and feel 9 months pregnant every single day.
The pain in my stomach has gone completely and again I think only other sufferers would truly understand the relief I speak of.
My energy levels while not through the roof have definitely increased and I can actually think straight now - my mind does not always feel dead.
But the thing I've noticed the most and am hoping and praying that it's not a fluke and will return is that my depression has lifted. It's bizarre to think that a Gluten Free diet could do that but it looks like it has. I actually wake up and look forward to the day now whereas I used to dread it.
Don't get me wrong I still have Narcolepsy so I sometimes struggle to get going in the morning and I still need to nap throughout the day but I no longer feel as though my batteries have died by 11am.
Another plus is that I am regular to the toilet - excuse the yuckiness. This has been an issue for me for years and I've switched between needing to take laxatives to needing Immodium for as long as I can remember. I even tried the Colon Cleanse tablets thinking that was the issue and those things are not something I would recommend anyone take unless you can stay at home literally all day and all night - you get my drift.
What I have been taking since day 1 of cutting out Gluten is a probiotic. I did some research and learned all about the damage Gluten intolerance can do to the good bacteria in the gut and the recommendation was a Probiotic that has a minimum of 20billion bacteria.
I chose a product - based on reviews - from Amazon called "Physis Advanced Probiotics" which has 50 billion viable bacteria strains.
It is 100% vegetarian/vegan safe and is Gluten free.
I admit I was sceptical about this Probiotic theory, I mean it made sense but then so did all the other fads I've been tempted by in the past but I am pleased to say this stuff works.
No more laxatives or Immodium for me, this stuff combined with Gluten Free food has sorted out my IBS and I've just ordered my second batch of it. I think I will continue using this for a long time to come.
If you're interested in the product here is the link to the one I bought

Physis Advanced Probiotics

If you have any of the following symptoms and think it could be a Gluten intolerance either go to your doctor (I lost faith in mine so decided to go this alone) and make sure it's not Celiac disease or cut out Gluten from your diet and see if your symptoms improve, but give it time as relief may not be instant.

• bloating or abdominal (stomach) pain
• flatulence and a noisy stomach
• weight loss
• tiredness and fatigue, which may be a sign of iron deficiency anaemia or folate deficiency anaemia
• tingling and numbness in your hands and feet (peripheral neuropathy)
• vomiting (usually only affects children)
• swelling of your hands, feet, arms and legs caused by a build-up of fluid (oedema)
• Dermatitis Herpetiformis - Itchy blisters or bumps on scalp, buttocks, elbows and knees but can present anywhere. (For me I get this along the insides of my fingers and until literally just now I did not realise what it actually was). 

Gluten intolerance

I was diagnosed with Narclepsy approximately 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with IBS before that and Fibromyalgia approximately 12 years ago.
For the past several years I've really battled with depression which I believe manifested in childhood, I've visited the doctor various times about both the depression and severe severe fatigue but I've always been fobbed off with it being a symptom of my conditions blah blah blah. In fact if my doctor has ever offered further advice it's always and only been to lose weight - if I go about fatigue it's "lose weight", headaches? "Lose weight". Joint pain? "Lose weight". I've had blood tests to check iron levels etc which were within range and I've had Cholesterol tests which while were high ("Lose weight) also had high ranges of good cholesterol.
So for years I've accepted this constant fatigue, tiredness, depression and other symptoms as part and parcel of my "conditions" and learned to well......get on I suppose.

For the past couple of years though I have noticed a pattern emerging whenever I eat certain food stuffs. Mainly bread. It seems that whenever I eat bread or pasta I immediately bloat up and get excrutiating stomach pains and if I continue to eat it another day then the fatigue will be so bad I literally cannot think or concentrate - I feel like a zombie.
So recently I decideed to google "why does bread make me bloat" and what I found totally astounded me. I kind of guessed that I must have an intolerance to it but I never knew what this intolerance to the ingredient 'gluten' was actualy doing to my body.
I googled the symptoms of Gluten intolerance. I will list them below and the ones highlighted in red are the ones I suffer pretty much on a daily basis

1. Digestive issues such as gas, bloating, diarrhea and even constipation.
2. Keratosis Pilaris, (also known as 'chicken skin' on the back of your arms). This tends be as a result of a fatty acid deficiency and vitamin A deficiency secondary to fat-malabsorption caused by gluten damaging the gut.
3. Fatigue, brain fog or feeling tired after eating a meal that contains gluten.
4. Diagnosis of an autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Ulcerative colitis, Lupus, Psoriasis, Scleroderma or Multiple sclerosis.
5.  Neurologic symptoms such as dizziness or feeling of being off balance. 
6.  Hormone imbalances such as PMS, PCOS or unexplained infertility. 
7. Migraine headaches.
8. Diagnosis of chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. These diagnoses simply indicate your conventional doctor cannot pin point the cause of your fatigue or pain. 
9. Inflammation, swelling or pain in your joints such as fingers, knees or hips
10. Mood issues such as anxiety, depression, mood swings and ADD.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I see that I can check 8 out of 10 of those symptoms.
Having done further research on symptoms and diagnosis it seems that Gluten intolerance is actually very common and extremely debilitating if a sufferer continues to attack their body with the stuff.
I attempted to read a medical article on the different stages of harm that is inflicted on the adrenal gland of a sufferer but it became a load of mumbo jumbo after about the ninth page.

Further research has me convinced that I definitely have an intolerance to Gluten and quite possibly Dairy and chocolate (judging by the heart palpitations I get after eating it).
I figured I'll just cut out Gluten from my diet and see what happens - easy eh!  Well apparantly not - I was not aware of the amount of foodstuffs that contain Gluten - check it out

	Gluten Free Foods	Foods to check	Gluten Containing Foods
Cereals & Flour	Corn, rice, rice flour, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, teff, quinoa, sorghum, soya flour, potato starch, modified starch, potato flour, gram flour, polenta (cornmeal), sago, tapioca, cassava, urid flour	Some natural grains can be milled with wheat, barley or rye which means they can be contaminated, so check the label. Flavoured savoury rice products, oats.	Wheat, bulgar wheat, durum wheat, wheat bran, wheat rusk, wheat flour, wheat starch, modified wheat starch, wheat protein, rusk, semolina, couscous, barley, barley malt, barley flour, rye, rye flour, triticale, kamut, spelt.
Breads, Cakes & Biscuits	Products specifically labelled as gluten free, including breads, biscuits, crackers, cakes, pizza bases, rolls and flour mixes	Meringues, macaroons	All breads and rolls, chapattis, biscuits, crackers, cakes, pastries, scones, muffins, pizza made from wheat, rye or barley flour
Breakfast cereals	Products specifically labelled as gluten free, including muesli, oats (if tolerated), rice porridge, millet porridge	Buckwheat, corn, malted breakfast cereals, oats not labelled as gluten free.	Wheat-based breakfast cereals
Pasta & Noodles	Corn pasta, rice pasta, gluten free pasta, rice noodles, rice pasta		Canned, dried and fresh wheat noodles and pasta
Fruit & Vegetables	All fresh, frozen, canned and dried pure fruits and vegetables.	Fruit pie fillings, processed vegetables like cauliflower cheese, potato products - oven, microwave and frozen chips, instant mash, waffles	Vegetables and fruit in batter and breadcrumbs or dusted with flour.
Dairy Products	All cheeses, all milk (liquid & dried), all cream (single, double, whipping, clotted, soured and crème fraiche), buttermilk, plain yoghurt, plain fromage frais	Coffee and tea whiteners, oat milk, fruit and flavoured yoghurt/fromage frais, rice milk, soya milk	Milk with added fibre, yoghurt and fromage frais containing muesli or cereals
Meat, fish & eggs	All fresh meats & poultry, smoked meats, cured pure meats, plain cooked meats	Meat pastes, pates, sausages, burgers, if the meat is in a sauce- check the sauce is gluten free!	Meat and poultry cooked in batter or bread crumbs, faggots, rissoles, haggis, breaded ham
Fish & Shellfish	All fresh fish and shellfish, smoked, kippered and dried fish, fish canned in oil or brine	Fish in sauce, fish pastes and pates	Fish in batter or breadcrumbs, fish cakes, taramasalata, fish fingers
Fats & oils	Butter, margarine, lard, cooking oils, ghee, reduced and low-fat spreads	Suet, vegetarian suet
Savoury snacks	Homemade popcorn, rice cakes, rice crackers, gluten free crackers and pretzels. All plain nuts and seeds	Dry roasted nuts, pretzels, potato and vegetable crisps	Snacks made from wheat, rye, barley
Drinks	Tea, coffee, cocoa, fruit juice, squash, clear fizzy drinks, wine, spirits, cider, sherry, port, liquors, gluten free beers, ginger beer	Drinking chocolate, cloudy fizzy drinks, hot chocolate, cola	Malted milk drinks, barely waters/squash, beer, lager, ales, stouts

This is going to be harder than I thought since realising alot of the foods I eat are Gluten rich.
I'm determined to do this though - I am sick and tired of this awful pain and fatigue. Maybe it is even the cause of my Fibromylagia, in which case it may see an improvement there.
I'm quite excited to see how this pans out, today is my first day Gluten free and I'm checking everything I eat because just cutting out the bread and pasta (the food I know causes me inflammation) isn't enough, I have to remove ALL Gluten from my diet - for life!!