How It All Began!

How It All Began!
I'm sure we can all remember the long road to discovering we had a gluten intolerance. The road that was chocked full of misdiagnosis! My story is similar to yours, I am sure.
Truthfully, I can't remember a time I didn't have trouble with my tummy. Sorry if it's "TMI" but if you can relate...long sessions in the bathroom, pain and eventually food aversion! Over time I gained new issues related to my hormone cycle - severe cramping, passing out, nauseousness, and irregular cycles.
I thought this was normal! Can you believe that? My mother had similar problems so I always assumed if it wasn't like that for everyone then it was just the genes I inherited!
The ER visits became quite frequent and were usually followed by antibiotics and a hospital stay. I had ruptured cysts on my ovaries over and over again.
The doctors thought I was faking, my parent's began to believe I was faking and I was starting to wonder what was really wrong with me. Maybe everyone felt this pain but it didn't hurt them like it hurt me. Maybe I had a very low pain tolerance. It was frustrating for me to think that anyone thought I wanted to be sick all the time. Looking back I had a cold all the time as well. At the time, I knew it could have been allergies but I was always told it was a cold. We lived in Beaumont, Texas near refineries so I always assumed the "cold" issues were from pollution.
I went off to college and ended up in the ER over and over again. My mother made me move colleges and go to school closer to her because she just couldn't help take care of me hours away. In the end, I had missed so much school that I had to sit a semester out.
I moved schools to find that it was a commuter school. I wasn't going to make friends without joining a sorority. Yes, I was probably the oldest person going through Sorority Rush but it didn't seem to phase me. During Rush I ended up in the hospital again. I got out just in time to finish up Preference Night.
After joining the sorority, I ended up in the hospital several more times. I had more Laproscopic surgery than anyone should. To be clear, I actually had it done so much that I had to have my belly button worked on the last time to try to get it's normal shape back.
After one laproscope surgery; in which they cleaned up ruptured cysts for the "upteenth" time; I immediately felt the pain again. I insisted that the OB/GYN understand that whatever she kept fixing wasn't the source of my pain. Her husband was a general surgeon so she opened me up once again and WAH LAH! He saw immediately what he assumed was the culprit all along. I had had chronic appendicitis for probably a good eight years.
The appendix was gone but there were more complications. I was diagnosed with Chron's disease. The general surgeon had seen my intestines and called in a GI doctor. So now, I wasn't in pain but I was learning that my bathroom troubles were serious. An illness that there is no cure for and no way to know what the quality of life would be later.
FAST FORWARD...I had children of my own and they have stomach problems. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of tests later, we still don't have an answer.
DING, DING, DING, DING...a friend has been reading about Gluten Sensitivities and and knows the struggles I am having with my son. She gives me a book and I am astounded! Wow! All of the symptoms I have are in the book. All of the symptoms my son has are in the book. Why hasn't this been diagnosed correctly?
EASY...we changed our diets and it changed our lives! 
GIVING BACK...In my readings, I found that 50% off the population is gluten sensitive and doesn't know it. Learning the ropes has been expensive! This blog will give you product reviews, recipes and information all in one place. I welcome your feedback and only ask that you pass on the blog site to others - post it on your Facebook, tweet about it and tell anyone you can. This will allow me to spend the time reviewing the products, trying out new recipes and searching for new information to share!