November 26, 2018 is the day everything changed in our house. I guess I should go back a few months and lead you into what happened.
My daughter Bailey has always had a sensitive stomach. We figured out at a young age that anything with milk or soy in it did not agree with her. She switched over to almond milk and just ate cheese and things in moderation. She also has very sensitive skin. Her eczema is so bad behind her ears from time to time it cracks and bleeds. We never can get it to clear, but we can keep it under control.
Now this year BAiley's stomach problems started to increase. To the point, it was affecting school and dance. She had started randomly vomiting and following the episode was perfectly fine. She would have to make frantic trips to the bathroom. Finally, after a Saturday afternoon of her in tears, I called the doctor to get things figured out.
The doctor went through her history all the way back and decided she may have what is called abdominal migraines (yes this is a thing I was lost at first too). So she prescribed some medication and said come back in a month.
A month went by and nothing changed. She called in a second opinion and they decided to run some blood work and stool panels. They would check her stools for anything abnormal and her blood for IBS and Celiac's. A week later they called and said the IBS was normal. I asked about the Celiac's and d she said there was no note on it so it must be normal too.
Another week went by, it was / now, my phone rang and I saw it was the doctor's office. I figured to call and ask about the stool panel but was wrong. The nurse said we need you back in the office Bailey has tested positive for CEliac's disease.
This phone call changed everything as we knew it. Shocking, yes, but we finally had a concrete answer as to what was wrong with Bailey.
I did a little research to find out a little about it and found out is genetic. I started to think about myself and all the issues I have had with my stomach. My childhood mimics Baileys' with unknown belly aches and spending hours in the bathroom and random episodes of vomiting that all have continued into my adulthood. I had just learned to live with it because back when I was a kid they did not test for stuff like this.
Once at the doctor's office, we found out that our doctors mother also had Celiac's and we were going to be in amazing hands. We also talked about the genetic factor of it and my history and that I most likely had it as well. So it was decided Bailey and I would have to go gluten-free for the rest of our lives. Not a week, not a month, but forever. This is an autoimmune disease that does not go away.
I decided to put our journey into writing. Maybe this blog will help others. I will go into more details on symptoms, foods we like, and ones we don't. I will put our journey in writing in hopes of education and helping others.
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