Thank you for sharing your own health story. I am hearing so many people coming forward these days with grain sensitivity issues. What a relief that you were able to narrow down something that truly has helped you. My belief is that there is just no one fix for all ailments. It takes dedication and perseverance to keep plugging away at different ideas and strategies to see if you can find something that really works for you. It’s pretty shocking that your doctor did not tell you that you were celiac positive 15 years ago. It’s awful to think of the needless suffering you endured because of this and thank goodness you finally found this out. It sounds like all grains are really a problem for you.

I am highly suspicious of much of the hybridization of the grain supply (not to mention genetic modification). It is a very strange thing when so many people whose ancestors built civilizations on grain can now no longer eat these foods. I think something has really gone wrong.

Thanks for mentioning Mutaflor. Sounds worth looking into!

I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed your first visit to VeganReader. Please, come again soon and take care. I am grateful for your personable and caring comments!
Mim

I am especially appreciative knowing what you must have to endure with Crohn’s Disease. I have a veritable collection of autoimmune issues myself, mostly joint-related), but until I gave up grains of all kinds (yup, corn and rice too), I saw no relief from debilitating abdominal pain and its accompanying problems. Interestingly, I was celiac positive 15 years ago, but never told by my physician at the time, no doubt because it seemed irrelevant (!). So, discovering this from requesting my old labs was the first piece of the puzzle. Scrupulous elimination of gluten didn’t address the problem, but as I say, going grain-free did.

Of additional interest to you might be the use, in Canada, of a probiotic called Mutaflor (see Wikipedia’s page for a snapshot on this). It is a form of *beneficial* E. Coli. It’s not sold here, principally because it suffers in the heat of shipment. However, I understand it has been used with success on Crohn’s sufferers. Just FYI. Should you get it, I hope it helps. The whole concept of fecal bacteriotherapy and autoimmunity makes sense to me, and perhaps it will to you.

As you make your own clothes, I thought I’d share this as well. Thirty years ago I rented a cottage from a lovely North Beach Italian woman Clara, living there for 10 years. During that time I made a lot of my clothes, some completely by hand (no sewing machine). When I left the state for other employment, I gave her a purple blouse I’d made in this fashion, along with some other items. About two years ago I ran into her daughter and learned that Clara, now in her 80s, still lived in the same house. When I met her at her home, there she was, wearing my purple blouse. I can’t imagine all the young people plugged into video games will have a similarly rewarding experience as that.

Oh yes; I’m vegetarian over a decade, vegan just four months. It’s the right thing to do, even if many of my friends don’t “get it.”

All the best,

Rebecca