The Last Supper

As you may recall, I mentioned in this post that I was getting close to finding out for sure why I didn't feel so flash during the second half of last year. At the beginning of December I got a blood test result that said I most likely had Coeliac Disease. This is a disorder where eating any food that contains gluten damages the small intestine and can prevent nutrients being absorbed. The doctor said that although the blood test results were pretty conclusive, the way to officially diagnose it is through a biopsy. Since the appointment would be a few months away, she said I should stop eating gluten in the meantime, and start again a few weeks before the biopsy.

For seven weeks I incorporated gluten-free foods into my diet, and was starting to feel better for it. A few weeks ago I got a letter informing me of the appointment, so had to start including gluten back into my diet. Straight away I noticed the effects, my vision went slightly odd, I felt tired and my brain went a bit foggy. So it became quite obvious it wasn't doing me any favours. The one good thing about being allowed to eat gluten again was that I could eat some of the yummy things I'd been missing out on, one last time. I didn't go as crazy as I had thought I would, but did eat cookies and cream ice cream, tim tams, pringles, black forest chocolate and raspberry licorice. Those few weeks felt like the last supper!

Now that I do have an official diagnosis it's back to gluten-free for me, and I'm starting to feel better for it. Fortunately now there are are lot more products available than there used to be, and I have acquired a small collection of cookbooks with lots of yummy recipes. So I won't be missing out too much. Here's to a much better 2010 than 2009 was!